02-25-04
GALLATIN COUNTY VS. CENTURY
@ GALLATIN CO. CLASS A REGIONAL
BY JACK BULLOCK
JUNCTION - After two quarters of play, the Gallatin County Hawks had put together a nearly flawless offensive performance, which led to a 29-26 halftime lead over state ranked Century at home Wednesday night in the semifinals of the GC Class A Regional.

Despite facing yet another 'triangle-and-two' defense aimed at stopping Trent Wargel and Kyle Oldham, the Hawks overcame some first half foul difficulties to lead at the break on the strength of 12 second quarter points from reserve Bryan Hargrave.

However there was little that coach Robert 'Radar' Patton's club could do in the second half to stop the Centurion offensive onslaught.

Led by possible all-state players Josh Tabb and Ray Nelson, coach Andy Palmer's squad took over the game in a heartbeat.

More precisely, the final 3:59 seconds of the third quarter.

Outscoring Gallatin County 15-2 to close out the frame, Century turned a 36-32 deficit into a 47-38 lead heading into the final a quarter.

The Hawks could never recover as Tabb, Nelson and Company roared away to a 71-58 win to advance to the regional title game for the second season in a row.

At 22-4, the Centurions are a step away from one of their primary goals for this season. Winning the school's first regional since 1998.

"I told the kids coming in how tough it is to win here," said Palmer, who coached against Gallatin County for six seasons at Pope County. "It is a tough place to win and we told the kids that they (the Hawks) would be ready tonight. But in the second half we got up and down the floor a bit better and attacked them more and that got us going."

Nelson, who scored seven of those points in the run, led all scorers with 22 points. CJ Williams, a 6-2 sophomore, chipped in 15 for Century.

Tabb, who was held in check for most of the first half, scored eight of his 12 points in the final two quarters.

Tabb and Nelson canned back-to-back 3-pointers in the run to push the Centurions lead to 43-38.
Another basket by Nelson and a pair of free throws by Bernard Richards made it 47-38.

Baskets by Oldham and Wargel in the early part of the final quarter gave the Hawks some hope of making a comeback. However Century finished off their opponents with another quick scoring burst.

Baskets by Curt Spaulding and Williams, along with two more buckets by Nelson, nailed the coffin shut on the victory.

Wargel finished his four-year high school career with a couple of late 3-point shots and a total of 11 points.

Coach Patton took him out of the game with 1:54 to go and the 5-7 point guard, who is headed to Southeastern Illinois College next season, received a standing ovation.

The Hawks best run of the game came in the second quarter and was led by Hargrave.

The 5-10 junior canned three consecutive 3-pointers in the quarter to help erase a 16-8 Century lead after one quarter.

His second 'trifecta' ripped through the net as Isaiah Massie was fouling him.

His made free throw gave the Hawks their first lead of the night at 21-19 with 3:27 left before halftime.

With Century leading late in the quarter after Tabb found Nelson underneath the basket with a short pass for a basket, Hargrave and Oldham answered back right before the half.

Hargrave scored on a 15-footer from the left elbow and, after a Century turnover, Oldham canned a 3-pointer from the left wing with :05 left.

"We knew he (Hargrave) could shoot it and after he hit his first couple of shots, we were slow in recognizing where he was at on the court," added Palmer. "We knew we couldn't shut Wargel and Oldham down completely but we thought we could slow them down some."

The Centurions did slow down the Gallatin County scoring duo, holding Oldham to just seven points on the night, nine less than his 16 p.p.g average.

Century got another solid performance from senior JR Nicholson, who is the only upperclassmen on the team. His 12 points, including a 3-pointer from the left corner to open the third quarter, sparked the team's second half run.

The Centurions will play the winner of Thursday night's second semifinal between Meridian and Eldorado.

A Meridian match up would be the schools' fourth such contest with the Bobcats this season.

All three previous games resulted in Century come-from-behind wins.

Gallatin County (58) - Givens 1 1 0-0 5, Oldham 2 1 0-0 7, Casteel 5 0 1-1 11, Slaton 1 0 0-0 2, Hargrave 1 4 1-1 15, Jones 0 1 0-0 3, Duffy 1 0 0-0 2, Aud 0 0 2-2 2.
2FG- 13, 3FG-9, FT-5-6, PF-22.
Century (53) - Reichert 0 1 0-0 3, Nelson 7 1 3-7 22, Tabb 3 1 3-7 12, Williams 7 0 1-4 15, Nicholson 3 1 3-3 12, Spaulding 1 0 0-0 2, Richards 0 2-2 2, Thurston 0 0 1-2 2, Massie 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-22. 3FG-4 FT-15-25, PF-22.
Fouled Out - Hargrave, Casteel, Gallatin County.
Technical Foul - None .