03-04-05
BY SETH WHITEHEAD - MOUNT VERNON REGISTER-NEWS
FOR ABASELINEVIEW.COM
NORRIS CITY - With about 4 1/2 minutes to go in the fourth quarter of the NCOE Sectional championship Friday night, a deafening chant of “overrated” starting raining down from a massive Webber Township crowd.

It was directed at Webber’s opponent, the West Frankfort Redbirds, who came into the game ranked fourth in the state in Class A.

And it was about the only mistake anyone from the greater Bluford vicinity made in the final eight minutes of the game.

“Underrated” would have been a more appropriate chant — directed towards the Trojans, who were about to knock off the heavily favored Redbirds in stunning fashion to win their first sectional title in school history.

Make no mistake; none of that small-school Cinderella nonsense applies to this team anymore after a convincing 68-57 win.

“How far do we have to go?” said Webber coach Clarence Gross. “We’re 28-3 for a reason. We play one of the best small-school schedules in Southern Illinois. “Frankfort is not overrated. Let’s face the facts here, let’s be honest — we caught Frankfort on an off night. They weren’t shooting the ball well from outside. We knew coming in we’d need to play perfect. I think we shot 60-some odd percent and we took care of the ball.”

The Trojans are legit. And they’re just one win away from the state tournament.

“Nobody thinks we can play with the big guys,” said Webber forward Cody Swartz. “We check Illinois High School Sports(.com) every day to see what they say about us. They’ve been on us all along. It’s the David vs. Goliath thing right there. We slayed them again.”

The margin of victory is even more remarkable considering the adversity the Trojans faced in the third quarter. It’s almost too much to physically comprehend.

With a short bench, Webber found itself down seven points, 35-28, midway through the third.

Starting forward Cody Swartz picked up his fourth foul early in the frame.

And sixth man Cory Braden fouled out moments later on one of the dozen or so touch fouls called on the night.

Worst of all, star forward Joey Ullery was playing with three fouls.

Enter junior Brandon Loker, who had not played a varsity minute with the Trojans regulars all year coming into the night.

But Loker calmly hit his first shot attempt, and his team played inspired ball the rest of the way.

“He’s our secret weapon,” Ullery said. “We’ve been hiding him for this moment all year. He came in and hit some big shots for us and played really well.”

“Just because Loker doesn’t play in games, you should see him in practice,” said Webber forward Jabe Michel. “He scores on our varsity all the time. He’s going to play big minutes next year.”

An Ullery 3-pointer pulled Webber to within three points late in the frame, but he picked up his fourth foul seconds later.

Over, right? No way.

Bryce McKenzie countered a pair of West Frankfort free throws with a 3-pointer, setting off a wild sequence at the end of the frame.

Ryan Patton came right back with a trifecta of his own in the waning seconds, but Michel erased that momentum with a trey a millisecond before the buzzer sounded, trimming West Frankfort’s lead to one, 50-49 heading into the third.

And as was the case in Wednesday’s semifinal win over Eldorado, Webber flat owned the fourth.

After Frankfort opened the period with a putback, Michel countered with a putback of his own.

Then after a miss by Josh Webb, McKenzie came up with the shot of the night, draining an open 3-pointer from the corner.

The shot gave Webber a 54-52 lead — the Trojans first lead of the game.

“I live for that stuff right there,” said McKenzie. “I love taking the big shot.”

Webber would never trail again.

“After that three went in, we knew we had it right there,” McKenzie said. “All we had to do is shut em down, and we did it.”

Michel pushed the Webber lead out to four points with a pair of free throws after another Frankfort miss, and the 6-4 senior then converted a Swartz steal into a driving lay-up to make it 58-52 Webber.

Cue the aforementioned “overrated” chant.

Matt Weeks came back with a trey, but it was the last positive news for the Redbirds all night.

A pair of Ullery free throws pushed the lead back out to five with 3:22 to go, and another Michel drive — after a Frankfort turnover — gave Webber a seven-point lead with 2:10 remaining.

Ullery drained four more free throws over the next minute to ice the game, as chants of “SIU, SIU” started in the Webber crowd.

The Trojans have a Super-Sectional date with Nashville on tap at SIU Arena on Tuesday.

Michel had a monster game for the Trojans, scoring a game-high 27 points and grabbing nine rebounds, as he used his athleticism to overcome Frankfort’s size in the paint.

Ullery added 20 despite being in foul trouble the entire game. Mr. Clutch was 6-for-6 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter.

McKenzie added 10 points — all in the second half — as Webber heated up from behind the 3-point line after getting shut out from long range in the first half.

Webber nailed six treys in the second half and hit 14 of 22 from the field overall in the final 16 minutes.

Thrown into the fire, Loker had four big points off the bench.

“The kid hasn’t been in with my regular five all year,” Gross said. “For him to produced in that situation is special.”

West Frankfort looked to be sitting pretty, as it led by as many as nine in the first half.

But poor free throw shooting — 7-for-16 on the night — was one of the many reasons they couldn’t hold on.

Webber is now thinking state. “Why not?” said McKenzie?

Webber Township (69) - Porter 3, Braden 4, Michel 27, Swartz 1, McKenzie 10, Ullery 20, Loker 4.
West Frankfort (57) - Webb 13, Patton 17, Weeks 8, Kirkpatrick 10, Conaughty 3.