12-23-13
BY JACK BULLOCK
WEST FRANKFORT – The West Frankfort versus Sesser-Valier game had two postponements in the last three weeks due to Mother Nature.

On Monday night, when the two teams finally got together, Sesser-Valier failed to weather a scoring storm by the host Red Birds at Max Morris Gym.

Behind Christian Dunning with 28-points, including 18-points in the third quarter, West Frankfort improved its mark to 4-3 on the season with a 76-57 romp.

His teammates also got in on the scoring fun.

Hunter Johnson and Aaron Twist added 14 and 12 to the point total while Braxton Koehl and Garrer Karoski added eight points each.

Following a poor first frame from the field (3-of-13) the Red Birds found the range.

Coach Dan DeWerff’s Birds flew into offensive success in the final three quarters.

With Dunning going on a personal 8-0 run to begin the second half, the Red Birds took control.

The 6-foot-4 junior lefty nailed a pair of 3-pointers and a rebound bucket to give West Frankfort a 40-28 lead just :40 into the third quarter.

Before the Red Devils knew what hit them, S-V faced a double-digit disadvantage.

“We started hitting some shots, and that always helps. But defensively we got a few stops and made some adjustments,” said Coach DeWerff. “We still have a ways to go on the defensive end. But we’re going to keep working and we hope to get better on that by Thursday.”

By the time the horn went off to end the disastrous third quarter for Red Devils, Coach Shane Garner’s club trailed 56-40.

The storm didn’t subside until the final moments for Sesser-Valier as its overall mark slipped to 2-2 on the campaign.

In the early going, it appeared that this contest would be close to the end.

Sesser-Valier made an initial move to get a lead at the end of one.

A pair of 3-pointers in succession by senior guards Jordan Gunter and junior Jacob Vanwey gave S-V its first advantage at 8-3 early.

A 6-0 run to close the frame put Sesser-Valier up 14-9.

Tyler Baxter scored twice in the run, once by cleaning up a missed fast break lay in by Luke Thompson and a second score on a baseline drive for a reverse lay up for a five-point lead.

While both teams shot the ball poorly in the opening stanza (8-of-29 combined) West Frankfort got hot in the second quarter.

Koehl and Karoski each hit shots in the second as the Red Birds hit 9-of-10 field goal attempts.

Twist, a 6-foot-10 junior center, scored on an assist from Dunning and then Johnson got loose in the lane for a score to break the game’s last tie, giving the Red Birds a four-point lead at halftime.

The second half belonged to WF as Dunning added a pair of treys with the second one helping to fuel an 11-0 run for a 20-point lead with 1:42 remaining.

“Christian (Dunning) got on fire, especially in the second half. He’s our best shooter, without a doubt. It (his third quarter) kind of helped widen the gap,” said Coach DeWerff. “We got stops on the defensive end and that helped get us the run. I know at least 12 of their points (Sesser-Valier) came on transition where we didn’t know who we were guarding, and that just comes down to communication. Then they probably got 10 more points off of offensive rebounds. I told the guys that those are things that we can control.”

Sesser-Valier was led in scoring by 5-foot-10 junior guard Nick Marlo.

Marlo scored 15-points and had three consecutive baskets in the fourth quarter as the Red Devils tried to mount a comeback.

His 3-pointer from the left wing cut the Red Birds lead to just 61-50 with 4:51 left in the fourth.

At this point, West Frankfort put the game away.

After trading baskets, Coach DeWerff’s team finished off the Devils with an 8-0 sprint, highlighted by a fast break one-handed slam by Johnson.

Dunning added another fast break lay in while two of the scores in the run came from junior forward Jacob Bartoni.

The second made shot put the cap the win for West Frankfort, who improved to 4-3 on the season.

“We got kind of complacent there, especially on the defensive end. Dunning came out and made some shots and Karoski made some shots,” said Coach Garner. “We just need to do a better job defensively and we need to work towards that.”

Sesser-Valier ended up shooting just 23-of-59 on the night overall (38.9 percent) while missing a ton of long-range shots (7-of-28 from 3-point land).

On the other hand, the hosts were the most from the opportunities offensively as West Frankfort canned 53.8 percent total (28-of-52 overall) in the triumph.

The taller Red Birds controlled the boards 31-25 but managed to give up some offensive rebounds to the visitors (12) on the night.

Behind Marlo in scoring for Sesser-Valier was Vanwey with 12-points while Baxter added 11.

“I was really proud of our guys, especially the guys on the bench that came in. Clayton Hoffard came in and did a good job on Dunning in the fourth quarter,” added Coach Garner. “But you can’t dig yourself a hole like we did and expect to climb all the way back.”

The turnovers ended up even at 13-each but West Frankfort, after a sloppy early stretch, had just five in the final 16-minutes.

“Our big kids (Dunning, Twist) played well but we have to do a better job finding them once they have numbers in the post,” added Coach DeWerff. “We didn’t do a good enough job on the defensive boards but it is a better mentality that we have to develop.”

Both clubs head into holiday tournaments this week with Sesser-Valier hosting its own even where they will close the first day of the 16-team bracket with an 8:00 pm game against Cobden.

The Red Birds have a 1:45 date the opening day at the Eldorado Holiday Tournament as they face Gallatin County in that bracketed event.