12/10/2022
BY JACK BULLOCK
WAYNE CITY - The Cisne Lions are a streaky shooting team.

On Saturday afternoon in the first game of the 68th annual Conrad Allen Wayne City Holiday Tournament Coach Kevin Bowen's kids had stretches where they lit up the scoreboard.

However they also had a couple of cold spells that allowed Webber Township to get back into the game.

As it turned out Cisne made enough free throws in the final minutes and held on to a 55-53 win over the Trojans.

The Lions are now 8-1 on the season and 1-0 in Pool D of the new tournament format used for the first time this season at the long standing event.

Despite 25 points and 20 rebounds from 6-8 senior Hunter Danberry, Webber Township fell to 0-1 in Pool D and 4-3 overall for Coach Brad Beaty.

“Webber is a good basketball team, they can shoot it and when you look at the South regional (setup) that they're in they will be tough to beat,” said Coach Bowen.

Webber Township had a couple of open shots in the final seconds that could have given the club the win or a tie, but neither found the mark.

The Lions were led by junior Anden Atwood with 18 points while sophomore Landon Keck added 14 and sophomore Cooper Bowen tossed in 11.

Guard Gavyn Harrell scored eight points for Cisne as they are now a win away from winning their pool to advance to the Gold Bracket final four.

Besides Danberry, the Trojans got nine points from 6-2 freshman Nathaniel Marlow and seven from Elijah Marlow.

“They (Cisne) are a team that is hard to guard. They run five guards out there and when you see them out there and they don't have a lot of size, that sometimes can be a strength. They can spread the floor and spread you out and if you sag off of one of them they can kick it out. They have a great awareness of where their teammates are,” said Coach Beaty. “They will knock down a three on you and the next thing you know they have made three or four in a row on you.”

Webber took its biggest lead in the first quarter with Danberry doing the damage as he scored seven of the first nine points for the Trojans.

Two baskets on offensive rebounds and then a conventional three-point play.

The converted free throw made it 9-4 with 3:24 to go in the first frame.

“I thought Danberry did a good job of positioning inside and the kids did a good job of getting him the ball,” said Coach Beaty. “I told our guys that is a championship level game. That could have easily been the championship game of this tournament. We got better as a team today.”

The Lions went on their first run of the game to take the lead.

Atwood scored on drives to the basket sandwiched around a fast break score by Keck off of a Harrell steal.

Senior Russel Best scored his only points of the game for Cisne on a shot from the right wing which was followed by a 3-pointer by Keck.

Keck closed the first quarter scoring with 1-of-2 free throws as the Lions led 16-9.

Cisne cooled off in the second and Webber Township rallied to tie the game.

The Lions hit 7-of-12 shots in the first eight minutes but only converted only 2-of 8 in the second stanza.

Both of the made shots came from Keck who scored in the lane and also a 3-pointer from the right wing.

Webber got points from Danberry along with a couple of scores from Nathaniel Marlow to even things at 18-18.

The Keck made trey sent the teams to the half at 21-18 Lions.

“We rushed some things. We get hot but sometimes we shoot 'out of the flow' and we were doing that a little bit. When we're 'in the flow' and moving, and we 'catch and shoot' we're much better. We get a little loose sometimes,” said Coach Bowen. “We didn't do a good job of keeping them off of the boards. They (Webber) were getting some free runs at the basket on offensive rebounds.”

Coach Bowen saw his team 'heat up' again to begin the second half.

They had 'Vegas' numbers in the third quarter, connecting on 7-of-11 shots from the floor, including 5-of-5 from the arc.

Cooper Bowen hit the first two of the 3-pointers to begin the quarter then Atwood and Harrell followed up with a 20-footer each.

The Harrell bomb closed 14-4 run as Cisne was in control at 35-22 with 4:10 left.

Danberry had another impressive quarter with six points and six rebounds.

Bowen's third trifecta of the frame at the buzzer, however, closed the quarter at 42-30 Lions.

Webber went on a quick 6-0 run with both Marlow brothers scoring around another Danberry rebound put-back.

Danberry would score again on the inside and senior guard Weston Hails scored on the inside as the Trojans were within three at 46-43.

The good news for Cisne is that while Webber Township was making shots, the Lions were converting (9-of-12) from the foul line

Coach Beaty's club get to within one-point twice in the final minute on buckets by Danberry on offensive rebounds.

But Atwood nailed down two additional free throws and Harrell converted 1-of-2 to set up the final Webber possession with :23 left.

Elijah Marlow had an open look from the left corner for a 3-pointer that would have given the Trojans the lead.

Hails managed to get the rebound and he put up a shot that also bounced out.

The ensuing rebound was grabbed by Harrell as the horn sounded ending the game and giving the Lions the victory.

“I told our guys we're down 12 but lets see if we can get it down to five or six and put us in a spot to win the game at the end,” said Coach Beaty. “We had a corner ball from three going up in the air for a game winner. Sometimes they go in, sometimes they don't. Today it didn't.”

The tale of the tape at the end of the contest paints a major discrepancy in numbers.

Cisne was out-rebounded by the Trojans 36-13 with Danberry doing most of it.

Coach Beaty's bunch kept the Lions off of the offensive glass, surrendering just three second chances.

On the other side of the ledger, Coach Bowen's squad hit more shots from the outside (7-of-10 from the arc compared to 2-of-11 for the Trojans) and the foul line (12-of-17 to 5-of-8 from Webber) to offset the rebounding issues.

Cisne only committed seven turnovers with only one miscue in the fourth quarter while the Trojans had 12 total.

The Lions were 17-of-37 overall from the floor, Webber Township finished 23-of-51.

Both teams will play the Hamilton County JV team this week in Pool D.

A Cisne win over the junior Foxes will put them in the championship round on Friday night.

Webber will play Ham Co JV on Monday night at 8:30 pm while Cisne will play them on Wednesday night at 7:30 pm.

“This is December 10th. I'm worried about February. Today we take the things away from this game that we can improve on,” said Coach Beaty. “Today we showed we have a lot of potential and we just have to keep grinding.”

WAYNE CITY 54, CRAB ORCHARD 41
There is a line from a very famous 1970's song that summed up the Crab Orchard Trojans opening game at the Conrad Allen on Saturday.

Country music legend Jerry Reed penned a song that had the lyric “when you're hot you're hot, when you're not you're not.”

The Trojans started off their game against the host Indians on Saturday by hitting shots in their usual fashion.

Coach Jon Brown's club started off strong and even led by 10 points midway through the second quarter.

The 'hot' turned into 'not' in the second half, especially the fourth quarter.

The Indians got things close by halftime and shut down Crab Orchard in the second half.

The Trojans only managed 11 points in the final 16 minutes as they fell to 0-1 in Pool B and 7-2 overall following a 54-41 defeat in Game 3 on Saturday.

The hosts moved to 1-0 in Pool B, 5-3 overall for Coach Jake Talbert.

Wayne City was led by Justin Durham on Saturday as the 6-6 senior had a huge afternoon.

Durham notched 21 points and grabbed 19 rebounds in the victory.

Brother Jonny Durham, a 5-11 senior, added 15 points for WC, including a pair of 3-pointers.

Another key factor was 6-5 senior Grayson Habermaas coming off of the bench to deliver an additional nine points with junior Koby Anderson adding five points, which included a key fourth quarter 3-pointer.

Senior guard Robbie Rooker topped the Trojans with 12 points.

Junior Colton Throgmorton added 10 points while freshman Cameron Clark ended up with seven points before fouling out.

Juniors Troy Robbins and Brinnen Norris added six apiece to the scoring, which was well below the Trojans' 71 points per game the team had averaged in its previous eight games.

The club jumped out early on the Indians with a pair of first quarter scoring runs.

Three buckets in each of the runs (6-0 and 7-0) included a 3-pointer by Clark and a pair of scores by Rooker.

A Throgmorton score on a drive in the lane forced a Wayne City timeout at 18-13 Trojans with a little more than a minute left in the first quarter.

An important 3-pointer by Jonny Durham closed the first period with the Indians down just two.

The final run by the Trojans started the second quarter with four straight converted free throws, two each from Robbins and Norris, and a Throgmorton 3-point bomb from the right wing for a 25-16 lead with 5:44 to go before intermission.

From this point forward, the Indians rallied and then shut down the Trojans late.

Jonny Durham scored on a drive inside and then made 2-of-4 free throws on two separate trips to the stripe.

Habermaas took a pair of lob pass assists from Justin Durham and Anderson for baskets inside.

His third bucket of the quarter cut the Crab Orchard lead to 30-27 at the break.

Things fell apart in the second half for the Trojans as the shots stopped falling and the Indians stopped giving the opposition second chances.

The Trojans had seven offensive rebounds in the first two quarters and just one in the second half, coming in the fourth quarter after they fell behind.

After a Rooker 3-pointer to start the third quarter, Crab Orchard hit just 2-of-11 from the field the rest of the frame.

Wayne City got things going and took back the lead for keeps on consecutive scores by Justin and Jonny as the quarter ended with the Indians up 39-37.

Anderson nailed down a 3-pointer and then scored on a cut to the basket for a 46-39 lead.

But it was his defense on Rooker that impressed his coach.

“Koby stepped up and guarded Rooker well in the second half after Chase Smith picked up his fourth foul,” said Coach Talbert. “We switched up and made some adjustments and he (Koby) played like we know he can play.”

Habermaas added another inside basket and 6-of-8 free throws in the final minutes (two each from Justin Durham, junior Tanner McNeil and Jonny Durham) sealed the outcome.

In the final eight minutes the Trojans were just 1-of-14 from the field, including 0-of-9 from the 3-point line.

The final totals were in favor of Wayne City.

The Indians weren't too sharp offensively as they hit just 19-of-45 overall and 3-of-10 long range shots.

They held a slim rebounding edge at 31-26 and committed 15 turnovers, with only three in the fourth quarter.

Crab Orchard was only 15-of-54 overall and 5-of-27 from the 3-point line (18 percent) and they added 13 turnovers.

Both teams head back to action with games against Sandoval in Pool B.

Wayne City will play the Blackhawks Tuesday night at 8:30 pm while Crab Orchard gets them on Wednesday night at 6 pm.

Crab Orchard (41) – Rooker 2 2 2-2 12, Clark 2 1 0-0 7, Robbins 2 0 2-2 6, Throgmorton 2 2 0-0 10, Norris 2 0 2-4 6, Watts 0 0 0-0 0, Simmons 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-10, 3FG-5, FT-6-8, PF-18.
Wayne City (54) – Durham 4 0 3-6 11, Smith 0 0 0-0 0, Lewis 3 0 1-1 7, Anderson 0 0 0-0 0, Habermaas 3 0 2-2 8, McNeil 0 1 2-2 5, Thompson 0 0 0-0 0, Walker 0 0 0-0 0, Strader 0 0 0-0 0, Scarbrough 0 0 0-0 0, Braddock 0 00-0 0. 2FG-10, 3FG-1, FT-8-11, PF-7.
Fouled Out – Clark - Crab Orchard.
Technical Fouls – None.

Coach Josh Zink brought his club to town as one of the favorites to take home the title and they wasted little time in improving to 5-4 on the season in a misleading won-loss mark.

North Clay has played a tough as nails schedule of games and the game on Saturday was the first against a team with a losing record.

Logan Fleener, a 6-1 senior guard, paced the Cardinals with 25 points and six rebounds while teammate and classmate 6-3 Alex Boose delivered 17 points.

Boose got going with an eight point first quarter as North Clay sprinted clear with a 20-6 opening salvo.

Fleener netted 11 points in the second quarter as the lead ballooned to 42-18 at intermission.

Coach Zink got contributions from freshman Cody Zimdars and junior Ethan Kuenstler with six points each.

Senior Levi Smith (4), junior Jesse Weidner (3) and junior Andrew Casolari (2) rounded out the scoring.

Gallatin County saw its record fall to 2-5 on the season for head coach Craig Utterback.

Six-seven junior Rylie Rushing paced the Hawks with 13 points and seven rebounds while Gallatin County got eight points and five rebounds from junior Noah Richardson.

Wyatt Jackson added and six markers as he connected on two of the Hawks' 3-pointers in the game with the other coming from junior guard Dylan Rushing.

North Clay, now 1-0 in Pool A, will face Grayville on Tuesday at 5:30 pm.

A win will put the Cardinals in the championship bracket final four.

Gallatin County will play the Bison Monday night at 5:30 pm.

North Clay (63) – Zimdars 0 2 0-1 6, Kuenstler 1 1 1-1 6, Poe 0 0 0-0 0, Casolari 1 0 0-0 2, Smith 2 0 0-0 4, Fleener 12 0 1-1 25, Boose 6 0 5-8 17, Hosselton 0 0 0-0 0, Weidner 0 1 0-0 3, Bailey 0 0 0-0 0, Walden 0 0 0-1 0, Sullens 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-22, 3FG-3, FT-7-11, PF-6.
Gallatin County (36) – R. Rushing 6 0 1-1 13, Richardson 4 0 0-2 8, W. Fromm 1 0 0-0 2, Jackson 0 2 0-0 6, Sandifer 1 0 0-0 2, Fillingim 0 0 0-0 0, D. Rushing 0 1 0-0 3, Monroe 0 0 0-0 0, Walters 1 0 0-0 2, Gray 0 0 0-0 0, T. Fromm 0 0 0-0 0, Glover 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-13, 3FG-3, FT-1-3, PF-16.
Fouled Out – Sandifer - Gallatin County.
Technical Fouls – None.

LOVEJOY 61, EDWARDS COUNTY 36
The Wildcats took little time to take care of business in their first ever trip to the Conrad Allen Wayne City Holiday Tournament.

Although it seems like they have been everywhere else.

Coach Kim Haywood's 'Road Warriors' rack up a lot of miles during a basketball season and this is now the third tournament of the five they are scheduled to play this season.

The previous two tournaments resulted in a fifth place finish at the Trico/Murphysboro Tournament and then second place in the North Greene “Spartan Classic” where they lost Friday night in the title game.

Lovejoy improved to 5-4 on the season, 1-0 in Pool C with the win over the Lions.

The Wildcats raced out to a 17-2 lead and a 23-5 first quarter advantage as they never looked back in sending Edwards County to their fifth loss on the season (3-5) and 0-1 in Pool C.

Six-four senior Shantez Holiday led the way with 19 points for the Wildcats while 5-10 senior Pierre Lucas provided early spark and ended up with 15 and nine rebounds.

Lucas scored 14 points in the first quarter onslaught of points, including a pair of 3-pointers.

Jamal Brown, a 6-4 junior, added eight points for Lovejoy along with nine rebounds.

Senior guard Michael McCallum tossed in seven points, including a 3-pointer in the first quarter.

Coach Haywood also got points from Jeremy McLorn (5) and Jeremiah McLorn (2) along with five points from Birlwind Reed.

Six-seven senior Kievon Monk helped out on the boards (3 rebounds) and defense off of the bench.

Not much went right for the Lions and head coach Kevin Schnicker on Saturday.

The top player for Edwards County was Anjuan Rhodes, a 6-2 junior who scored 20 points and grabbed five rebounds.

Six-five sophomore Owen Grimes added five points and four rebounds.

Junior Max Gerlach added a 3-pointer for three points and sophomore Cy Nelson and senior Logan Correll added one basket each.

Lovejoy 'crushed it' on the glass, out-boarding the Lions 39-15.

The Wildcats reached their biggest lead at the end of the third quarter 55-26.

But Edwards County scored eight consecutive points to begin the final stanza to keep the continuous clock from kicking in.

The Wildcats will play South Central on Tuesday night and Edwards County will take them on Monday.

Edwards County (36) – Nelson 1 0 0-0 2, Correll 1 0 0-0 2, Rhodes 2 4 4-6 20, Grimes 2 0 1-2 5, Smith 0 0 0-0 0, Gilliard 2 0 0-2 4, Gerlach 0 1 0-0 3, Conner 0 0 0-0 0, Duncan 0 0 0-0 0, Landingham 0 0 0-0 0, Smiley 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-8, 3FG-5, FT-5-10, PF-12.
Lovejoy (61) – Lucas 4 2 1-2 15, Monk 0 0 0-0 0, Holliday 9 0 1-1 19, McCullum 0 1 4-6 7, Reed 1 1 0-1 5, Jordan 0 0 0-0 0, J. Brown 4 0 0-5 8, Jeremiah McLorn 1 0 0-0 2, Jeremy McLorn 1 1 0-0 5, Bowens 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-20, 3FG-5, FT-6-15, PF-15.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.