01-14-05
BY JACK BULLOCK
BLUFORD - Heading into its Friday nights' Mid-South Conference showdown at Bluford, Woodlawn coach Shane Witzel felt his team had to take care of the ball to have a chance at upsetting Webber Township on the Trojans' home turf.

However what the Cardinals did was commit several Cardinal 'basketball sins.'

Namely a succession of turnovers, nine in the first 16 minutes of play, in which Webber Township turned into several easy baskets.

The end result was a 63-41 loss on the road, which put the Trojans in the Mid-South Conference driver's seat.

Getting a balanced scoring attack featuring four players in double-figures, coach Clarence Gross' club improved to 12-2 overall and 5-0 in the MSC with two of those league triumphs coming at the expense of the two-time defending titlist Woodlawn.

With the win, the Trojans now hold a two-game lead over the rest of the pack in a league that has been dominated by the Cardinals the past two seasons.

"We have made an effort to get more touches to all of our kids on offense the last three games and to get more players involved in the scoring and it has paid off," said Gross, whose team has won three-straight league contests after being embarrassed by Galatia on January 4th at home.
"Getting four guys in double-figures shows how much better we are as a team when we play unselfish basketball."

Webber Township jumped out early with several easy baskets as five early Woodlawn turnovers created easy Trojan opportunities.

Bryce McKenzie was the early Webber 'hot hand' as he scored eight first quarter points.

His two initial shots were in transition off of Woodlawn miscues. After he opened the game scoring with a pair of free throws, his first bucket came on a 10-footer from the right side on a fast break making it 4-0 Webber with under a minute gone in the contest.

By the time he scored again on a drive in the lane, Webber was in command at 10-2 forcing a Woodlawn time out at 4:49 remaining.

Following a Jabe Michel basket, which increased the Trojans advantage to 12-2, Woodlawn made its best run of the evening by scoring eight-straight points.

Four different Redbirds rolled in shots, with Mike Pool, Jason Langhauser, Kyle Ritchey and John Kindle all scoring baskets.

When Kindle scored on a fast break to finish the scoring spurt, Woodlawn trailed by just two at 12-10.

But Cody Swartz netted the final two baskets of the frame for Webber on a nice pass from Joey Ullery and then on a 15-footer from the left side to end the opening quarter at 16-10 Trojans.

The second quarter produced more mistakes by the Cardinals, despite remaining close on the scoreboard.

Scoring four-straight points on a fast break basket by Mike Tiemann and the Cardinals' only two free throws of the evening by Pool, Woodlawn trailed just 16-14.

However Webber closed out the period with a 16-6 run. Ullery highlighted the Trojan scoring crusade with a six points.

A rebound put back off of his own miss, a 10-foot pull up basket in transition and a pair of free throws while being fouled on a fast break closed the first half at 32-20 Webber.

But five second quarter turnovers was something that Woodlawn coach Shane Witzel was dreading.

"In a big game you have to limit your turnovers and of our nine first half turnovers, probably six of them were unforced errors and you can't do that against someone as good as Webber," said Witzel, who saw his troops drop their record to 10-8 overall, 3-3 in the Mid-South. "We got behind and tried to force the issue some and their defense was good tonight. I think people should start realizing how good they (Webber) really are."

While theatrically the Cardinals were still in the game, it only took a few moments in the third quarter to change that notion.

Six-straight points to open the third quarter took most of the wind out of the Woodlawn sails.
Two 'in close' baskets by Ullery and McKenzie followed by a Swartz basket on the receiving end of a Michel assist and it was quickly 38-20 Webber with 5:48 to go.

Another McKenzie basket, a fast break lay up by reserve Derrick Trout, and yet another score from Swartz and the lead ballooned to 46-26 with :48 left in the quarter.

Before the reserves took over in the final minutes of the fourth quarter, the fifth starter for Webber showed once again that the Trojans have a lot of weapons.

Brad Porter hit a 3-pointer from the left wing and followed that up with a score in the lane while posting up a defender.

When his short bank shot fell, the Trojans had the game in hand at 58-34.

Witzel ran the 'white flag up the pole' at the 2:47 mark by emptying his bench and coach Gross followed suit in a game that was anticipated to be closer after Webber struggled in a 59-56 win over Woodlawn on December 7th.

"They (Webber) posed us some match up problems just like everyone else that plays us. They have basically five guards and they can face the basket and can post up people," added Witzel.

The Trojans defense was effective tonight on Woodlawn, holding the Cardinals to just one player (Pool) to double figures as the 5-foot-10 senior point guard led his club with 12-points.

John Kindle, Justin Bonifacius and Jason Langhauser finished with six-points each.

Langhauser was seeing his first action of the season after a knee injury while playing football in the fall sidelined him for the first 17 Woodlawn contests.

"It was good to have another senior out there with Langhauser back now and I told him it will take a while to get his timing back after being out for so long," Witzel said.

As for Webber Township, their scoring couldn't be much more balanced, with four starters hitting double-figures.

Swartz topped the Trojans with 15-points while McKenzie chipped in 13. Twelve points from Ullery, 11 markers from Porter and eight points from Michel is a breath of fresh air for coach Gross, who has a club that is playing like he thought they would back in November.

"We are playing well right now. The Galatia game was a 'wake up call' to this group that you have to show up and play hard each night. The last three games I have been pleased," finalized Gross, whose club faces a monumental challenge next week as they take on a strong field at the Carmi-White County Invitational Tournament. "We want to go into that tournament with an attitude that we are going to have some fun and see how good we are. I think we can play with those teams."

The Trojans shot a respectable 25-of-59 (42 percent) while holding a 37-25 rebounding edge.

Woodlawn shot just 19-of-54 from the field (35 percent) but 15 turnovers told a lot of the story as the Cardinals prepare for Waltonville next Tuesday at home.

Woodlawn (41) - Pool 5 0 2-2 12, Kindle 3 0 0-0 6, Tiemann 1 0 0-0 2, Bonifacius 3 0 0-0 6, Kabat 1 0 0-0 2, Langhauser 3 0 0-0 6, Ritchey 1 0 0-0 2, Shurtz 1 0 0-0 2, Hasler 0 1 0-0 3.
2FG-18, 3FG-1, FT-2-2, PR-12.
Webber Township (63) - Porter 4 1 0-1 11, McKenzie 5 0 3-4 13, Ullery 5 0 2-2 12, Michel 3 0 2-2 8, Swartz 6 0 3-3 15, trout 1 0 0-0 2, Truitt 0 0 2-2 2.
2FG-24, 3FG-1, FT-12-14, PF-10.
Fouled Out - None.
Technical Fouls - None.