01-21-04
MURPHYSBORO VS. ANNA-JONESBORO
@ WEST FRANKFORT MID-WINTER CLASSIC
BY JACK BULLOCK
WEST FRANKFORT - The phrase 'see-saw' game is used a lot to describe a basketball game. In most cases the phrase is warranted.

One team jumps out to a lead, the other team comes back, and then somewhere along the way each team repeats the process.

Wednesday night at West Frankfort, Anna-Jonesboro and Murphysboro played just such a game.

Despite being outscored 23-5 in the second quarter, Coach Daryl Murphy's Red Devils put together the final big run of the night between the two clubs, outscoring the Wildcats 9-0 in a 1:42 stretch between the third and fourth quarters to take command of the game.

Tommy House, despite being plagued by the flu, stepped up big for his teammates in a gutsy performance by scoring 15-points in his teams 53-49 win.

"Gutsy is the right definition for that win right there," said Coach Murphy, whose Red Devils are now 2-0 in the tournament and 15-2 overall. "We were not playing our best and they were pretty much out hustling us and burying 3's. But at gut-check time, we just flat got after them."

Lamont House, Tommy's cousin, also stepped up his play late in the game.

He scored four straight points (14 overall) to end the third quarter to start that late run, which shifted the momentum back to Murphysboro.

After hitting the second free throw in a two-shot opportunity, on Murphysboro's next possession he was fouled by A-J's Ryan Bittle while attempting a 3-pointer at the third quarter buzzer.

He stepped to the line and hit all three of his chances, cutting the A-J lead to 42-35 heading into the final quarter.

Murphysboro then outscored A-J 18-7 in the final quarter to pick up the win.

"That is the kind of game you can get when you got kids out there running around and hustling," said Anna-Jonesboro coach Jim Drew. "It is typical of our basketball team. Our guys are out there taking charges and diving on the floor. If we play like that we have a chance to beat teams."

But despite the hard work, a poor night shooting the ball from the free throw line proved to the Wildcats' undoing.

A-J connected on just 13-of-26 charities.

The Red Devils weren't much better (16-of-23) but they hit just enough of them in the final quarter (6-of-8) to pull out the victory.

Murphysboro was the first team to get going as they turned a 5-4 first quarter deficit into a 15-7 lead with 3:40 to play.

After A-J's Brett Wright hit a 3-pointer from the top of the arc, Murphysboro started its run.

Harvey Word scored on a rebound put back to give his team a 6-5 lead.

He followed that up with a 3-pointer while the L. House and T. House each scored on consecutive trips.

Then Word hit a 3-pointer of his own and T. House scored on a spin move in the paint.

Traveon Long hit a pair of free throws to finish off the quarter for Murphysboro at 18-9.

But the 'see-saw' part of the game began when Anna-Jonesboro jumped on the Red Devils from the opening moments of the second quarter.

A-J didn't let up until halftime during the best eight-minute stretch of the night by either club.

The 'Cats connected on four 3-point shots in the first 4:15 of the second quarter.

Jimmy Drew, the coaches' son, hit two of those shots from behind the line.

His second one came on a play were they caught Murphysboro changing defenses on an inbounds play and he was wide open from the left wing.

When the shot went down, A-J had its first lead since the early moments of the game at 19-18.

Murphysboro finally responded with L. House hitting 1-of-2 free throws and then Loving scored in the lane to cut the A-J lead to 24-21.

But Anna-Jonesboro continued its hot streak when Mark Chamness stroked a long 3-pointer from the left corner and Bittle later connected from the same spot.

Bittle then made a steal on the next Murphysboro possession and his fast break lay up gave A-J a 29-21 lead with 1:31 before intermission.

L. House scored on yet another acrobatic move in the lane over a couple of A-J defenders to cut the lead back to six.

However A-J held the ball for a final shot, and that one ended up being another trifecta from Drew after receiving a nice pass from Mark Chamness.

Drew's shot rattled in just beating the buzzer from deep in the right corner giving the Wildcats their biggest advantage of the half at 32-23.

"I didn't want a track meet with these guys but when we scored those 23 in the second quarter we pushed the ball," added Coach Drew. "We went from a zone to man-to-man and that hurt them a bit. We surprised them."

Anna-Jonesboro looked like they were going to finish off the Red Devils midway through the third frame when Drew hit his fourth 3-pointer of the night to start a 9-2 run which extended the advantage to 42-31 with 2:49.

But at that point, Murphysboro took over with its final push to get the win.

Anna-Jonesboro had chances at the end to get back into the game.
A running one-handed shot in the lane by Mark Chamness gave A-J its last lead of the night at 45-44.

But after a Lamont House bucket, the Red Devils forced a turnover and Loving scored on conventional 3-point play while being fouled by Bittle.

Drew had a shot from the left corner from behind the arc to tie the game, but Tommy House came from out of nowhere to deflect the ball to Word who was fouled by A-J's Bo Bennett.

His two free throws gave the Devils a 51-46 lead.

A basket by Mike Chamness brought the Wildcats back to within 51-48, but T. House and reserve Jon Keener each hit a free throw in the final minute to preserve the victory.

"That's as good as we can go right there tonight," added Coach Drew. "House (Tommy) hits three acrobatic shots on us tonight. If he misses them, we probably win tonight. I will take this effort every night."

The House cousins combined for 29-points while Loving added 12 and Word seven.

Anna-Jonesboro (14-6, 1-1 in the tourney) received 13-points from Drew while Mark Chamness added 11 with Bittle and Mike Chamness each tossing in eight.

Murphysboro plays again at the Mid-Winter Classic Friday night when they play Johnston City at 9 pm while A-J and the host Redbirds hook up at 7:30 on the same night.

Murphysboro (53) - Word 1 1 2-2 7, T. House 5 0 5-10 15, L. House 5 0 4-5 14, Loving 4 0 4-4 12, Keener 2 0 1-2 5.
2FG-17, 3FG-1, FT-16-23, PF-17.
Anna-Jonesboro (49) - Bittle 1 1 3-4 8, Keller 2 0 1-2 5, Ma. Chamness 2 2 1-6 11, Mi. Chamness 1 0 6-8 8, Wright 0 1 1-2 4, Drew 0 4 1-2 13, Bennett 0 0 0-2 0.
2FG-6, 3FG-8, FT-13-26, PF-15.

JOHNSTON CITY 64, CARTERVILLE 55 OT
The Indians outlasted the Lions in the second game Wednesday night.

Kyle Baker came up big for Coach Randy House's club, scoring 28-points in the win.

Josh Dean added 17 for the 10-8, 1-1 Indians who snapped a six-game losing streak.

Carterville (11-8, 0-2) was paced by Ben Drust with 14 while Brian Burgrabe and Brian Kein 10.

Johnston City (64) - K. Baker 9 0 10-17 28, Johns 0 0 2-4 2, R. Baker 4 0 1-1
9, Dean 6 0 5-8 17, Kirkpatrick 3 0 2-2 8.
2FG-22, 3FG-0, FT-20-32.
Carterville (55) - Drust 5 2 2-4 14, Burgrabe 4 2 2-2 12, Lantagne 1 1 0-0 3,
Keim 4 1 0-0 10, Rowold 3 0-0 6, Hilliard 1 0 4-6 6, McCann 2 0-0 4. Totals
20 8-12 55.
2FG-20, 3FG-7, FT-8-12.

ELDORADO 54, WEST FRANKFORT 39
The Eagles overcame a 22-17 halftime deficit to pick up the win in Wednesday's nightcap.