02-27-15
BY JACK BULLOCK
WOODLAWN - Sesser-Valier senior guard Nick Marlo certainly shows up when the lights are the brightest.

On Friday night in the title game of the Woodlawn 1A Regional, Marlo lit a first quarter fuse that sparked an explosion of points for him and his Red Devils.

His 15-points in the first quarter ignited a sparkling performance, leading the third-seed in the regional to a lopsided 64-42 win that wasn't even as close as the scoreboard indicated.

Nailing three of his six 3-pointers in that opening stanza, Marlo got the Red Devils rolling into their second consecutive sectional as he finished with 33-points.

“He (Marlo) is a very special kid. He shot the ball very well and I thought he played tremendous defense. He executed what he was supposed to do very well,” said Coach Garner about Marlo. “He was supposed to control both ends of the floor and he did that. I'm proud of him and I can't wait to see what is next.”

In a polar opposite effect, Woodlawn did virtually nothing right on Friday night, hitting just 16 percent from the field in the first quarter as they never really challenged Sesser-Valier as their season came to an abrupt end.

Top to bottom, opening tap until the final horn, this was a dominating performance.

Sesser-Valier took their football co-op brothers to the “woodshed” as they moved a step closer to a return trip to Peoria.

Last year's journey began with the same sort of dominating showcase as they humbled the Cardinals at Christopher to win the regional.

This contest wasn't much different as Coach Shane Garner's club won every facet of this game that was pretty much over at halftime.

Missing some pretty good looks at the basket at the beginning of the game and witnessing Marlo maneuver his way around the 3-point arc, Woodlawn fell into a quicksand of a deficit in the opening few minutes and there was no rope to be found.

The 5-foot-11 senior guard nailed a 3-pointer to open the scoring and he and his club never looked back into the rear view mirror.

“Marlo is just a special player and we just picked a bad night to shoot it bad,” said Woodlawn head coach Shane Witzel. “They were not guarding a few of our guys, and those guys have developed into good scorers for us but we collectively all had a bad shooting night. When they (Sesser-Valier) are going to help off in the lane that much we need to be able to make some shots. And we didn't, particularly in the first half. We had some open looks, some 10 to 15-foot shots that we needed to make.”

After Marlo made his second 3-pointer to give S-V a 6-2 advantage, Woodlawn's 6-foot-4 junior guard Ross Owens hit a pair of free throws.

This was significant only in the fact that this would be as close as the Cardinals would come to the back bumper of this Franklin County Ferrari.

Marlo had some help on the night as senior guard Logan Barrett stepped up and hit some shots for Sesser-Valier.

He netted 11-points on the night and his lay in on an assist from teammate Luke Thompson started a quarter-ending 11-2 spurt.

Nine straight points were scored by Marlo.

His drive to the basket while being fouled by Woodlawn's Blake Wollerman turned into a conventional three-point play.

Marlo then nailed his third long range bomb to end the scoring run for the quarter at 17-6.

Connecting on just 2-of-12 shots in the frame (with only one offensive rebound in the mix) Woodlawn was in trouble.

It didn't get any better for the hosts in the second quarter.

Marlo added a pair of free throws and teammate 6-foot-2 sophomore center Jamie Lance added a pair of baskets and two free throws as the Red Devils kept pounding away.

Barrett stepped up again in the quarter, and when he was successful on a second drive to the basket in the period, Sesser-Valier had all the momentum at 29-15 heading to the break.

Coming out of the intermission, Woodlawn needed to make some things happen to get back into the match up.

Unfortunately Marlo and the Red Devils weren't going to allow that.

The senior guard picked up where he left off, coming out of the halftime recess to drill home 11-consecutive points for S-V.

Back-to-back 3-point bombs and a drive to the basket was a “hay-maker” thrown at the hosts.

When he connected on his third trifecta in the run, a shot from the right wing that bounced high off the rim but fell into the goal, Sesser-Valier was in total control at 40-18 at the 4:56 mark.

“It is something that we have been able to do lately. It doesn't matter what the score is, we are going to come out and play basketball,” said Coach Garner about his teams' second half start. “Nick took that first shot (in the third quarter) like it was zero-zero, he was going to take that shot no matter what. We just kept playing ball.”

Senior teammates Jacob Vanwey and Thompson also managed to score from long range in the third.

Both hit shots from the left wing and when Thompson connect on his attempt, Sesser-Valier had a 50-27 advantage with 1:20 remaining.

As it turned out, the final score could have been much worse.

The Red Devils, if one was to nit-pick a performance as dominating as this one was, hit just 21-of-35 free throws on the night and they missed eight of those shots in the final quarter.

By the time Thompson nailed his second trey, it was time to run out the clock with a 61-39 lead with 4:02 left.

The two coaches soon emptied the benches as the Red Devils ran a spread offense and stopped trying to score.

“Our kids are 'big-game' kids. We have gotten better each game (in this run) and that is just a tribute to our kids. They love these big games,” said Coach Garner. “They love big crowds and to get to perform for them. They did just that tonight.”

The Red Devils hit 18-of-43 shots on the night (41.8 percent) making nine 2's and nine 3's.

That percentage isn't spectacular unless you compare it to Woodlawn's performance.

The Cardinals were just 11-of-42 (26.1 percent) and hit just 3-of-18 from the arc (16.6 percent) as nothing went right offensively.

Brett Harris, a junior forward, topped the Cardinals with 11-points while Austin Ballard and Blake Wollerman added nine and seven.

Sesser-Valier hammered the hosts on the boards, holding a 33-21 edge and grabbing 12 offensive rebounds.

The Red Devils committed 11-turnovers but six of those were in the second half when the dust was settling on the destruction.

“We were confident that we were going to come out and shoot the ball well. We told the kids, we are going to get open shots. If you get it, take it and don't think anything of it. We played with complete confidence and threw fear out the window tonight,” said Coach Shane Garner. “Our kids played on their toes and I'm very proud of them.”

Sesser-Valier improved its record to 22-9 on the season and will take on Meridian at the Hardin County 1A Sectional on Tuesday night.

Meridian bested Trico 48-44 on Friday night at Campbell Hill to claim that regional crown.

The two teams met January 28 at the Benton Invitational Tournament with the Red Devils coming out on top 75-62.

Woodlawn, the top-ranked ABV 1A team for most of the second half of the season, saw its campaign close at 25-4.

“Our kids have a lot of heart and care about one another and it is tough to go into that locker room. The worst part about high school basketball was the conversation we just had (talking to the kids after a loss) and to these kids it is one of the most important times of their lives,” said Coach Witzel. “Granted it is easy to say it is just a game but it is a tough way to end the season. Especially since we were considerably better now than we were at the beginning of the season.”