GALLATIN CO. VS. CARRIER MILLS
@ GEC TOURNAMENT
01-31-03
BY JACK BULLOCK
HARRISBURG - Some say that "patience is a virtue."

Others say "good things come to those who wait."

Whichever phrase that you want to use to describe the performance of the Gallatin County Hawks Friday night will be fine with coach 'Radar' Patton.

That is because his club learned a valuable lesson in an earlier meeting with rival Carrier Mills and the changes that he and his club made resulted in a 63-51 win over the Wildcats in the tournament title tilt of the GEC Tournament held annually at Southeastern Illinois College in Harrisburg.

After falling behind 18-0 in the early going against CM on the road a few weeks ago, coach 'Radar' Patton knew that his Gallatin County Hawks wanted to get the lead early in the title game on Friday.

And once his club got that early lead, the Hawks controlled the tempo, and the contest.

"I am proud of these kids. We had a game plan coming in that we were going to dictate the pace. And once we got the early lead, we were able to make them play the way we wanted to play." said Patton, of his Hawks ability to control the tempo.

Using the clock to its advantage, Gallatin County managed to attack the Wildcats "3-2" zone with multiple pass possessions that ended up with some early scores as the Wildcats looked confused.

Josh Bean scored a pair of early baskets in the paint to help forge the Hawks early lead. His second bucket of the quarter, a shot in close from a nice pass from Aaron Casteel, gave the Hawks a 6-3 edge.

His third field goal of the quarter gave his team a 12-9 lead with 2:20 left.

Then after a CM miss, Gallatin County's 'super-sub' Josh Gill stepped off the bench and calmly canned a 3-pointer from the right corner to push the advantage to 15-9.

Carrier Mills' top gun Kyle Hines got on the board for the first time in the game with a move in the paint with just over a minute to go in the first quarter.

But the Hawks had the mind set that they were not going to get in any sort of hurry on this night.

They held the ball for the final 1:08 of the first and, although they didn't score, they shortened the game.

CM's Tyler Johnson hit a 3-pointer just a minute into the second quarter to cut the Hawks margin to 15-14.

However Kyle Oldam decided to show everyone that he could hit from behind the arc as well as he canned three 3-pointers in the second quarter.

His first trifecta bomb from left of the elbow made the score 18-14 Hawks with 6:28 to go.

After another Hines score cut the margin to two, Oldam cashed in again from the left side of the arc, pushing the advantage to 21-16.

His third bomb of the frame came at the 3:46 mark to make it 26-19.

Hines was fouled in the paint by Gallatin County's Shane Patton with 3:26 left before the half.

He missed the second shot but 5-8 freshman Nick Feazel scored on the rebound and Carrier Mills found itself down only 26-22.

Carrier Mills would not regain possession again before intermission, as the Hawks were bound and determined to get the Wildcats out of their zone defense.

CM tried to trap the Hawks while they held the ball, but Gallatin County proved to be too quick and elusive.

Patton's team kept that same possession for nearly three minutes, which ended with Bean taking an off balanced shot that missed at the horn.

Although the Hawks did not put points on the board in the final possesion of the half and first quarter, they did manage to whittle four minutes off the first half clock.

The Hawks maintained control of the contest throughout the third quarter as Carrier Mills finally came out of its zone to play a 'man-to-man' defense.

But this defensive change opened up things for Gallatin County's Trent Wargel as he scored six points in the quarter.

He hit a short lay in that pushed the Hawks lead to 33-24.

Then his soft 15-foot jumper made it 35-25 with 3:59 to go in the third.

Dillard and Johnson kept things close in the quarter for Carrier Mills by adding seven points to the Wildcat total.

Dillard nailed two shots in the lane, his best one was a underhanded scoop shot the found the mark to cut the Hawks lead to 34-25.

Johnson nailed a long 3-pointer from the left side to cut the Hawks lead to 37-31.

However once again, the Hawks held the ball away from Carrier Mills for the final 1:09 of the quarter.

Oldham missed on his driving attempt before the buzzer but Gallatin County still led 37-31 heading to the final quarter.

Although the Wildcats still had hopes of capturing the GEC title, those dreams went away quickly in the first few minutes of the final frame.

After Wargel dropped home another 3-point shot to push the lead to 42-32 with 6:31 left, Carrier Mills coach Jon Watts picked up a technical foul arguing a call after Gallatin County's Brandon Naas was fouled.

Naas hit one of his two free tosses and Oldham stepped to the line and made both of the technical shots, which put the Hawks up 45-32.

CM's Anthony Jones hit a 3-pointer from the right side of the arc to cut the lead down to ten after a Hawk turnover.

However Gallatin County realized at this point that they would win the title, especially if they were to hit their free throws in the last few minutes of the contest.

And that is exactly what the Hawks did, canning 14-of-18 from the line in the last 4:59 of the fourth quarter for the tourney triumph.
"I knew that if they got up early on us that they would play this way and that is how it turned out." said Carrier Mills coach Jon Watts. "At our place earlier in the season we jumped out on them and got them to play our way. Tonight they got us to play their way."

Gallatin County was led in scoring by Oldham with 17 points.

Wargel added 16 and Bean netted 12 as the Hawks improved to 15-8 on the year.

Dillard topped Carrier Mills (12-8) with 18. Hines and Johnson finished with 14 points each.

POPE COUNTY 73, GALATIA 66
The Pirates, after winning seven straight GEC Tournament titles, managed to regroup to win the third place title with a win over Galatia.

Ray Broadway topped Pope County with 25 points.

Ryan Atkinson added 15 while Zach Dombrow pitched in 14.

The Bearcats got 25 points from Seth Cockrum while Derek Sloan added 20.

TOP RIGHT
John Bean of Gallatin County makes a move toward the basket while being guarded by Anthony Jones during the first half of the Hawks title game win.
(Jack Bullock Photo)

BOTTOM RIGHT
Galatia's Derek Sloan heads down the baseline just ahead of Pope County's Michael Broadway during the third place game Friday night. The Pirates won the game 73-66.
(Jack Bullock Photo)