01-12-07
BY JACK BULLOCK
ZEIGLER - Zeigler-Royalton freshman Tyler Mitchell will undoubtedly collect a lot of clippings for his scrapbook in his present and future of varsity basketball but he will be hard-pressed to top what he did Friday night in a key conference battle against rival Carterville.

Taking an inbounds pass with just under a second left in the contest, the 6-foot left-handed guard canned a 3-pointer from near the top of the arc to end a back-and-forth struggle giving the Tornadoes a 60-57 victory.

In a contest dominated by turnovers and mistakes, Mitchell decided the outcome with the biggest shot of his young career to help Z-R improve to 5-9 on the season and - more importantly - 3-2 in the Black Diamond West.

Z-R’s Aaron Jones topped all scorers on the night with 20 points as the Tornadoes took advantage of the numerous mistakes by the Lions to beat Coach Scott Burzynski’s team for the second year in a row at home.

Carterville was careless with the basketball committing 21 turnovers - which included five crucial ones in the final quarter – to take the limelight away from a very good defensive performance.

Holding the Tornadoes to just 22-of-55 from the field while forcing 12 Z-R miscues, Carterville let one slip away.

“We had our chances tonight but it is mental stuff that hurt us tonight and we aren’t good enough to not make the plays down the stretch,” said Coach Burzynski. “We’ve got to get tougher and I’ve got to get better as a coach. We’ve got to do something because we can’t continue to lose these type games.”

Both teams had chances to pull away from each other but turnovers and missed opportunities highlighted an entertaining game for the Friday night crowd.

However it was Mitchell who was in the right place at the right time for a Z-R squad that now has a glimmer of hope in a wide-open conference race.

Every time that Carterville would make a run to take a good-sized lead, the Lions self-destructed.

Seven different Lions scored in the contest and two of them – Brad Drust (13) and Nathan Wachter (10) – hit for double-figures.

But all of the scoring efforts couldn’t keep the Lions from falling to 7-9 overall, 4-3 in the BDC-W.

Carterville seemed to be a step quicker on every trip during the first half but never could distance themselves from the Tornadoes.

After playing to a dead even first quarter at 10-apiece, Z-R and Carterville set the tone of the contest as each team made enough mistakes to make any coach cringe.

Carterville took advantage early with guard Tony Brown being able to beat the Tornadoes down the floor on two fast break scores to help Drust – five early points – give the Lions a 10-8 lead.

Matt Bramlett – a 6-foot-2 senior – matched Mitchell with 13 points on the night and evened the game with his first bucket with just over a minute left in the opening stanza.

Carterville held the ball for nearly a minute hoping for the final shot of the frame but committed its fifth turnover with :06, which unfortunately would be an omen of things to come.

If there was a bright spot on the night for Coach Burzynski’s squad it was the second quarter and the Lions ability to convert Z-R mistakes into points.

Three fast break scores and Drust hitting three-consecutive free throws after being fouled by Jones on a 3-point attempt combined to give Carterville a 27-19 lead with 2:16 before intermission.

Wachter finished the 10-3 run with a transition basket and Carterville appeared ready to put some distance between themselves and the Storm.

But more mistakes in the final two minutes let Z-R off the canvas.

Bramlett scored twice more – once on a nice interior lob pass from Jones and again on a Carterville error. The Lions failed to box out on a free throw attempt by brother Josh Bramlett and Matt grabbed the rebound and his put-back made the halftime score 27-25 Lions.

Starting the third quarter out strong Carterville’s Wachter scored five early points including a conventional three-point play that resulted in Jones’ third personal foul.

When Wachter found teammate Justin May with a pass underneath the basket, May put the Lions ahead 37-30 with 3:40 remaining in the third quarter.

But Zeigler-Royalton scored the games next six points with both Bramlett’s scoring near the basket. Mitchell finished the streak with a rebound basket of a Tim Downen miss that converted a Carterville turnover – their sixth of the quarter – into points.

Carterville caught the Tornadoes in a lull at quarter’s end.

Drust hit May with a three-quarter court pass for a lay up just before the horn to give the Lions a 41-38 lead heading into the final quarter.

In a contest where seemingly neither team could put the other away – Zeigler-Royalton made its biggest push of the night to begin the final eight minutes.

Jones – who had been quiet on the score sheet for over five minutes – made a steal just seconds into the fourth period and jammed home a one-handed dunk in transition to spark his team.

He then followed that score with four more points in his own six-point run.

A deep 3-pointer from the left corner and then 1-of-2 charities after being fouled on a fast break lay up attempt by Wachter gave Z-R back the lead at 46-43.

The Tornadoes appeared on the cusp of a ‘pull-away’ victory when Jones and the two Bramlett’s scored six point in succession to make it 51-47 with 3:35 to go.

Carterville’s Chad Davis scored nine points on the night and seven of them came in the final quarter to get the Lions back even.

The 6-foot-3 senior forward stepped up huge in the waning moments.

He scored in the lane on a 10-footer and then scored again with 1:12 left to tie the game at 57-all.

Carterville had a golden opportunity slip through its hands – literally – in the final minute.

With Zeigler-Royalton milking the clock – Brown made a huge steal and was gliding to the basket for a potential game-winning score when he lost control of the ball for a turnover.

Zeigler-Royalton got the ball back to set up Mitchell’s buzzer-beater.

Mitchell took a Josh Bramlett pass and - with a quick motion - launched the missile that ripped through the net as the buzzer sounded.
“I give them (Z-R) credit – he (Mitchell) hit the shot and we lost and they won,” added Burzynski. “The kids (his players) are down but we’ll come back from this.”

Carterville wasted a 35-24 rebounding edge and a pretty good 22-of-48 shooting performance.

Tony Brown matched Davis with nine points for the Lions.

Following Jones, Mitchell and Matt Bramlett, Josh Bramlett scored nine points for the Tornadoes.

Carterville and Z-R matched each other with 20 two-point field goals and two 3-point field goals on the night.

The Tornadoes hit three more free throws despite going just 14-of-25 from the line.

Z-R will next play Elverado next Friday on the road while Carterville will need to regroup heading into the West Frankfort Mid-Winter Classic next week where they will play five games in six days.

“I told the kids in the lockerroom that we have to get above this. We have a tough stretch of games coming up and we have to put this game behind us and move on,” added Burzynski.

Carterville (57) – Brown 4 0 1-3 9, Wachter 3 1 1-1 10, Griffith 2 0 4-6 8, Drust 3 1 4-5 13, Davis 4 0 1-3 9, Thomas 2 0 0-0 4, Lenzini 0 0 0-0 0, May 2 0 0-0 4.
2FG-20, 3FG-2, FT-11-18, PF-19.
Zeigler-Royalton (60) – J. Bramlett 3 0 3-4 9, M. Bramlett 6 0 1-3 13, Fletcher 1 0 0-1 2, Jones 5 1 7-12 20, Mitchell 5 1 0-0 13, Downen 0 0 0-0 0, Fitch 0 0 3-5 3.
2FG-20, 3FG-2, FT-14-25, PF-17.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.