02-07-09
BY JACK BULLOCK
NASHVILLE - Bronson Verhines is showing the Southern Illinois basketball community that he can step up in big games.

On Saturday afternoon at the Nashville Booster Club Shootout – Verhines put up some impressive numbers in leading his Cardinals to a 54-47 come-from-behind overtime win over Okawville.

This 6-foot-4 senior forward stepped up with a 28-point outing which included five points in the overtime session to improve the Woodlawn record to 18-1 overall.

Okawville (10-14) has played a strong schedule of games and were a much better opponent for the Cardinals than they were back in December when Woodlawn topped the Rockets 51-38 in the title game of the Marissa Tournament.

Verhines’ performance overshadowed the effort by Okawville’s Clark Weeke – who connected on five 3-pointers in the game and led the Rockets with 21-points.

Devin Clary – a 6-foot-2 senior who didn’t play in the first Woodlawn game – added 10-points for Okawville.

“Offensively we are slowly but surely getting there,” said Okawville coach Aaron Tebbe – who is filling in for head coach Jon Kraus who is sidelined with a knee injury. “We kept the tempo where we wanted it and I told the kids at halftime that if we keep the game to 35-to-40 points we will win the game. It was 45-all for overtime so we were right there.”

The Cardinals came right back from their first defeat of the season last Tuesday at home against Sesser-Valier for two good showings with wins over Odin and Okawville.

“This was a good way of finishing the week and I felt like we really executed well down the stretch,” said Woodlawn head coach Shane Witzel. “In the fourth quarter Bronson really made some big shots for us in our comeback. Then he hit a big shot in overtime to get us the lead and then he made the free throws at the end.”

Okawville had chances to win the game and had a shot at the end of regulation just misfire before the buzzer.

Weeke drove hard to the basket and laid the ball up on the backboard for the potential game-winner but it fell into Verhines’ hands as time expired in the fourth quarter with the game even at 45-all.

“We had a good look at the bucket (Weeke drive) for a win but it didn’t go in,” added Tebbe. “We will take that every time.”

The Cards outscored Okawville 9-4 for the win in the extra session.

“We have been trying to play strong and be physical on offense,” added Witzel. “We felt like we could get to the free throw line a little bit more than what we have been doing. And it was a positive that we converted there as well.”

It was clear that Okawville wanted a pedestrian tempo of the game and it worked for nearly all four quarters.

Getting the Cardinals to play a half-court grind-it-out contest – the Rockets were on the verge of knocking off the state-ranked Cardinals.

Clary scored four points in the opening quarter for Okawville in close to the basket.

His drive to the lane with 4:36 left cut the Cardinals lead to 8-6.

But Woodlawn spent most of this game going to the foul line and they hit all six of their attempts in the first eight minutes.

Verhines, Kyle Boldt and Jase Green each hit a pair in the first quarter and when Green – a 6-foot-3 senior left-handed guard – took the ball to the basket with his right hand for a score – Woodlawn led 10-6 at the first stop.

Okawville got its first lead of the game with ten points coming from a pair of 3-pointers from Weeke and baskets by Tyler Brammeier and Bryan Leadendecker.

Weeke’s second trifecta tied the game at 14-all and Leadendecker followed that with a score on a drive to the basket for a 16-14 advantage.

Okawville ran some clock on a couple of long possessions in the quarter but the last one ended up with a turnover with 1:39 to go.

Woodlawn closed out the half with Verhines getting a lob from his brother Dawson for a basket and a 16-all tie at intermission.

“You have to give them (Okawville) credit. They wanted to keep the tempo in their favor and in the first half they spread the floor on us a few times,” Witzel added.

Weeke continued his hot shooting with three more bombs from long range in the third quarter to push his Rockets into the lead.

His third jumper followed by another Clary basket had Woodlawn in trouble with 3:37 left at 30-24 Rockets.

At that point Bronson Verhines came up with a couple of big shots – both from behind the arc – to help get the Cardinals into position for a fourth quarter rally.

He canned two 3-pointers – his second one from the right wing closed the quarter’s scoring at 34-31 Rockets.

Coach Witzel’s club looked the part of a winner when Woodlawn went on a 7-0 run midway into the fourth quarter to take back the lead.

A 3-pointer by Dawson Verhines and four point from Bronson on a pair of free throws and an offensive rebound and baseline drive made it 43-40 with just over three minutes remaining.

“Once the game got faster where they couldn’t spread out the floor we did a better job,” Witzel added. “They definitely had the tempo in their favor for most of the game. In the second half we tried to mix it up and tried to make it a faster game.”

However Okawville took advantage of some fouls by Woodlawn by making 5-of-6 charity tosses to take back the lead.

Weeke hit two of the shots with :32.9 remaining and the Rockets led 45-44.

Bronson Verhines hit 1-of-2 free throws with :19.3 left to tie the game.

On his second miss – Okawville’s Clary grabbed the rebound and the Rockets worked for an open shot and they got one when Weeke drove the lane. But his shot misfired sending the teams to overtime.

Woodlawn dominated the extra frame for their 18th win of the season.

Following Verhines’ 28 was brother Dawson with 11-points.

Green was next on the list with six points for Coach Witzel’s club.

The Cardinals – who have lived at the free throw line most of the season – hit on 23-of-30 attempts in the game.

Woodlawn held a 29-20 rebounding edge and – after a sloppy first quarter with five turnovers – committed just 10 miscues.

Neither squad shot the ball well from the floor as the Cards finished 14-of-44 overall while Okawville was just 16-of-36 from the field.

“We sent them to the line too much, especially in the first half,” explained Tebbe. “Every foul that we gave, gave them two shots and you can’t do that. They took it to the hole and we fouled them a lot.”

The Cardinals – now the top seeded team in their own regional – have five games in two weeks remaining in the regular season caused by the weather cancellations.

Okawville will head to Marissa-Coulterville on Tuesday night while Woodlawn will play host to Wayne City on the same night.

Woodlawn (54) – D. Verhines 2 1 4-6 11, Hammond 0 0 3-5 3, Boldt 0 0 2-2 2, B. Verhines 6 2 10-12 28, Green 1 0 0-1 2, Hart 0 0 0-0 0, Simmons 1 0 0-0 2, Wehrheim 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-11, 3FG-3, FT-23-30, PF-17.
Okawville (47) – Barkau 2 0 2-2 6, Weeke 2 5 2-2 21, Leadendecker 1 0 0-0 2, N. Frederking 0 0 0-0 0, Z. Brammeier 0 0 0-0 0, Clary 4 0 2-2 10, T. Brammeier 2 0 4-5 8, J. Frederking 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-11, 3FG-5, FT-10-11, PF-19.
Fouled Out – Clary, Leadendecker - Okawville.
Technical Fouls – None.

HAMILTON COUNTY 60, MARISSA-COULTERVILLE 38
The Foxes used a 12-0 run in the first quarter to break away from the Meteors in the opening game of the Nashville Shootout on Saturday.

Shelby Williams paced three Hamilton County players in double-figures with 12-points.

Seth Thomas and Brandon Biggerstaff added 11 and 10 points respectively in the win to improve the Foxes to 16-7 on the season.

Marissa-Coulterville (8-11) didn’t have a player in double-digits and were topped by nine points from Michael Lloyd and eight points from David Parkinson.

Twelve Foxes scored points for Hamilton County in the victory.

Hamilton County (60) – Smith 0 0 1-2 1, Thomas 1 2 3-4 11, Williams 6 0 0-1 12, Biggerstaff 4 0 2-2 10, J. Webb 3 0 2-3 8, B. Webb 2 0 4-4 8, Denham 0 1 0-0 3, Reyling 0 0 0-0 0, Hopfinger 1 0 0-0 2, Rubenacker 0 0 0-0 0, Irvin 0 0 1-2 1, Griesemer 1 0 0-0 2, Stewart 0 0 1-2 1, Limmons 0 0 1-2 1.
2FG-18, 3FG-3, FT-15-22, PF-15.
Marissa-Coulterville (38) – Byrd 1 0 5-6 7, Mahan 0 0 0-0 0, Sinn 1 1 2-2 7, Fullerton 1 0 1-2 3, Choate 1 0 0-0 2, Lloyd 4 0 1-4 9, Parkinson 4 0 0-0 8, White 0 0 0-0 0, Pannier 0 0 0-0 0, Pitchford 1 0 0-0 2.
Fouled Out – Choate - Marissa-Coulterville.
Technical Fouls – None.