01-26-06
BY JACK BULLOCK
WOODLAWN - On Thursday night at the Woodlawn Invitational Tournament, undefeated Waltonville got another gimmick defense thrown at them.

Although Sandoval played a simple 2-3 zone against the Spartans, head coach Chad Harper instructed his club to 'pack' the zone inside the paint, daring Waltonville to shoot from the outside.

As the Blackhawks had hoped, Waltonville bombed away from the outside.

But one particular Spartan took advantage of those wide-open looks at the basket.

Derek Tepovich connected on six 3-pointers in the game, all in the first half as Waltonville marched its way to win number 21 against no losses in a 67-27 triumph.

What was more impressive about the victory was that despite not being as sharp offensively as they would like, the Spartans defensively shut down the Sandoval attack.

Holding the Blackhawks to just six second half points, Waltonville improved to 2-0 this week at the WIT with two games remaining this weekend against rival Woodlawn and Christopher.

Coach Mike Denault's club had 11 players score points in a game that was close for the first quarter and a half, which made some of the Waltonville fan base a bit uneasy.

Nevertheless, with a defensive effort that forced 16 Sandoval turnovers and held the Hawks to just 10-of-45 shooting on the night, the state-ranked Spartans were never in any serious trouble as they continue their quest for a third tournament title this season.

"They (Sandoval) took a chance and they sat back and kept those three guys in the paint all night and I think that Chad (Harper) thought that it was their best chance to compete if we came out and couldn't hit from the perimeter," said Denault. "He felt like he wanted someone tonight other than our big guys to beat them and tonight Derek (Tepovich) stepped up and hit six 3-pointers. And we expect that, when people leave him open he needs to step out and hit those shots."

Tepovich connected on two early 'trifectas' and, with a pair of baskets by Josh Ralls and Anthony Lowery, Waltonville led 10-2 with 5:36 to play in the first period.

But Sandoval stuck to its game plan and mounted a comeback that nearly got the Blackhawks the lead.

Nathan Koch, a Sandoval senior guard, scored eight of his team-high 18-points in the first eight minutes.

He hit back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the Waltonville lead down to 12-10 at the 1:26 mark.

Koch also kept the game within range with two more 3-pointers early in the second quarter; the second one cut the lead back to 19-16 Waltonville.

But the Spartans made a run like the tournament champions that they have been to take the wind out of the Blackhawks sails.

A 12-2 spurt in just over two minutes of play expanded the Waltonville edge to 31-18.

Koch and Tepovich traded 3-point bombs to make the score 34-21 Spartans at the break.

Waltonville put the outcome to rest in the opening 3:52 of the second half, scoring eight points to double up the score on Sandoval 42-21.

"Our game plan worked. Their big guys didn't score much and they shot the 3's like we wanted them to do and our effort was there tonight," said Harper, who saw his teams' record slip to 10-10 on the season. "We just got beat by a real good team tonight. When we got fatigued tonight in the second half, they took off and left us. They kept rotating guys in and we can't do that. When we would spread the floor and drive past one guy, someone would be there waiting to block a shot or defend."

The second half was all Spartans as the Mid-South Conference leaders scored 21 of the games' final 23 points.

With Waltonville starting guard and senior leader Adam Kitowski still sidelined with a broken bone in his left thumb (non-shooting hand) it was good to see some other guys step up and provide some offense, according to their coach.

"I thought we had an excellent effort tonight but with the way that they (Sandoval) were playing us, our post players didn't get many touches," added Denault. "It was good that we hit some shots from the outside tonight because the more perimeter shots we make the more teams will know that they can't guard us like that."

The Spartans hit 26-of-63 shots overall (41 percent) but were even better from behind the 3-point line, going 11-of-25 (44 percent).

Waltonville used its size advantage to hold a 34-23 rebounding edge while also taking good care of the basketball, committing just eight violations.

On the Sandoval side of the ledger, the Hawks were just 5-of-36 on their two-point attempts after hitting 5-of-9 from behind the arc, four of which came from Koch in the first half.

"We are starting to get that bulls eye on our backs, a win against us would be a 'season maker' for some teams," added Denault. "And I want to see that, I want to see teams come out and give us their best effort and test us each game."

Both teams' head back to the court on Friday night for the rivalry portion of the tournament.

Patoka and Sandoval renew their Marion County get together with a 6:15 pm tap while Waltonville and Woodlawn hook up for the second time this season in the nightcap at 7:45 pm.

	1	2	3	4		Final
Waltonville	14	20	15	18	-	67
Sandoval	10	11	4	2	-	27

Waltonville (67) - Owens 0 1 0-0 3, Ralls 1 0 1-2 3, O'Bryant 0 0 0-0 0, A. Kash 0 0 0-0 0, Tepovich 2 6 0-0 22, Reeves 2 0 0-0 4, Lowery 3 1 0-0 9, J. Kash 2 0 1-1 5, Kubiak 2 0 0-0 4, McGovern 1 0 0-0 2, Kabat 0 3 0-0 9, Talbert 2 0 0-0 4, Reynolds 0 0 0-0 0, Spotanski 0 0 2-4 2.
2FG-15, 3FG-11, FT-4-7, PF-8.
Sandoval (27) - Koch 2 4 2-5 18, Irvin 0 0 0-0 0, Dahl 0 1 0-0 3, Gambil 2 0 0-0 4, Conrad 1 0 0-1 2, Guern 0 0 0-0 0, Fair 0 0 0-0 0, Bootright 0 0 0-0 0, Marcketti 0 0 0-0 0, Kishbaugh 0 0 0-0 0, Quick 0 0 0-0 0, Dye 0 0 0-0 0, Holstlaw 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-5, 3FG-5, FT-2-6, PF-10.
Fouled Out - Gambil, Sandoval.
Technical Fouls - None.

CHRISTOPHER 67, PATOKA 54
The Bearcats received a 33-point outburst from Nick Minor as coach Gary Gischer's club improved to 13-7 on the season with the win over the Warriors.

With 17-points and eight rebounds, Will Toney added important numbers to the Bearcats' total.

With the win, Christopher is now 2-1 in the tournament with a game against Waltonville on Saturday night remaining.

Patoka (3-16) placed two players in double-figures with Matt Thompson leading the way with 17-points while Rio Hames added 16.

Minor did his damage inside and in transition, hitting on 14-field goals and 5-of-6 free throws.

The Bearcats opened up an 18-9 first quarter lead and were never threatened.

Despite hitting four fourth quarter 3-pointers, Patoka saw their mark in the WIT slip to 0-3.

	1	2	3	4		Final
Patoka	9	16	14	13	-	54
Chirstopher	18	15	16	18	-	67

Patoka (54) - Thompson 4 3 0-0 17, Cain 0 0 0-0 0, Back 0 3 0-0 6, Potter 1 1 4-4 9, Sullens 0 0 0-0 0, Hames 6 1 1-3 16, Carroll 2 0 2-4 6.
2FG-13, 3FG-7, FT-7-11, PF-16.
Christopher (67) - Minor 14 0 5-6 33, Niblett 2 0 3-4 7, Palmer 1 0 0-0 2, Thomas 1 0 0-0 2, Toney 8 0 1-2 17, Twitty 1 0 0-1 2, Martin 2 0 0-0 4, Overturf 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-29, 3FG-0, FT-9-13, PF-14.
Fouled Out - Metcalf, Patoka.
Technical Fouls - None.