01-20-04
CRAB ORCHARD @ ZEIGLER-ROYALTON
BY JACK BULLOCK
ZEIGLER - Crab Orchard coach Jon Brown can look to one stat on the final sheet to see what went wrong on Tuesday night in his teams' non-conference game against @ Z-R.

Free throw shooting.

The Trojans won the battle in nearly every other category, but lost the double overtime war by going just 11-of-25 from the charity stripe.

In the meantime Zeigler-Royalton rallied from a 52-39 third quarter deficit to force a pair of overtime sessions and made 12-of-13 of its freebies in the two extra periods.

Those combinations allowed Coach Quent Hamilton's crew to escape with an 80-73 double overtime non-conference win.
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The Tornadoes (4-11) received a team-high 28-points from 6-5 senior Matt Jones and 18 from Travis Eastwood in picking up the win.

The Trojans Lucas Odom canned eight 3-pointer from all over the court and finished with a game leading 31-points.

Eastwood was instrumental in the game on the defensive end as he helped slow down Crab Orchard's Ray Kissing (16-points) on the night. R. Kissing scored in spurts in the game but he was forced to work hard for everything he got.

"Travis (Eastwood) did a really good job on him tonight," said Hamilton.
"We talked at halftime about doubling-down on him in the post. He had 16 but he got eight of those points in the second quarter."

Z-R opened the game on an 8-0 run with Jones flexing his offensive muscle early by scoring six of those points.

Crab Orchard's Jon Bean scored 12-points on the night, but he shook loose in the paint for six points early in the game. His turnaround bank in the paint cut the Z-R lead to 12-8 with 1:37 to go.

But Jones scored the final four points of the frame for the Tornadoes. His spin move in the paint with :06 left gave his club a 19-10 lead heading into the second quarter.

The Trojans showed in the second quarter what they are capable of doing offensively as they took it to Z-R.

Odom, R. Kissing and Bean combined for 19-of-the-21 points in the frame; with Odom hitting two of his 3-pointers in the frame.

R. Kissing crashed the boards for two offensive put backs. This quickly got the Trojans back in the game.

CO's Bryce Hill took a pass from R. Kissing on a fast break and his lay up gave the folks in the crowd the games first tie at 22-all with 4:44 to go before intermission.

Chad Menckowski got on the board late in the second quarter for Z-R, scoring on a pair of drives to the basket.

But Odom banked home a 3-pointer from the top of the arc and Bean scored again in the lane and the Trojans led 31-30 at the half.

Menckowski hit a 'feel good' 3-pointer to open the second half for Z-R.

But that 'warm fuzzy' didn't last long as Crab Orchard, or better yet Odom, seized command of the game in the next 7:13 of the game.

Switching to a 1-3-1 trapping zone, the Trojans forced five third quarter turnovers.

And then Odom got scorching hot from behind the line.

He hit four 3-pointers in the period and his first bomb ignited a 15-2 run.

After Z-R's Brandon Ortega hit a pair of free throws to give his team back the lead 37-36, the Trojans scored the games' next 12-points.

Tommy Kissing hit a 3-pointer in from the right corner to give CO back the lead and then Odom and R. Kissing combined for 10 quick points.

The 6-4 Kissing got inside and put back two offensive rebounds for points while Odom added two more 3-pointers to his total.

When the 5-10 senior came around a screen and canned a shot from the right corner with 2:25 to go in the third, the lead had ballooned to 49-37.

"We actually worked on the 1-3-1 at practice yesterday," said Hamilton. "But I told the kids sometimes when you practice it you start thinking about it too much instead of just playing. And things kind of escalated there in the third."

Whereas the Trojans played nearly a flawless third quarter, the fourth quarter was nearly the opposite.

With Zeigler-Royalton pressuring the ball more on the defensive end, Crab Orchard struggled.

Eastwood, who had spent most of game working hard guarding R. Kissing, scored seven fourth quarter points.

He took the ball to the basket on two straight Z-R trips, which resulted in five points.

His made free throw after his second made basket (while being fouled by Bean) cut the Crab Orchard advantage to 53-44 and forced a Trojan timeout with 5:28 left in regulation.

Z-R gained momentum late in the quarter when the Trojans missed seven fourth quarter free throws.

Ortega, Menckowski and Van Nix combined to shoot 6-of-7 from the line to get their team within striking distance.

When Ortega hit both charities with 1:56 to go, Z-R had whittled the lead to 56-54.

R. Kissing was sent to the line on two straight trips down the court and he hit the back end of both two-shot attempts, stretching the Trojans lead to 58-54.

But at this point, Ortega decided to show his marksmanship from behind the arc.

He canned his first a 'trifecta' of the night right in front of Coach Hamilton and the Z-R bench with :27.5 remaining.

R. Kissing was sent to the line again by Jones with :24.4 left. This time Kissing made both freebies to make it 60-57.

Working the ball on the offensive end against the 1-3-1, Ortega found himself open from the exact same spot as he was when he made his last 3-point attempt.

This time, after a brief hesitation, he launched another attempt that knotted the game at 60-all.

After a Crab Orchard timeout, R. Kissing got the ball and put up a shot from the top of the arc that would have tied the game. However the attempt was just off the mark and the two teams went to overtime.

"He (Ortega) had been non-existent for pretty much the whole game," added Hamilton. "But I left him out there and fortunately he fought through it and made the shots."

Crab Orchard had a chance to bury the Tornadoes in the first overtime. Odom nailed yet another 3-pointer from the right corner while being fouled by Ortega (his fifth personal) just seconds into the extra frame.

But Odom missed his free throw and the score remained 63-60.

Curtis Boester's only points of the game for Crab Orchard was a lay in on a pass by Odom, which made it 67-64 with :47.4 left.

But after Jones scored again on short shot in the paint, Crab Orchard's Tommy Kissing converted just the first of his two-shot free throw opportunity, leaving the door open for the Tornadoes.

Eastwood was fouled on the next Z-R trip and he made both free throws to force a second extra period tied at 68-apiece.

Z-R took the lead for good in the second OT when junior Charlie Edmonds hit both of his free throw attempts to give his team a 72-70 lead.

After R. Kissing missed two more free throw tries, Menckowski put the first nail in the Crab Orchard coffin with a drive to the basket while being fouled by Hill with 1:55 to go.

His made free throw pushed the cushion to 75-70.

Crab Orchard last points came on Odom's eighth 3-pointer with 1:48 left.

But the Tornadoes made 4-of-6 free throws in the final :50.7 while the Trojans missed four straight 3-point attempts.

"At the beginning of the season, we were atrocious from the free throw line so we worked hard on that in practice and it paid off tonight," finalized Hamilton. "It definitely did win this ball game for us tonight."

Besides Jones and Eastwood, Menckowski finished with 12-points and Ortega and Nix added 10-each.
Odom, Kissing and Bean were the only double figure scorers for the Trojans.

Crab Orchard (10-8) plays in the GEC Tournament next week while Z-R hosts Black Diamond Conference rival Elverado Friday night.

Crab Orchard (73) - Hill 2 0 1-2 5, Odom 1 8 5-9 31, Bean 6 0 0-3 12, T. Kissing 1 1 1-2 6, R. Kissing 6 0 4-8 16, Boester 1 0 0-1 2.
2FG-17, 3FG-9, FT-11-25, PF-23.
Zeigler-Royalton (80) - Jones 13 0 2-5 28, Eastwood 7 0 4-5 18, Ortega 0 2 4-5 10, Menckowski 3 1 3-3 12, Nix 1 0 8-8 10, Edmonds 0 0 2-2 2.
2FG-24, 3FG-3, FT-23-28, PF-22.
Fouled Out - Ortega, Z-R; Bean, T. Kissing, R. Kissing, Crab Orchard.