03-06-09
BY JACK BULLOCK
BRIDGEPORT - The Road to Peoria has many twists and turns.

The Woodlawn Cardinals navigated another stretch of hazardous hardwood highway on Friday night in the title game of the Red Hill Class 1A Regional and are now just a win away from the “Final Four.”

Playing a fired up host team that shot “lights out” all night – Woodlawn overcame many obstacles to reach the “Elite Eight” for the first time with a 77-69 win over Red Hill to reach Tuesday night’s Carbondale Class 1A Supersectional.

The Cardinals will face Okawville for a third time this season - following the Rockets’ 40-34 overtime win over Carrier Mills at the Trico Sectional.

Casey Hammond and Dawson Verhines stepped up big in the second half for Woodlawn with Hammond scoring 10-fourth quarter points including a steal and fast-break lay in with :24.2 remaining that broke the game open.

Going to the line after Trevor Albertson was called for an intentional foul on the play – Hammond hit 1-of-2 free throws to give the Cards a 72-66 lead.

Woodlawn then made 5-of-6 free throws to close out the sectional championship triumph in front of 2,200 fans at Bridgeport.

The Salukis (16-11) nearly shocked the South as they played right with the favored Cardinals – hitting 59 percent of their shots (23-of-39) on the night as they answered every run with a scoring run of their own.

At least they did until the final one.

Coach Shane Witzel’s squad closed the deal with an 8-0 backbreaking sprint to the finish line (10-3 in the final 1:07) as the team now has the best record in the school’s basketball history at 28-1.

“We just grind it out. We just had to find a way to survive,” said Woodlawn head coach Shane Witzel. “In the first half I didn’t think we guarded very well and in the second half they were making guarded shots. The most important thing was that we bounced back in the second half. We had to switch up some defenses in the second half with Bronson (Verhines) fouled out.”

Hammond topped all scorers with 26-points – including those 10 in the fourth quarter after teammate and leading scorer coming in Verhines (14.1 p.p.g.) had fouled out with just seconds left in the third quarter after scoring just eight points.

Verhines had picked up a technical foul in the first half and then was called for an over-the-back foul with :09.0 left in the third quarter that sent him to the bench for the remainder of the game.

But Hammond and Co. picked up the slack quickly.

Following two missed free throws by Matt Wirth (whom Bronson had fouled) Hammond canned a 3-pointer from the left wing with :02 left to give Woodlawn the lead for good at 53-50 heading into the final quarter.

“We went through a lot tonight when Bronson fouled out and he is a big part of our defense but we played our hearts out for him and came away with the victory,” said Hammond – a 5-foot-10 junior guard - who nailed three treys in the game. “Hopefully we can do the exact same thing on Tuesday night as we did here.”

Red Hill closed within one-point twice in the final quarter only to be thwarted by Hammond each time.

Josh Hawkins topped the Salukis with 22-points which included seven points in the fourth quarter.

His driving shot with 6:23 remaining cut the Woodlawn lead to 57-56.

Enter Mr. Hammond again – this time burying his third and final 3-pointer of the game to push Woodlawn back up by four.

Hawkins final points came on his third trey of the game that cut Woodlawn’s advantage to 67-66 with 2:30 left.

Red Hill wouldn’t score again until a window-dressing 3-pointer with :07.3 left.

Jase Green slammed the door shut with a pair of free throws a few seconds later to seal the sectional championship.

“They’re a tough team. I don’t know but him (Verhines) fouling out might have been the best thing to have happen for them (Woodlawn) because how many times have you seen a team rise to the occasion when something like that happens?” said Red Hill head coach Bryan Havill. “Maybe we let up some when he fouled out. But they’re not a one-dimensional team and when we scouted them we couldn’t find any weaknesses. That is what makes them a great team. We played nearly a perfect game but we still lost.”

Red Hill had everything going their way in the first half as the upset was brewing on high heat in the hot gym at Bridgeport.

Sparked by Matt Wirth - a 6-foot-3 junior forward who ended up with 17-points that included 10-points in the first quarter - Red Hill led 18-12 at the end of one.

Pounding the ball inside – the Salukis got open looks around the basket and nailed the long-range shots they attempted.

Red Hill was 6-of-8 from the field in the first eight minutes in building a lead on state-ranked Woodlawn.

The Cardinals rallied in the second quarter by forcing five Red Hill turnovers and finished off a 10-0 run to even things at 18-all with 6:32 left.

However Red Hill went on a 13-2 scoring run with Trevor Albertson and Dereck Brewer each hitting 3-pointers.

Brewer’s trey from the top of the arc with 2:34 left forced a Woodlawn time out at 31-20 Red Hill.

“They (Red Hill) did an outstanding job adjusting to our defenses and we played every defense that we had tonight,” added Coach Witzel. “We were just trying to find something that would work because we had trouble guarding them man-to-man.”

Woodlawn began their comeback at the close of the first half with Hammond and Dawson Verhines each scoring in transition.

Verhines finished the second quarter scoring on a drive to the basket that cut the Salukis advantage at 32-28 at intermission.

Then the sophomore point guard hit both of his 3-pointers in the third quarter as Woodlawn got its first lead.

Verhines hit a shot from behind the line and then fed Josh Wiggs with a pass in the lane for a score and a 36-35 Woodlawn lead.

Bronson Verhines grabbed a rebound for a basket while being fouled in the final seconds of the third quarter but he didn’t hang around long after that.

After his foul shot misfired he picked up his fifth foul on an offensive rebound attempt that sent him to the bench for the remainder of the title game.

He teammates stepped up making sure that the 6-foot-4 senior forward will get to suit up again.

Woodlawn shot the ball well from the field (26-of-55) and took care of the basketball by committing just four turnovers.

Wiggs added 14-points off the bench to the Cardinals’ offense.

The Cardinals hit 24-of-32 free throws (75 percent) with 7-of-10 in the final quarter.

“We kept fighting. Our kids really fought and that is the most important thing; they played to win,” Witzel added. “They’re good young men and that is what makes this rewarding. The wins are just ‘icing on the cake’. They are a very good group to coach. They have all been willing to accept their roles.”

Red Hill saw its season come to an end with four postseason wins after getting just two offensive rebounds and being out boarded 28-21.

“We knew that we had to play a great game just to stay in the game and I thought we did that tonight,” said Coach Havill. “I think that we got the game (tempo) that we wanted but they just killed us on the boards tonight. They are a great rebounding team. It is hard to find a weakness. I think that they can run the table and I hope that they do.”

Red Hill (69) – Hawkins 4 3 5-6 22, Latch 0 0 1-2 1, Brian 0 0 0-0 0, Albertson 3 1 2-2 11, Brewer 0 3 0-0 9, Jones 0 0 0-0 0, Wirth 7 0 3-3 17, Young 2 0 5-8 9.
2FG-16, 3FG-7, FT-16-21, PF-24.
Woodlawn (77) – D. Verhines 6 2 7-7 19, Hammond 5 3 7-11 26, Boldt 0 0 0-0 0, B. Verhines 3 0 2-2 8, Green 0 0 6-6 6, Wiggs 6 0 2-6 14, Hart 0 0 0-0 0, Simmons 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-21, 3FG-5, FT-24-32, PF-18.
Fouled Out – B. Verhines - Woodlawn.
Technical Fouls – B. Verhines - Woodlawn.