03-05-21
BY JACK BULLOCK
SESSER – Senior night turned out to be quite a sendoff for the Sesser-Valier Red Devils on Friday night as a trio of 'soon to be' 2021 graduates all produced points in the clubs' 77-54 romp over Zeigler-Royalton.

Garrett Gunter and Jake Newbury each totaled 23 points while Jaden Lance contributed in the early going by nailing down a key 3-pointer for his three points.

Gunter and Newbury got to their respective totals in different ways.

Newbury canned five 3-pointers on his way to 23 while Gunter took up residency at the foul line as hit 11-of-13 from the stripe to help get to his total.

Eight Red Devils scored in the game for the Red Devils, who are now 7-3 in the conference, 8-3 overall.

Sesser-Valier became a better team shooting the ball this season according to Coach Garner.

“I'm extremely grateful for these seniors. In a year that there was really nothing much to look forward to (no postseason) and we are going into tomorrow night and it is our last game,” said Coach Garner. “I'm glad they got to come out here on senior night at get a win.”

Colt Packer and Eli Schoenbaechler added 11 and nine points respectively for Coach Shane Garner's squad.

The night started out pretty well for Zeigler-Royalton but things turned bad in the midway point of the first quarter.

Coach Jimmy Stevens' club didn't handle the Sesser-Valier pressure very well.

Between the full-court zone defense and unforced errors, the Tornadoes accumulated 26 turnovers, which is never a good way to try and get a road win.

Both teams put up some similar statistics, but you can point to turnovers as the reasoning why Zeigler-Royalton lost on Friday night.

The Tornadoes coughed up many unforced in the loss.

Senior forward Gannon Dollins turned in a solid performance as the 6-foot-6 senior led the Tornadoes with 21-points.

Junior Cole Freeman added 11 points for Z-R and senior Landon Bate added 10 for the 3-8 Tornadoes who are also 1-8 in the Black Diamond Conference West.

“I think most coaches realize that Dollins is a big part of our game and what we do,” said Coach Stevens. “But right now we have a shortage of guards. So if we lose one to an injury it makes it tough on us. We had some kids out there stepping up to fill positions that haven't played much varsity.”

Zeigler-Royalton started strong and it looked early like the Red Devils were on 'upset alert' as the hosts fell behind 14-7.

The Tornadoes broke a 7-7 tie with seven consecutive points.

Dollins scored on a conventional three-point play before senior Rick Chekevdia and Bate each scored to close the run.

Things didn't go well for Z-R the rest of the way.

Lance began the rally with a 3-pointer from the left wing as the Red Devils closed the quarter on a 14-5 run to take control.

Newbury scored seven of his points in the first quarter and Schoenbaechler converted a three-point play.

Newbury's final score of the first quarter, on a nice cut to the basket, made it 21-19 at the end of the first quarter.

Sesser-Valier began the second quarter on a 12-2 surge.

Newbury produced eight of those points on a couple of 3-point bombs and a pair of free throws to make it 32-21 S-V.

The Tornadoes made another run back at Sesser-Valier, cutting the Red Devils lead to just 34-32 behind long range shooting of Freeman and junior guard Wyatt Sherwin.

Freeman (2) and Sherwin hit 3-pointers as Zeigler-Royalton closed the gap.

As it turned out that would be as close as the margin would be the rest of the night as S-V ended the half with seven unanswered points.

Sophomore Gabe Gunter got in on the fun with a baseline drive for a basket and freshman Colt Packer also got a bucket on a drive.

Packer then closed the half with a 3-pointer from the left wing to send the teams to the break at 41-32.

Dollins attempted to keep his club in contention in the third quarter.

He scored eight of his points, all shots from around the rim, in the frame.

But another seven turnovers in the quarter led to too many easy scores from the Red Devils, who ended the third quarter with yet another scoring and defensive run.

Coach Garner's team scored 13 of the next 15 to take a 62-43 lead into the fourth quarter.

Garrett Gunter scored on a drive in the lane for a three-point play.

A few seconds later Schoenbaechler made a steal on the press for an easy lay in as the pressure was taking it's toll.

A Dollins score was answered by eight-straight points from S-V.

Garrett Gunter, again, scored on a drive to the basket as his reverse lay in extended the dominance.

Four free throws, two each from Gunter and junior Gavin Woodland, sent the game to the third quarter with a 19-point lead for the hosts.

An 8-2 run by Sesser-Valier ended whatever was left of the drama to begin the final stanza.

Back-to-back 3-pointers from Newbury and a drive by Packer made it 70-45 with 6:38 left.

In a game filled with scoring runs, Z-R made a 9-0 run that was followed by a 7-0 run by Sesser-Valier to close out the scoring and the outcome.

Dollins added six points for the Tornadoes in the final quarter.

Both teams shot the ball extremely well on the night.

Sesser-Valier ended up 25-of-42 overall as they hit 18-of-21 shots from inside the arc.

Zeigler-Royalton was 21-of-38 overall, hitting 6-of-10 from the arc.

In most instances the Z-R shooting would have gotten the crew a victory.

But 26 turnovers led to many easy opportunities for the host team.

The Red Devils committed 10 turnovers and held a slight rebounding edge, 16-15, as there were just seven offensive rebounds (Z-R with four) in the entire contest.

Sesser-Valier has a game left on Saturday as they travel to Goreville while Zeigler-Royalton will host Trico on Saturday as the Black Diamond Conference closes the books on a Covid19 season.

“We switched out of our full-court 'man' defense into a full-court 'zone' and we wanted them (Z-R) to put the ball on the floor and keep them from getting the ball into Dollins' hands as much as possible,” said Coach Garner. “We wanted to speed up their guards. Our guards did a great job of that and we were able to convert.”

Zeigler-Royalton (54) – Dollins 9 0 3-3 21, Bate 2 2 0-0 10, Chekevdia 2 0 3-3 7, McKinney 0 0 0-0 0, Gelso 0 0 0-0 0, Earl 1 0 0-1 2, Freeman 1 3 0-0 11, Sherwin 0 1 0-0 3, Alvarez 0 0 0-0 0, T. Mills 0 0 0-0 0, C. McKinney 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-15, 3FG-6, FT-6-7, PF-18.
Sesser-Valier (77) - Payne 0 0 0-0 0, Loucks 0 0 0-0 0, Gabe Gunter 1 0 1-2 3, Lance 0 1 0-0 3, Woodland 0 0 4-4 4, Garrett Gunter 6 0 11-13 23, Schoenbaechler 4 0 1-1 9, Packer 4 1 0-2 11, Newbury 3 5 2-2 23, Hoffard 0 0 0-0 0, Menser 0 0 1-2 1.
2FG-18, 3FG-7, FT-20-26, PF-11.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.