BY JACK BULLOCK
WAYNE CITY – As the old saying goes, when the going gets tough, the tough get going.

In their contest against Webber Township at the Wayne City Holiday Tournament on Wednesday night, Patoka was in trouble in the early part of the fourth quarter.

The Warriors had given up a lead after committing four turnovers in the first 1:12 of play as Webber took at 42-37 lead.

However Coach Joe Eddy's club has dealt with this sort of adversity before and everyone knew what to do.

What they did was get the ball in the hands of 6-foot-1 senior guard Jered Cain.

Behind 31-points from the scoring ace and a pressure defense that forced Webber Township into six fourth quarter turnovers, the Warriors turned things around late in the contest as they kept their championship hopes alive as they “toughed out” a 59-51 win in the nightcap on Wednesday night at the 63rd annual event.

Patoka can reach title game if they can beat Red Hill on Friday night.

Cain led the comeback with 13 of his points in the final quarter and he was part of the full-court press applied to the Trojans.

Cain picked up three of the four steals the Warriors came up with in the decisive final stanza sprint.

His drive to the basket for a conventional three-point play with with 3:09 remaining gave Patoka back the lead for good at 49-46.

“I've been very impressed by his leadership this year. He wants to get our guys involved early but sometimes when you are that good like he is, you want him to be more selfish, which is a fine line,” said Coach Eddy about Cain. “When he is making the easy pass and not trying to make the perfect pass, he is nearly impossible to guard.”

Coach Eddy saw his club seal the win from the foul line with 8-of-10 charity tosses in the final 2:18.

Coach Brad Beaty's team played well for the most part of the contest but they made key mistakes in inopportune times as the Trojans fell to 1-2 in Pool A.

Junior guard Dylan Stratton led Webber with 22-points as the 5-foot-11 guard delivered four 3-pointers in the game.

Dalton Hart, a 6-foot-1 junior forward, added 10-points for the Trojans.

In fact those two converted back-to-back free throws (two each) which gave Webber a 46-41 lead with 3:59 left.

It was at that point that the wheels came off of the wagon for Webber.

Patoka closed the deal with a 10-0 run that capped a stretch in which the Warriors forced four straight turnovers by Webber where the full court pressure melted the Trojans and their victory chances.

Cain scored nine of the points in the scoring march, with a back-breaker coming on a beautiful spin move to the basket while being fouled by Hart.

It was Hart's fifth personal foul for disqualification and the Cain made free throw gave the Warriors a 49-46 lead at the 3:09 mark.

“I wasn't sure about putting it (the press) on them because they (Webber) are a very good ballhandling team and a smart team. All of those guys played varsity for them last year,” said Coach Eddy. “We did a good job of rotating instead of gambling and we let them make the mistakes trying to throw the ball over the top.”

The second head of the two-headed Warriors' monster is 6-foot-5 senior forward Garrett Belcher.

This veteran came up big on both ends, most importantly was his defensive work in the middle of the floor for Coach Eddy.

Belcher averages a double-double on the season and his 14-points and 10-rebounds were par for the course.

However he was a factor in equalizing the Trojans best inside weapon on the night as he held 6-foot-5 junior forward Charles Neal to just nine-points, and just one field goal in the second half.

“Anytime you can hold that kid (Neal) to under ten points you have definitely done a good job,” said Coach Eddy. “Garrett (Belcher) doesn't get much credit defensively. He is a good help defender and he did a good job.”

Other than the brief stretch in the fourth quarter, Webber was right there with the state-ranked Patoka club for the rest of the matchup.

Hart and 6-foot-1 junior Brodie Mount helped the Trojans get out of the gate early against Patoka with consecutive scores

But Belcher and Cain also got off to fast start as Cain picked up a couple of assists feeding his classmate near the basket.

Belcher converted the Cain passes into assists on two straight trips to give the Warriors an 11-8 lead.

The first of Stratton's 3-pointers and a score from Hart on an assist from Mount evened the score at 13-each.

Cain scored on a fast break off a long rebound to close the first with Patoka up by two.

Patoka was close to breaking away from Webber in the second quarter, using an 8-2 scoring move to take a 25-18 lead.

Cain netted six of the points and when he grabbed a defensive rebound and sprinted the length of the court for a score, Webber needed a timeout down by seven.

Patoka's largest lead of the half came just before intermission as Cain and Belcher struck again.

Belcher dropped a couple of mid-range shots on the Trojans and Cain took a long pass from teammate Bailey O'Brien, after a steal, and his lay in made it 31-23 Warriors.

Stratton hit his third 3-pointer of the quarter to close the scoring at 31-26 heading to the break.

Webber made a nice offensive run in the third quarter to take a brief lead.

Neal scored on a fast break lay in while being fouled by O'Brien and senior guard Jaxon Helm hit his only 3-pointer of the game in the run.

When Mount made 1-of-2 free throws with :57.4 left in the quarter, Webber had taken back the lead at 36-35.

But Cain scored on a rebound bucket to close the scoring in the third and set up an exciting finish.

Helm scored on the first possession of the fourth and Stratton connected on four straight free throws as Webber was looking poised for a big victory up by five.

But the pressure defense applied by Patoka ended the title game chances for Coach Beaty's club.

“I just thought the guys tonight didn't do a very good job of handling the pressure,” said Coach Beaty. “I thought we got lackadaisical at times tonight and I told the kids we have to learn something from this (loss) for later. You can't do this in the postseason in a regional and you are up by five and you know the press is coming you have to be ready. You have to learn the lesson from tonight”

The Warriors hit 22-of-46 from the field (47.8 percent) but just 1-of-8 from the arc.

Webber Township was 15-of-39 overall (38.4 percent) and 5-of-13 from the 3-point line.

One of the keys to every basketball game at any level is rebounding.'

Patoka controlled the glass (27-18) with Belcher leading the way.

The turnovers were even at 10-each.

But sometimes it isn't how many mistakes you make, it is when you make them.

Six-of-the-ten turnovers by the Trojans were in the fourth quarter stretch in which Patoka took the lead and eventually the win.

“They (Patoka) are a good team but I thought we had a chance to put one in the win column tonight,” said Coach Beaty. “You give them daylight and they are going to pounce on it and that is exactly what they did tonight. What it comes down to is that you have to take care of the basketball and we didn't do that tonight.”

RED HILL 69, CISNE 61
Senior guard Kameron Vinsel netted a career-best 47-points on Wednesday night as the Salukis stayed unbeaten in Pool A with a win over the Lions.

The 6-foot-2 team leader canned six 3-pointers and was a near perfect 17-of-18 from the foul line as Red Hill evened their overall record at 5-5 and improved to 2-0 in the event.

A win over Patoka on Friday night will put Coach Bryan Havill's team in Saturday night's title game.

Cisne was topped by Jared Taylor with 25-points while Derek Thomason added 13.

Cisne fell to 1-2 in Pool A

Red Hill will face Patoka on Friday night with the winner getting a shot at the championship on Saturday night.

Three of Vinsel's 3-pointers came in the fourth quarter as they held off the Lions.

His 47-points were just two points shy of the record of 49-points set in 2010 by Crab Orchard's Ben Kissing.

Corbin Shoulders and Drew Moore added six-points each for Red Hill.