01-06-09
BY JACK BULLOCK
WOODLAWN - The Woodlawn Cardinals cleared another hurdle on Tuesday night in their first contest since winning the Sesser-Valier Holiday Tournament.

It was a high hurdle – nothing low about the Hamilton County Foxes.

Despite a slow offensive start and a couple of bad possessions to end the first half – Coach Shane Witzel’s club remained unbeaten on the season and improved to 10-0 with a convincing 70-52 victory in front of a big crowd at home.

Using their quickness to get to the basket and converting 86 percent from the foul line – the Cardinals held off the Foxes (9-4).

Eight Woodlawn players scored in the contest – a balanced attack with six of the players hitting three field goals each.

Woodlawn was a “Rick Berry-like” 30-of-35 from the charity stripe while converting 20-of-43 shots from the floor.

Dawson Verhines led four Cardinal scorers with 17-points while Josh Wiggs – a 6-foot-7 sophomore - stepped off the Woodlawn pine to pop home 12.

Jase Green and Bronson Verhines added 11 and 10 for a team that continues to impress.

“They’re a nice basketball team; there is no question about it. They play hard, they’re hard nose and they are tough,” Hamilton County head coach Curt Reed told the Mt. Vernon Morning Sentinel when assessing Woodlawn. “They have got some size and they have about three guys that can “stroke it.”

The Foxes had trouble keeping up with Woodlawn – getting beat to the basket on enough occasions that made it unnecessary for the Cardinals to fire away from behind the arc.

In fact a three-quarter-court shot at the end of the third quarter was the only Woodlawn attempt from over 20-feet.

“They (Hamilton County) pressured us and tried to be physical with us so we didn’t get a lot of good looks from outside,” said Woodlawn mentor Shane Witzel. “But we kept attacking the basket and got to the free throw line tonight.”

The Foxes were just 16-of-55 from the floor on Tuesday night with Shelby Williams topping Ham Co. with 17 – matching Verhines for game scoring honors.

Seth Thomas (12) and Kane Smith (11) were the other two double-figure point producers for the Foxes.

Cold shooting in the first quarter by Woodlawn allowed Hamilton County to stay close for a while.

The Cardinals misfired on ten shots in the opening eight minutes but the Foxes couldn’t pull away.

Following a Jase Green conventional three-point play to open the game’s scoring – Hamilton County went on a 7-2 run with Williams scoring twice in that span. His baseline move on the right side resulted in a made bank shot and a 9-5 lead at the 3:42 mark.

A Thomas lay in late in the quarter gave the Foxes a 13-8.

Woodlawn – however – finished the opening frame with a 7-0 run to take back the lead before the horn.

Bronson and Dawson Verhines each scored in the run with Dawson sticking back a rebound while being fouled by Jacob Denham with :44.9 left.

Coach Witzel has leaned on his bench this season and this reserve unit deserves high marks.

Jordan Wehrheim – a senior reserve – nailed a 17-footer from near the top of the circle that beat the buzzer to give Woodlawn back the lead at 15-13.

“Our guys off the bench did a good job tonight. Josh Wiggs came off the bench and had a good game and Jesse Hart played well for us,” Witzel explained. “Luke (Simmons) and Jordan (Wehrheim) gave us some good minutes. Jordan hit a big shot for us to close the first quarter. We haven’t closed out quarters well this season but we did tonight. It was still a tight game at that point so that was a big shot.”

An important game trend began in the second quarter as the Foxes insisted that Woodlawn go to the foul line.

Six times Cardinal players were sent to the stripe in the period – converting 12-consecutive chances. These Birds were 15-of-16 from the line in the opening half.

As for the floor offense – three consecutive field goals late in the second quarter gave Woodlawn its first double-digit advantage.

Casey Hammond turned a Foxes turnover into a driving basket to start a 6-0 run. Jesse Hart and Bronson Verhines both hit shots to make it 33-20 with 1:44 remaining.

A Brandon Webb rebound put-back became a three-point play for Hamilton County to stop the Woodlawn sprint.

Green hit a pair of free throws to close out the half at 35-23 for Woodlawn.

The Cardinals were stingy with the basketball - committing just three first half turnovers.

“We were pretty please tonight with the effort. We took care of the ball and shot a lot of free throws at the end,” added Witzel. “That was important to keep that lead. We have worked hard on taking care of the ball this year and we did a good job of that tonight.”

Woodlawn looked ready to run away and hide from the Foxes in the opening moments of the second half.

On consecutive trips down the floor – Hamilton County turned the ball over twice while Woodlawn netted five points.

Green took a lob pass from Dawson Verhines for a basket and a commanding 40-23 lead with 6:14 to go.

But Hamilton County fired back with a Williams and Thomas combining for seven unanswered.

Two drives by Williams and a trifecta from Thomas cut the margin to 40-30 – forcing a Woodlawn time.

Thomas scored the final points of the quarter – cutting the deficit back down to 49-37 heading home.

“Even though we had a good third quarter we didn’t expand our lead so I felt like they (Hamilton County) had some momentum heading into the fourth quarter,” added Witzel. “It was really important for the first few possessions of the fourth quarter to run a little bit of clock and get a good shot. We forced them to come out and play us out on the floor and that allowed us to get to the basket and get some easy scores.”

Hammond – who spent time on the bench with foul trouble – hit a couple of shots after getting in the paint to open the fourth quarter.

His steal and fast break bucket opened up a 53-38 lead with 4:48 left.

Woodlawn slammed the door shut by parading to the foul line.

By spreading the floor and forcing the Foxes to foul – Coach Witzel’s ball-club hit 11-of-13 foul shots to close it out.

A pair of fast break scores by Hart and Wiggs ended the scoring, as Woodlawn remained the only ABV 1A team undefeated.

“They (Hamilton County) have some good athletes and strength, they are a quality team,” said Woodlawn head coach Shane Witzel. “Fortunately for us we got the lead and were able to extend it. They had to come from behind and got physical. We protected the ball and they were forced to foul us.”

Hamilton County out-rebounded the Cards 34-23 and was 17-of-19 from the foul line.

That meant the two teams were an outstanding 47-of-54 from the stripe.

But the Foxes couldn’t overcome 14 turnovers and its 26 personal fouls that got Woodlawn a lot of easy points.

In comparing Woodlawn to the other Class 1A teams he has seen – Coach Reed put Woodlawn in high regard.

“I’ve seen Mounds Meridian and Carrier Mills and they are both pretty good. Meridian is more athletic than Woodlawn; there is no question about it. But as far as the discipline part and doing what they are supposed to do, it is probably Woodlawn,” added Reed. “There are about five Class 1A teams that are going to give themselves a chance. It is going to be Meridian, Carrier Mills, Woodlawn, Waltonville and I thought maybe Okawville. But they haven’t started coming around yet. They’re not there yet, so there’s your top five. I’d say one of those will be at the “big house.”

Woodlawn heads into Midland Trail Conference play once again in hosting Sandoval on Friday while the Foxes are scheduled to host Herrin on Saturday.

Hamilton County (52) – Smith 2 2 1-3 11, Thomas 3 1 3-4 12, Williams 4 0 9-10 17, Reyling 0 0 1-2 1, Biggerstaff 2 0 0-0 4, J. Webb 1 0 0-0 2, B. Webb 1 0 1-1 3, Denham 0 0 0-0 0, Irvin 0 0 0-0 0, Rubenacker 0 0 2-2 2.
2FG-13, 3FG-3, FT-17-19, PF-26.
Woodlawn (70) – D. Verhines 3 0 11-14 17, Hammond 3 0 3-4 9, Boldt 1 0 0-0 2, B. Verhines 3 0 4-4 10, Green 3 0 5-5 11, Wiggs 3 0 6-6 12, Hart 3 0 1-2 7, Simmons 0 0 0-0 0, Wehrheim 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-20, 3FG-0, FT-30-35, PF-20.
Fouled Out – Biggerstaff, Rubenacker - Ham. Co.
Technical Fouls – None.