12-27-02
MASSAC COUNTY VS. HAMILTON CO. @ ELDORADO HOLIDAY TOURNAMENT
BY JACK BULLOCK
ELDORADO - For fans of 'cat-and-mouse' basketball, Friday night's Massac County/Hamilton County match up must have been a joy to watch.

Well at least it was for a half.

Massac County used a 14-3 scoring run in the third quarter to break loose from patient Hamilton County in the Patriots 56-42 win over the Foxes.

MC advances into Saturday's semifinal against SIRR Ohio Division foe Benton as the Rangers dispatched host Eldorado 60-53 in the other Friday night quarterfinal.

Massac (7-4) received balanced scoring from Matt Jacobs, Gerren Rogers and Daniel Shannon.

That trio scored 12, 11 and 10 points for coach Joe Hosman's club.

With the game close starting the third quarter, the Pats stepped up their defensive intensity forcing the Foxes into some mistakes that resulted in seven un-answered points.

Aaron Bowman got a three-pointer to rattle home to make 29-25 MC.

Then Rogers, who sat out the first half after missing that morning's shoot-around practice, entered the game and immediately made an impact.

He hit his first shot, a turn-around baseline jumper that pushed the lead up to six.

Shannon stole an errant pass and found Jacobs on the fly and his bucket put Massac in command.

Hosman burned a quick timeout to make a defensive decision that eventually changed how the rest of the game was to be played.

"We got a lead on them which is what we wanted to do. We knew that they wanted to be patient so we dropped back into a match-up (zone) to see what would happen." said coach Hosman.

This strategy confused the Foxes on a couple of trips.

HC's Wiggins scored on a 3-pointer early in the quarter and Brandon Nipper added a pair of baskets.

However that was all the scoring for the Foxes and they fell behind 38-27 entering the final frame.

Forced to hurry up a bit while trailing, coach Curt Reed's Foxes made a brief run behind Nipper's eight fourth quarter points. But Massac kept them at arm's length by hitting all ten of its free throws to advance.

"Curt (coach Reed) does a fine job with his team, but we knew going in that he didn't have the kind of team that could make a big run at us." added Hosman, whose teams have won four EHT titles in the last nine years.

Wiggins scored 15 for the Foxes while Nipper finished with 14.

Hamilton County will play Eldorado Saturday morning in the fifth place bracket.

BENTON 60, ELDORADO 53
Whereas Massac County hit its fourth quarter foul shots, the Benton Rangers' struggles at the line made a blowout game a bit closer in the boxscore.

They shot 15-of-24 for the game but they missed several at the end that could have iced things.

Instead, Eldorado made a run and got things close at the end of the game.

However the nervous moments went away quickly as Kyle Meyers hit two huge free throws to stop an Eldorado rally as the Rangers held on to win.

Senior Ryan Fraulini led the Rangers (7-4) with 24 points. Meyers added 16, which included three 3-pointers, while Brad Allen added 11.

Eldorado got 19 points from William Carmickle and 11 from Shannon Lane.

MERIDIAN 68, HARRISBURG 58
The Bobcats, who were upset victims the first day of the tournament, sent Harrisburg to an early exit with the consolation quarterfinal win.

Robert Williams posted a game-high 25 for Meridian.

Harrisburg's Kolby Smithpeters matched Williams with 25 in the loss.

WEST FRANKNFORT 81, HARDIN COUNTY 48
The Redbirds rolled past the Cougars behind Tyler Fichtel, who scored 14.

Josh Hastie also scored 14 for HC who was eliminated.

ANNA-JONESBORO 67, FAIRFIELD 37
Mark Chamness scored 14 to lead a balanced attack for the top-seeded Wildcats.

Aaron Book scored eight for the overmatched Mules.

GALLATIN COUNTY 55, CARMI-WHITE COUNTY 27
Josh Gill paced the Hawks for the second straight day as Gallatin County reached the semifinals for the second time in three years.

Ryan Jones led the Bulldogs with 13.

MERIDIAN 86, CARRIER MILLS 66
The Bobcats kept rolling on the consolation side with a win over Carrier Mills.

Travis Easley hit for 20 as Meridian advanced to the consolation semifinals.

Kyle Hines led the Wildcats with 27.
WEST FRANKFORT 58, EGYPTIAN 39
In the Friday night finale, the Redbirds made it to the consolation semifinals with a win over Egyptian.

Jason Patton popped in 13 for WF.

Egyptian closed out its stay at Eldorado with Prater scoring 10.