11-28-03
CISNE VS. EDWARDS CO.
@ GRAYVILLE THANKSGIVING TOURNEY
BY JACK BULLOCK
GRAYVILLE - Two teams with a lot of familiarity collided Friday night in a physical battle that helped decide one of the combatants in Saturday night's championship contest.

When the 'dust' from the floor (and body's flying) had settled, Cisne prevailed 52-34 to remain the only undefeated team in the pool play event.

Behind the scoring of Drew Glover (21 points) and Lance Endsley (19) Cisne improved to 3-0 on the season and will face New Harmony, IN. Saturday night at 8:30 pm for the 7th Annual Grayville title.

Edwards County, which also came into the game with a 2-0 record in the pool play, drops into the third place contest after the loss.

They will meet Galatia at 7 pm.

"We knew coming in that it was going to be a physical contest because Edwards County is always tough," explained Cisne coach Dennis Arnold after his team's victory.

Edwards County enjoyed just one lead of the game. In the opening moments of the contest, EC's Michael Snidle scored off the glass for a 2-0 lead with 5:26 left in the quarter.

But Cisne took off of a 10-1 run in the next 4:22.

A pair of baskets by Glover sandwiched around an Endsley 'spin move' in the paint shot the Runnin' Lions in front 10-3.

After corralling a Snidle missed free throw with 2:14 left in the opening quarter, Edwards County's John Campbell 'canned' a 3-pointer to cut the Cisne advantage down to 10-6.

But Glover would score again this time on a 10-footer to make it 12-6 heading into the second frame.
Edwards County would make two pretty decent runs at Cisne in the second quarter.

After Glover and Endsley scored five points to put Cisne up 17-9, Edwards County turned up the pressure and scored eight of the next nine points to cut their deficit to a single point.

'Back-to-back' baskets by Eric St. Ledger, the second one coming on a nice pass by Jordan Wheat, got EC to within 17-13 and forced a Cisne timeout with 4:29 left before halftime.

An Endsley basket pushed the lead back to six, but then Edwards County made another offensive move by scoring the next five points.

St. Ledger hit his second 'trifecta' of the quarter and then, after a EC steal, Campbell went 'coast-to-coast' for a lay up to make it 19-18 Cisne with 2:55 left in the second quarter.

However, Cisne turned around and finished out the quarter strong by scoring the final six points.

The Glover/Endsley combo struck again, this time with Glover scoring four points from the free throw line and Endsley converting his own missed shot in the lane.

Glover, who has practically lived at the foul line in his brief prep career, made all four of his charities in the final 1:57 of the half.

His final two came on a foul at the buzzer by Edwards County's Ryan Hawkins.

His two made free throws made the score 25-18.

When the teams walked off the floor for the intermission, Cisne had 'weathered' the first of two Edwards County scoring 'storms.'

"I think that was the key to the game, especially in the second quarter was that when they made a run, we made one back at them." added Coach Arnold.

The second spurt by Edwards County came in the opening minutes of the third quarter.

After yet another Endsley basket put Cisne up 27-20, Edwards County got going on a 7-2 run, highlighted by a long 3-pointer by Jordan Wheat to cut the margin to 29-27 with 4:43.

But a pair of mental lapses by EC and cost the Lions at the end of the third quarter.

Jake Tannahill scored for Cisne after getting a pass from Glover in the lane.

His bucket put the Runnin Lions up 34-29.

Edwards County's Wheat picked up a pair of fouls just moments apart. The second one on a reach-in foul gave the ball back to Cisne with :36 left in the quarter.

Coach Arnold's team held the ball for a final attempt and Glover's shot on a 'spinning move' in the paint found the bottom of the net just before the horn making it 36-29.

That final run by Cisne took the gas right out of Edwards County's fuel tank.

Cisne scored the next seven points to open up the final quarter. Glover's only 3-pointer of the night from just left of the 'top of the arc' pushed the lead out to 42-29 with 6:56 remaining.

By the time EC's St. Ledger hit his second 3-pointer with 3:19 left, the game was all but decided.

A Derrick Simpson basket in the lane on a pass from Glover made the score 47-32.

After St. Ledger hit 2-of-3 free throws after being fouled attempting a 3-pointer, Cisne hit five straight free throws to ice the game and move on to the title contest.

"We lost the battle on the inside tonight," said Edwards county mentor Jason Stark. "We didn't take advantage of the 'inside-out' game that we play best. We needed to kick the ball back out and get better shots. We let our composure slip a few times tonight and that is not typical of what we have done this week."

Edwards County (2-1) got 12 points from St. Ledger but no one else hit for double-figures.

Their 34-points was by far the fewest points that they had scored in this tournament.

"This was a good defensive effort, especially in the second half," added Coach Arnold, whose Lions have a shot at winning back-to-back Grayville titles.

Cisne (52) - Glover 21, Endsley 19, Smith 2, Tannahill 4, Simpson 2, Rutger 2, Farleigh 2.
2FG-17, 3FG-1, FT-15-23 PF-13
Edwards County (34) - St. Ledger 12, Hawkins 5, Wheat 6, Copeland 2, Snidle 4, Campbell 5.
2FG-9, 3FG-4, FT-4-13 PF-18.

NEW HARMONY, IN. 83, CLAY CITY 58
A large scoring output and margin of victory combined with Carmi-White County's win over Galatia put the Rappites into Saturday night's title game against Cisne.

NH won the three-way tie-breaker to earn a spot in the finale.

Behind 32-points from Shane Espenlaub, New Harmony (2-1) raced out to a 53-34 halftime advantage and then coasted to the easy win.

Espenlaub connected on seven 3-pointers in the first half. Chad Werry and Cort Alsop contributed 17 and 12 points respectively for the winners.

Clay City (0-3) got 19 points from Scott Michels and 18 points from Jon Frohning in the loss.

New Harmony (83) - Mathews 6, Creek 6, Alsop 12, Espenlaub 32, Werry 17, Trela 2, Wilsey 4, Patterson 4. 2FG-14, 3FG-10, FT-25-33, PF-22.
Clay City (58) - J. Frohning 18, T. Frohning 4, Michels 19, Cook 1, Bryan 2, Hamce 12, Bangert 2.
2FG-15, 3FG-2, FT-22-29, PF-24.

CARMI-WHITE COUNTY 48, GALATIA 45.
The Bulldogs knocked the Bearcats out of the tournament title game with a come-from-behind win in Friday night's final pool play game.

Alec Rice paced CWC with 13 points while Ryan Jones and Kevin Wolff pitched in 11 and 10 points.

Galatia got 14 points from Derek Sloan and 10 markers from Eli House in the loss.

Carmi hit 5-of-7 free throws in the final frame to preserve the win.

The Bulldogs will play White County rival Norris City-Omaha-Enfield Saturday night in the tourney's fifth place contest.

Carmi-White County (48) - Choate 2, Kittinger 2, Wolff 10, Bradshaw 4, Rice 13, Healy 6, Jones 11.
2FG-14, 3FG-4, FT-8-13, PF-17.
Galatia (45) - Wood 7, Cockrum 8, Moore 5, Sloan 14, House 10, Hodson 1.
2FG-13, 3FG-2, FT-13-20, PF-16.

@ CHRISTOPHER THANKSGIVING TOURNEY
VALMEYER 86, GOREVILLE 79
Valmeyer moved into the title game with a high-scoring win over Goreville.

The Pirates (2-0) will face Webber Township Saturday night.

Coach John Blair's team got a combined 57-points from the 'Jones' Boy's' in the semifinal win.

Kyle Jones paced both teams with 30 points while Mitchell Jones added 27.

Goreville (1-1) was led by Derek Yocum's 25-points. Derek Sisk pitched in with 17 points.

Valmeyer (86) - Esker 9, M. Jones 27, G. Rohlfing 11, Smith 6, Arivett 3, K. Jones 30.
2FG-26, 3FG-4, FG-22-35, PF-18.
Goreville (79) - Hood 4, Parmby 2, Sisk 17, Montgomery 5, McGuire 11, Tebbe 14, Yocum 25.
2FG-24, 3FG-6, FT-12-24, PF-29.