12-29-03
MERIDIAN VS. WEST FRANKFORT
ELDORADO HOLIDAY TOURNAMENT
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
BY JACK BULLOCK
ELDORADO - In one of the most exciting games ever played to decide an Eldorado Holiday Tournament title, West Frankfort's Craig Ramsey got to live out a childhood fantastic finish fantasy.

Every person reading this article has thought about how great it would be if they had the opportunity to step into Ramsey's shoes on Monday night in front of estimated 3,000 fans at Duff/Kingston Gym.

He got the ball tossed to him while standing just 15-feet away from the basket at the free throw line with his team trailing by one point with just :03 left in regulation time.

After receiving a pass in the lane from teammate Ryan Bearden, Ramsey was fouled in the act of shooting by Meridian's Judah Watkins.

At this point, Ramsey stared destiny in the eye and 'gave it a wink.'

A time out taken by Meridian did nothing to shake his confidence. Calmly the 6-2 senior guard toed the line and let fly with two perfect attempts that found nothing but the bottom of the net each time.

Those two points gave his team a 61-60 victory and his school its second Eldorado Tournament title.

Meridian had one last chance to win the game, but they could not get off a shot because of an errant in-bounds pass.

As the horn sounded, West Frankfort had won over a lot of critics and took a big step towards gaining respect by winning one of the top Class A Holiday Tournaments in the state.

"This is a big win for us against an athletic and talented team," said Redbird coach Kevin Toney, whose team is now 6-4 on the season with a five-game winning streak. "I knew going in that this would be a different Meridian team tonight than the one we played before."

The Redbirds had belted the Bobcats 75-52 at Max Morris Gym in WF back on December 2.

But from the outset it was apparent this was not going to be any sort of an easy game for West Frankfort.

West Frankfort did jump out to an early 9-2 lead, thanks in part to the inside play of Bearden who collected a couple of easy scores close to the basket on assists from Ramsey and Ryan Patton.

But instead of 'packing it in' like they had done four weeks ago, Meridian battled back with Marcus Hines and Kyle Gardner hitting 3-pointers to cut the margin down to 13-10 with 2:34 left in the quarter.

After Kirkpatrick 'stuck back' a rebound on a missed WF free throw attempt by Bearden, Meridian quickly closed the gap.

Judah Watkins scored on a short jumper in the lane which was followed a Jared Staple 3-pointer.

The two players hooked up on the next trip down the floor as Watkins hit Staple with a nice interior pass that produced a basket and a 17-17 tie.

Bearden responded as he scored his fourth field goal of the quarter on a soft turn around bank shot, which gave the Redbirds a 19-17 lead at the first horn.

"We use a lot of cuts and picks to free up our post players in this offense. We use very few predetermined sets. We use an 'inside-outside' game with our 6-6 and 6-7 players that we have. I'd probably get fired if I didn't use them that way." deadpanned Coach Toney.

Six-two sophomore Matt Weeks proved that he could step up when needed for this whole tournament.

Playing without starter and team leader Alex Hogg, who was home sick with the flu, West Frankfort turned to Weeks for some quality backcourt play and he responded.

His 3-pointer from the top of the arc with 1:15 left before intermission gave the Redbirds their biggest lead of the night at 33-26.

But Meridian once again countered with a run before the end of the quarter.

Robert Williams, a 6-2 senior post player, muscled in for a pair of baskets in the lane and also hit the back end of a two-shot foul opportunity.

Hines finished off the Bobcat rally with a thunderous one-handed put back dunk, which sent his team to the locker room trailing just 35-31.

"We felt good going into the half with the way that we played," said Mandrell. "We made a few slight adjustments, but nothing major."

Staple, who was deservedly named the EHT 'Most Valuable Player', scored the first eight points for his team in the third quarter to give the 'Cats their first lead of the title game.

His fourth consecutive basket was a 'highlight reel' two-handed slam-dunk on an 'off the backboard' assist from Watkins.

That dunk gave Meridian a 39-37 lead.

Kyle Gardner, a 6-0 senior guard for Meridian, showed his long range by burying a 3-pointer from the left wing on the next possession.

That shot got Coach Toney's attention as West Frankfort decided to talk it over at 42-37 with 4:23 left.

"Kyle (Gardner) has been a nice surprise this season and has shown perhaps the most improvement on our team," added Mandrell.

Weeks hit yet another 3-pointer, one of his four bombs on the night, right after the timeout.

Williams got back on the inside track; scoring two more shots in the paint to give his team back the lead at 46-42.

But a pair of Bearden shots, the second one off the glass and in, made it 48-all heading to the final frame.

Weeks struck again early in the fourth, canning his final 3-pointer making it 51-48.

By the time he hit a baseline basket with 2:55 remaining the Redbirds were in command at 57-54.
Meridian, however, was far from finished.

Hines and Watkins hit consecutive 3-pointers that got the Bobcats back in front.

The Watkins 'trifecta' was from the right corner at 1:24 remaining to make the score 60-57 Bobcats.

Kirkpatrick hit a shot for West Frankfort off of an inbounds play to cut it to 60-59.

After taking a timeout in the offensive end Hines, while driving toward the basket, had the ball stripped from behind by a Redbird defender.

Suddenly WF had the ball back with a chance to take the lead.

With the game being played with few fouls called in the second half, Meridian had three fouls to give before being in the bonus.

Instead of fouling West Frankfort on purpose, Coach Mandrell decided to let his kids play defense in the final sequence.

However after several perimeter passes, and with the clock winding down, Kirkpatrick set up Ramsey to be the hero with his pass in the final moments.

"I am always afraid of going ahead and fouling in that sort of situation," explained Mandrell. "It is a situation where you could get an intentional foul called or maybe a 3-point play. So I thought we should just play defense and hope to stop them."

Weeks led his team with a game-high 20-points while Bearden continued his improved play with 16. Kirkpatrick and Patton each added eight points while Ramsey chipped in seven. But none were as important as his final two from the line.

Meridian, now 10-3 on the season, was led by Staple with 16. Hines, Williams and Watkins all hit for double-figures (14, 13 and 11) in points.

"If you would have told me last week that we would finish second at Eldorado I would have taken it," added Mandrell. "We lost to a solid team tonight. They are the best passing team that we have faced this season. They have kids that are good decision makers on the court."

West Frankfort (61) - Weeks 8 0-0 20, Ramsey 2 2-2 7, RyKirkpatrick 4 0-0 8, Patton 4 0-0 8, Beardon 8 0-1 16, Wells 1 0-0 2. Totals 27 2-3 61
Meridian (60) - Watkins 5 0-0 11, Hines 5 0-0 14, Staple 8 0-0 16, Williams
6 1-2 13, Gardner 2 0-0 6.
Totals 26 1-2 60
3-point field goals - West Frankfort 5 (Weeks 4, Ramsey), Meridian 7 (Hines
4, Gardner 2, Watkins)

MASSAC COUNTY 61, ANNA-JONESBORO 39
In a game that was a rematch of last season's title game, the Patriots (10-2) broke open a close game to rout the Wildcats while taking home third place honors.

Matt Jacobs topped Coach Joe Hosman's club with 23-points while Dominique Petty and Gerren Rogers each added 10.

Anna-Jonesboro (11-3) was led by Jimmy Drew's 10-points.

Massac County outscored A-J 34-10 in the second half to post the victory.

A-J (39) - Wright 1 0-0 2, Drew 4 0-0 10, Bennett 2 2-2 6, MaChamness 0 4-6
4, MiChamness 2 2-2 7, Bittle 1 3-4 6, Keller 1 2-2 4.
Totals 11 13-16 39
Massac County (61) - Petty 4 1-2 10, Rogers 3 4-7 10, Jacobs 8 5-8 23,
Bowman 5 1-3 12, Meyer 1 0-0 2, Burnham 1 1-2 4. Totals 22 12-22 61
3-point field goals ‹ A-J 4 (Drew 2, Bittle, MiChamness), Massac County 5
(Jacobs 2, Petty, Bowman, Burnham)

ELDORADO SEMIFINALS

MERIDIAN 75, MASSAC COUNTY 73
In another of the fine games played by the Bobcats, Meridian moved into the title game with a big win over potential sectional seeding rival Massac County.

Jared Staple put in another great performance with 20-points while teammates Marcus Hines and Judah Watkins pitched in 14 and 11.

The Patriots tied the game twice in the final moments, only to see the Bobcats hit two important free throws to seal the win. Massac turned the ball over on its last inbound attempt, falling into the third place game.

"They (Meridian) just wanted it more than we did today," said Massac County coach Joe Hosman.

Meridian (75) - Watkins 4 2-4 11, Hines 7 0-1 14, Staple 8 4-5 20,
Stockstill 3 0-0 6, Williams 5 3-7 13, Gardner 4 1-3 11.
Totals 31 10-20 75
Massac County (73) - Petty 7 1-1 18, Kindle 6 5-7 17, Rogers 4 1-1 9, Jacobs
9 2-3 20, Bowman 2 0-1 6, Burnham 1 0-0 3. Totals 29 9-13 73
3-point baskets: Meridian 3 (Gardner 2, Watkins). Massac County 6 (Petty 3,
Bowman 2, Burnham)

WEST FRANKFORT 69, A-J 64
The second upset in the semifinals occured when Matt Weeks (18-points) led a balanced West Frankfort attack to post a win over A-J. Despite 22-points from Mark Chamness, the Wildcats dropped into the third place game against Massac County.

West Frankfort (69) - Weeks 7 3-3 18, Ramsey 0 5-6 5, RyKirkpatrick 5 5-6
15, Patton 3 6-10 13, Beardon 5 7-10 17, Farkas 0 1-2 1. Totals 20 27-37 69

Anna-Jonesboro (64) - Wright 3 0-0 7, Drew 6 0-1 16, Bennett 2 1-3 5,
MaChamness 8 5-6 22, MiChamness 0 0-0 0, Bittle 2 2-2 7, Keller 3 0-0 7.
Totals 24 8-12 64
3-point baskets: West Frankort 2 (Weeks, Patton), Anna-Jonesboro 8 (Drew 4,
Wright, MaChamness, Bittle)

BENTON 68, POPE COUNTY 46
The Rangers (6-7) after dropping a close game to Fairfield on the opening round of the tourney romped to the consolation championship.

Justin Rabey and Duke Mitchell paced Benton with 23 and 18 points.

Pope County (3-11) was led by Bo Bramlet's 19.

Coach Matt Wynn's club outscored the Pirates in the middle quarters 53-28 for the win.

Benton (68) - Raby 9 5-5 23, Mitchell 5 4-4 18, Frailey 1 5-9 7, Shurtz 3
0-0 7, Satterfield 1 0-0 3, Muir 1 0-0 3, Hammond 1 0-0 2.
Totals 23 14-19 68

Pope County (46) - Kizziar 3 0-0 6, Bird 3 0-1 6, Bramlet 7 4-8 19,
Broadway 5 2-2 12, Morse 1 1-2 3, Cornelius 0 0-1 0. Totals 19 7-14 46
3-point baskets: Benton 8 (Mitchell 4, Walton, Shurtz, Satterfield, Muir),
Pope County (Bramlet)

ELDORADO 54, CARMI-WHITE COUNTY 44
The host Eagles took home the fifth place title with a win over Carmi.

William Carmickle scored 24-points, including 10-of-10 from the free thrown line.

Shanon Lane scored 10 for Eldorado, who are now 9-4.

Carmi (7-60 recieved 19-points.

Kevin Wolf cashed win with 19-points for Carmi.

Eldorado (54) Lane 4-12 2-6 10, Etienne 0-1 1-2 1, Griffin 1-7 2-2 5,
Carmickle 7-8 10-10 24, Hammond 2-3 3-7 7, Parks 2-5 0-1 4, Sims 1-2 0-2 2,
Harner 0-0 0-0 0, Jackson 0-1 1-2 1, Basinger 0-1 0-0 0.
Totals 17-40 19-32 54.
Carmi (44) - Wolff 5-12 9-10 19, Jones 2-10 4-6 8, Healy 0-1 0-0 0, Choate
2-10 4-4 10, Kittinger 0-4 0-0 0, Dennis 1-3 0-0 3, Bradshaw 0-0 2-2 2,
Pearce 1-1 0-0 2, Rice 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 11-42 19-22 44.
3-pointers: Eldorado 1 (Griffin); CWC 3 (Choate 2, Dennis). Fouled out ‹
Carmickle, Healy.

Other Games

Harrisburg (64) - Holler 8 4-5 25, KSmithpeters 7 2-10 17, Sullivan 5 4-5
14, Ford 2 0-0 4, Bonwell 2 0-0 4. Totals 24 10-21 64

Carmi (71) - Choate 8 7-8 16, Wolff 1 0-0 2, Jones 8 8-8 25, Bradshaw 1 0-0
2, Healy 4 0-0 8, Kittinger 2 0-2 4, Rice 0 4-4 4. Totals 24 19-22 71
3-point field goals: Harrisburg 6 (Holler 5, Smithpeters), Carmi 4 (Choate
3, Jones)

Eldorado (56) - Etienne 2-6 1-1 5, Harner 0-2 2-2 2, Parks 2-6 0-0 4,
Basinger 0-2 4-4 4, Jackson 2-2 0-0 4, Lane 5-10 1-2 12, Hammond 2-6 3-4 7,
Griffin 1-3 0-0 2, Carmickle 7-11 2-3 16. Totals 21-48 13-16 56.

Fairfield (46) - Xanders 0-3 2-2 2, Dreith 1-10 1-2 3, Braddock 4-8 2-4 10,
Attebery 2-7 1-2 5, Book 4-5 0-1 8, West 2-7 4-4 8, KBasnett 1-5 2-2 4,
RBasnett 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 14-45 12-17 40.
3-pointers: Eldorado 1 (Lane).