01-29-04
SANDOVAL VS. WOODLAWN
@ WOODLAWN INVITATIONAL TOURNEY
BY JACK BULLOCK
WOODLAWN - The more things change; the more things stay the same.

In almost a carbon copy of Wednesday night's tourney openers; both Woodlawn and Christopher used big scoring runs to win Thursday nights contests over Sandoval and Waltonville respectively.

These two early favorites each took a step closer to making it to the final game undefeated.

Both Woodlawn and Christopher each picked up wins on Thursday night to go 2-0 in the Round Robin format tourney.

WOODLAWN 61, SANDOVAL 47
As cold as the weather in southern Illinois from the field, the Cardinals have had trouble shooting the ball recently.

But once again they continue to do the things that they need to do to win.

Woodlawn moved to 16-6 on the season and 2-0 in the tournament with the win over a Blackhawks' squad that has played them tough in two contests this season. Despite standout point guard Matt Pool being held to just two points, the Cardinals are two wins away from taking home their third-straight Woodlawn/Waltonville title.

"Right now we are doing just enough to win these games," said Woodlawn coach Shane Witzel. "But one thing that I tell the kids is that defense doesn't have slumps. I want them to understand that defense and rebounding are going to win us a lot of games when we struggle offensively."

They battled even with Sandoval on the boards, holding a slight 26-25 advantage.

However where they really picked up some scoring separation was on the offensive glass.

Woodlawn converted four first half offensive rebounds into points.

Dustin Gholson scored on two of those chances in the opening quarter.

His second put back at the 3:50 mark gave Woodlawn an early 8-4 advantage.

But what Gholson was to the Cardinals offense from the inside, Sandoval's James Norton filled the bill for the Blackhawks from long range.

He drilled home four 3-point shots in the game and his first trifecta of the night got Sandoval back to just a 10-9 deficit.

After Woodlawn's Derek Burns (3-pointer) and Jeremy Wilton (rebound basket) combined to score five straight points, Sandoval retaliated with Jason Bosler scoring on a baseline drive and Ronnie Whipple converting two free throws to make it 15-13 Woodlawn at the end of the first period.

"Our kids seem to play hard against the better teams that we play and when we've played Woodlawn this season, we've stepped it up a bit," said Sandoval coach Chad Harper. "Our kids don't quit and it showed tonight."

The Blackhawks took a brief lead in the opening minutes of the second quarter, thanks to 3-of-4 free throw shooting by Bosler and Tyler Crawford followed by a rebound basket from Jonathan Hayes That combination gave Sandoval a brief 18-17 lead.

Woodlawn, after a timeout, took command with an 8-1 run fueled Burns and Wilton.

The two senior guards together made four free throws and each scored on a fast break basket.

Both of these baskets came after Sandoval turnovers and ended up being assists for Pool.

After Burns nailed a 3-pointer from the right corner and Jeremy Clinton scored on a lay in on a nice 'no-look' pass from Burns to make it 30-23, Sandoval went on a nice run of its own to finish out the half.

A 'top of the arc' 3-pointer from Norton and a pair of free throws by Whipple were sandwiched around a single Pool made charity toss.

That made the score 31-28 Cardinals at intermission.

Normally a team scoring 10-points in a quarter is not considered a successful period. However in the case of Woodlawn's eight-minute stretch starting the second half, Coach Shane Witzel will take it.

The good part of the quarter was that defensively, the Cards held Sandoval to just a lone field goal by Bosler with 3:44 left.

By this time Woodlawn had seized control with eight-straight points.

The highlight of the quarter was Pool picking up three more assists.

He found Jody Kabot with an interior pass, and the 6-0 sophomore scored in the lane to get the Cardinals rolling with 6:21 to go.

Pool's second assist went to Gholson on a similar pass underneath the basket.

Late in the quarter Pool stole the ball and found Kabot on the fly.

His lay in gave the Cardinals a 41-30 lead heading into the final quarter.

"He (Pool) is struggling right now with his shot but he still does a lot of good things for us and helps us win games like this," added Witzel. "He gets the ball to our inside guys. They can get a lot of easy points when they are looking for the ball from Matt and Derek."

Sandoval clawed its way back to within six points on two different occasions in the final quarter.

Following a Wilton shot in the lane on a pass from Burns to give Woodlawn a 43-30 lead, Sandoval used the 3-point shot as their weapon of choice on an 11-4 run.

The Blackhawks hit three of the shots from beyond the stripe, with Norton finding the target on two long bombs and Crawford hitting the other one.

However that scoring spree was the final gasp for the Blackhawks.

Woodlawn spread the floor on the offensive end for the rest of the game and Sandoval was forced to send the Cardinals to the foul line.

Woodlawn made 7-of-13 free throws in the final 3:52 and Pool picked up his final two assists of the game with Kabot and Wilton scoring baskets.

Wilton's fast brake hoop with just seconds to play finished the Woodlawn scoring and sent the Cardinals into the final two days of the event with a good chance of repeating as champions.

"We just couldn't get the big stop tonight," added Harper, whose team falls to 4-12 on the season. "It seems like they got all the big rebounds tonight and they converted a lot of those offensive rebounds into points."

Witzel praised his team for the intangibles on the night that produced the victory.

"We got some good minutes out of our bench again tonight," Witzel said. "Plus (Jeremy) Wilton makes a lot of good things happen on the floor and he got some key steals for us tonight."

Wilton finished with 12-points to go along with his three steals.

Burns led the Cardinals again with 21-points and eight assists. Pool, while he didn't have a field goal, contributed in other ways with a game-high 11-assists.

Gholson chipped in 18-points and seven rebounds.

Sandoval finished with two players in double-figures in scoring.

Norton scored 16 and Bosler added 11.

Sandoval and Woodlawn both play Friday night with the Blackhawks playing Patoka at 6:30 pm which is followed by the always-entertaining match up of long-time conference rivals Woodlawn and Waltonville at 8 pm.

Sandoval (47) - Crawford 1 1 1-2 6, Bosler 4 0 3-4 11, Whipple 1 0 4-4 6, Norton 2 4 0-0 16, Hayes 2 0 0-0 4, Conrad 1 0 1-1 4.
2FG-11, 3FG-5, FT-10-12, PF-21.
Woodlawn (61) - Pool 0 0 2-4 2, Burns 4 2 7-11 21, Wilton 5 0 2-4 12, Clinton 1 0 0-0 2, Kabot 3 0 0-2 6.
2FG-20, 3FG-2, FT-15-25, PF-16.
Fouled Out - Norton, Sandoval.

CHRISTOPHER 62, WALTONVILLE 44
The Bearcats kept pace with Woodlawn with their second straight win at the Woodlawn Tourney, behind 20-points from James Trogolo and 17-points from Joe Kretz. Christopher used a great offensive start to top Waltonville (6-11) despite 15-points from the Spartans' Jon Kash.

Christopher (13-7) jumped out to a 14-7 first quarter advantage with Kretz and Trogolo scoring 12 of those points.

Jesse Martin added 10-points for Coach Jeff Johnston's team that is also 2-0 in the tourney.

Waltonville (44) - Dees 1 2 0-0 8, Kluck 0 2 0-0 6, Kitowski 0 1 1-2 4, Kash 6 0 3-4 15, Norris 1 0 0-0 2, Ralls 1 0 0-0 2, McGovern 1 0 0-0 2, Talbert 0 0 5-6 5.
2FG-10, 3FG-5, FT-9-12, PF-15.
Christopher (62) - Kretz 5 1 4-6 17, Martin 4 0 2-3 10, Trogolo 7 0 6-8 20, Rains 0 0 1-4 1, Carr 2 0 0-0 4, Miller 1 0 0-0 2, Patalano 2 0 0-1 4, Kroeger 2 0 0-0 4.
2FG-23, 3FG-1, FT-13-22, PF-12.
Fouled Out - None.
Technical Foul - Waltonville Bench.