01-19-08
BY JACK BULLOCK
NASHVILLE - Nashville head coach Darin Lee had a game plan in place to pull an upset over Trenton-Wesclin in the championship game of the Nashville Invitational Tournament.

And it nearly worked.

But a big fourth quarter run by the Warriors broke a 29-all tie as T-W went on to a 45-37 title game triumph.

The Hornets were patient on offense and had the pace of the game right where they wanted it.

However Coach Lee's team didn't hit enough shots – going 13-of-42 overall and just 1-of-10 from behind the 3-point line – to beat the top seeded Warriors.

Coach Brent Brede saw his school win the NIT title for the first time since he led his alma mater to a title game win over Breese Mater Dei in January of 1990.

“We knew that it would be a hard fought game and we knew that (Tommy) Pelczynski was going to get his points,” said Brede about the Nashville top gun. “The idea was to try and make him earn them. I thought – especially in the second half - we did a good job of contesting his shots and all of their (Nashville) shots.”

Pelczynski led all scorers with 25 points but he was clearly out of gas in the fourth quarter of a physical game. After scoring 19 points in the first two quarters he hit just one field goal and four free throws in the final 16 minutes.

“I didn't give him (Pelczynski) a break in the first half and I probably should have,” said Coach Lee. “As a team I think that we executed our game plan and we did what we wanted to try and do but we came up a bit short. They were the best team in the tournament and congratulations to them.”

Sean Rakers topped three Wesclin players in double figures with 16 points and four rebounds.

Casey Ainslie added 14 points to the total while Nate Fuhler chipped in 11.

Ainslie hit a pair of big 3-pointers on the night including a buzzer beating shot from the right wing to close the second quarter.

Trailing 23-19 Ainslie took a long pass to the right side of the court in front of the Nashville bench and drilled home a long range bomb with a defender in his face that seemed to change the direction of the contest.

“That (shot) was a huge momentum swing for us and anytime you can get a basket like that before the half especially when we were struggling,” added Brede.

The Hornets looked like they were ready to defend their NIT championship by coming up with an 8-0 run from the end of the first quarter into the early stages of the second to get the lead back from Trenton-Wesclin.

Using a pair of baskets by Michael Moeller and Daniel Carson to get rolling – Nashville received a gift when Wesclin's Tyler Shaw was whistled for a technical four and Mr. Automatic Tommy Pelczynski nailed both free throws.

He added another basket on baseline shot to give the Hornets a 15-14 lead with 4:27 left in the half.

Pelczynski scored six more points in the quarter on four free throws and a drive to the basket.

But the Ainslie trifecta got the Big Mo back in the Wesclin corner

“Ainslie hitting that shot at the end of the second quarter was huge. That shot really hurt. We were up four and he threw that in,” Lee explained.

Nashville had enough shots in the third quarter to take back control of the game but didn't hit nearly enough of them.

Going just 2-of-12 in the frame – the Hornets failed to put any distance between themselves and the Warriors.

That fact proved to be pivotal when Trenton-Wesclin got rolling.

Fuhler hit one of his three 3-pointers in the third quarter and when Ainslie drove to the basket for a fast break lay in – the game was even at 29 heading to the final quarter.

The fourth quarter belonged to Rakers from beginning to end.

The 6-foot-6 senior forward scored 12 of his club's 16 points in the final eight minutes.

His spinning 10-footer in the paint gave Wesclin back the lead for good at 31-29 with 7:17 remaining.

Following Pelczynski's final bucket of the game and a score from Nick Harre cut the Hornets' deficit to 35-33 – Wesclin closed out the night with a 12-2 run.

Rakers hit four free throws in the final :33 and a final basket on a inbound pass from Shaw to seal the championship win.

“In the fourth quarter Sean (Rakers) shook loose a little bit and got some open looks,” Brede said. “Nothing came easy for him tonight. They (Nashville) did a good job of keeping a man near him and double and triple teaming him.”

Wesclin finished 17-of-40 for the contest with five 3-pointers made in 14 attempts.

“It was a grind it out kind of game and we made enough free throws at the end to take care of business,” Brede finalized. “I told the kids that the last time we won this tournament I was wearing some really tight shorts. That (title drought) kind of tells you how difficult this tournament is and how tough it is to to win.”

Coach Lee saw his team struggle scoring besides Pelczynski – who finished with those 25 points with ten of those points (10-of-10) coming from the foul line.

The Hornets had six other players score in the game but the bad news is that those players all had two points each.

“We are going to have to find some offense to get him (Pelczynski) off the floor for some rest,” added Lee. “I was disappointed in how we shot in the third quarter. We got the shots we wanted but we just couldn't get them in the hole.”

Trenton-Wesclin (45) - Shaw 1 0 0-0 2, Ainslie 4 2 0-2 14, Kunz 0 0 0-0 0, Fuhler 1 3 0-0 11, Bair 0 0 2-2 2, Haselhorst 0 0 0-0 0, Rakers 6 0 4-5 16.
2FG-12, 3FG-5, FT-6-9, PF-14.
Nashville (37) - Guest 1 0 0-0 2, Maschhoff 0 0 0-0 0, Harre 1 0 0-0 2, Pelczynski 6 1 10-10 25, Snead 1 0 0-0 2, Spenner 1 0 0-0 2, Conner 0 0 0-0 0, Moeller 1 0 0-0 2, Carson 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-12, 3FG-1, FT-10-10, PF-13
Fouled Out - None.
Technical Fouls - Shaw - Trenton-Wesclin.

In the other games at Saturday's NIT.
FREEBURG 47, BREESE MATER DEI 44
Freeburg won the third place game with a win over the Knights behind 10 points from Dan Otten and Conner Halloran.

Nick Boeckmann led Mater Dei with 13 points.

MASCOUTAH 79, MADISON 69
The Indians nearly blew a 16-point lead in the fourth quarter but held on for the win in the consolation title game.

Matt Milton topped all scorers with 29 points.

Madison got 27-points from Cornelius Chatt in the loss.

BREESE CENTRAL 52, WATERLOO GIBAULT 24
The Cougars regrouped after a couple of tough losses to win the seventh place game over Gibault.

Garrett Gaffner and Nick Fischer topped coach Stan Eagleson's team with 14 and 13 points respectively.

Gibault got 10 points and 17 rebounds by Michael Hoffman in the loss.
The Hawks were a woeful 8-of-48 from the field in the defeat.