01-09-10
BY JACK BULLOCK
CENTRALIA - Sometimes it takes a while before a young team learns how to win important games.

Head coach Brent Brede is finding out that his club might be ready to turn proverbial the corner.

On Saturday afternoon at the Centralia Shootout – his club jumped out to an early lead and withstood a rally by Waltonville to post a 76-69 win to improve its record to 8-8 on the season.

Shooting the ball very well - and withstanding some late game pressure from the Spartans – Wesclin picked up a victory over a rusty-looking Waltonville group who fell to 11-2 on the season.

Sparked by 26-points from 6-foot-1 sophomore guard Alex Wilken and 19-points and 12-rebounds from 6-foot-7 junior center Phil Kunz – Wesclin got back to the .500 mark against a very tough schedule of contests and now head into the second half of the season with some momentum.

The Warriors – without a senior on the squad – are starting to show signs of improvement and the potential to be a solid post-season contender.

“For us it boils down to us making perimeter shots,” said Wesclin mentor Brett Brent Brede. “Teams have sold-out on defense and we have had a really hard time getting Phil (Kunz) the ball because of the way they have guarded us. We have had some open shots. But if we hit some perimeter shots we can be ok.”

The Spartans looked the part of a team that hadn’t played a game in 11 days after being snowed out on Friday night.

Spotting Wesclin an early lead – Waltonville used up too much gas from the tank in making a comeback and had nothing left to close the deal in losing just their second game of the season – both to Class 2A teams.

“You have to extend so much energy to get yourself out of the hole and we are capable of doing that. We have done this before with this group throughout their three-year careers here,” said Coach Denault. “We pressured them in the second half and got them in some traps but we got some fouls called. We did a good job executing the traps but we didn’t close. We ran out of time.”

Joseph Lewis – a 6-foot-3 senior guard for Waltonville – notched a team-best 21-points in the loss while teammates Skyler Witges and Gavin Bassett added 19 and 15.

But it was on the defensive end that the Spartans didn’t get the job done.

Wesclin connected 25-of-52 shots from the field overall (48 percent) but Waltonville allowed the Warriors too many open looks from behind the arc as Coach Brede’s club nailed 9-of-16 from 3-point land.

Wilken hit three of his four 3-point shots in the first quarter for Wesclin. When his third bomb – from the right wing – connected with 2:09 left in the opening frame Wesclin led 15-11.

The Warriors’ Chris Isenhower added a 3-pointer and Kunz hit a pair of free throws to close out an impressive 20-13 first quarter run.

The lone bright spot in the first half for the Spartans was Lewis – who scored 13 of his points in the first two periods.

“One out our five guys (Lewis) came to play today in the first half,” said Coach Denault. “If it hadn’t have been for him – this game would have been early. But we switched some matchups and Skyler stepped it up in the second half.”

But when Wilken nailed his final 3-pointer of the game with 6:45 remaining in the half – Wesclin had its first double-digit advantage at 25-15.

Wilken added a steal and a fast break score and teammate Chad Klein nailed a 3-pointer from the top of the arc to close out the Warriors half at 32-23 heading to intermission.

After a first half slumber that allowed the Spartans to fall way behind – Coach Mike Denault’s squadron awoke to find themselves holding a big shovel full of basketball dirt.

Waltonville did make a gradual run to get back into the contest but couldn’t get close enough to pull out a win.

Witges scored nine points in the third quarter for the Spartans and Bassett added five.

Bassett drove the lane for a basket that cut the Wesclin lead down to 40-35 with 2:34 remaining.

But Isenhower answered with two huge 3-point shots in the final moments of the frame.

His second one – off of an inbounds pass from the right corner – beat the third quarter horn to give the Warriors a 52-41 advantage heading to the fourth quarter.

Defensively Waltonville got better in the second half of the game but they couldn’t completely shut down Wesclin.

“They (Waltonville) played us much harder in the second half then they did in the first half. We got off to an easy lead and got some good looks at the basket and that got us going,” added Coach Brede. “In the second half we had trouble running offense because of the defensive pressure they gave us but getting out to a good start was huge for us.”

Waltonville could get no closer than seven points the rest of the way.

The Spartans’ Dylan Johnson scored on a drive to the basket with 1:35 to go to cut the deficit to just 67-60.

However Wesclin hit 7-of-8 free throws in the final 1:18 to close out the triumph.

The Warriors were just 15-of-25 from the line in the contest but made the important ones in the final quarter.

Waltonville shot a respectable 26-of-59 from the field (44 percent) and committed just three turnovers.

But they allowed Wesclin to mount too much of a lead early and had no answers for Kunz inside and Wilken, Isenhower and Klein from outside.

Kunz scored eight of his points in the first quarter and closed out the final stanza with nine more points.

He continues to improve as he has been hobbled by an ankle injury that is still not 100 percent.

“He is probably about 75 percent and it is a shame for him because he has played this year without the same type of bounce and athleticism he has had in the past,” said Brede about Kunz ankle injury from this fall. “But he is playing through it and getting better.”

Wesclin was also playing without one of its starters – 6-foot-4 junior Kyle Emig who is out with an ankle injury.

But the other Warriors picked up the slack in a big way in the huge non-conference victory.

Waltonville (69) – Bassett 7 0 1-3 15, Askew 0 0 0-0 0, Wheatey 2 0 1-2 5, Witges 1 4 5-6 19, Stanhouse 0 0 1-2 1, Compton 0 0 0-0 0, Johnson 3 0 2-5 8, Lewis 6 3 0-0 21. 2FG-19, 3FG-7, FT-11-17, PF-23.
Wesclin (76) – Isenhower 0 3 0-0 9, West 2 0 1-2 5, Wilken 4 4 6-9 26, Klein 2 1 3-4 10, Kunz 7 0 5-8 19, Detering 2 1 0-2 7.
2FG-17, 3FG-9, FT-15-25, PF-14.
Fouled Out – Bassett - Waltonville.
Technical Fouls – None.

BREESE CENTRAL 48, MOUNT VERNON 44
Stepping up to play a Class 3A team in the Centralia Shootout – the Cougars held off the Rams in the second boy’s game of the day in the event.

Coach Stan Eagleson’s club improved to 13-1 on the season with the win – cemented by an important defensive play by 5-foot-10 sophomore Nick Grapperhaus.

This guard made a key steal with :08.9 to play with Mount Vernon having the ball with a chance to tie or take the lead at 46-44.

Grapperhaus stepped in front of a pass and knocked the ball off of one of the Rams’ players for a turnover.

He then was fouled by Mount Vernon and sent to the line with :03.9 remaining.

Grapperhaus nailed both free throws as the Cougars won their tenth straight game.

David Wiegmann – a 6-foot-7 senior – poured in a game-high 25-points for Breese Central while teammates Garrett Gaffner and Brandon Book scored nine points each.

Slowing down the game to a crawl – Mount Vernon kept the contest close but didn’t execute late in the game to get the win.

Two Rams netted double-figures with Logan Murphy leading the way with 15-points on five 3-pointers.

Kevon Fortney added 13 in the loss.

Mount Vernon (44) – Edwards 1 0 0-0 2, Fortney 5 0 3-4 13, Tucker 1 0 0-0 2, Randolph 0 0 0-0 0, Murphy 0 5 0-0 15, Rush 1 0 0-0 2, Fowler 2 0 0-0 4, Trimble 0 0 0-0 0, Gordon 3 0 0-0 6.
2FG-11, 3FG-5, FT-3-4, PF-12.
Breese Central (48) – Grapperhaus 0 1 2-2 5, Wiegmann 10 0 5-8 25, Norrenberns 0 0 0-0 0, Scheer 0 0 0-1 0, Book 3 1 0-0 9, Gaffner 4 0 1-2 9.
2FG-17, 3FG-2, FT-8-13, PF-6.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.