 12/03/2025
BY JACK BULLOCK
CAMPBELL HILL - Carterville's victory over Steeleville on Wednesday
night at the Trico “Tip-Off Classic” wasn't pretty.
But,
as in many facets of life including sports, it doesn't always
have to be.
The Lions
jumped out to an early lead and pulled away late for a 71-48
victory that wouldn't win any beauty contests.
Despite
the two teams combining for a unmerciful 47-turnovers, Carterville
hit enough shots and made enough defensive plays to pick up
their second win in the event and the season and are 2-0 in
both.
Coach
Shane Hawkins may end up erasing the game footage and just move
on to next page of the tournament chapter.
Offensively
Carterville jumped ahead in the first quarter and never trailed.
Twenty-six
of the turnovers in the game were by Steeleville and head coach
Aaron Fiene's club had really bad quarters in the first and
third, getting outscored 32-16 while coughing up 15 of their
mistakes.
The first
eight possessions by the Warriors ended in either a missed shot
or a turnover.
Carterville
was led by 17-point scorers sophomore Harper Lustenberger and
junior Zach Snow.
Snow
canned three of the five made 3-point shots by the Lions while
Lustenberger got inside to do his damage.
Senior
Colton Hawkins scored 12-points for Carterville and sophomore
Max Lustenberger added nine-points as nine different Lions scored
in the rout.
Steeleville
was paced by senior guard Mason Hill with 11-points, including
a couple of 3-pointers in the second quarter to help keep his
team within striking distance by halftime.
Senior
Logan Bockhorn added 10-points and classmates Connor Brown and
senior Nathan Witthoft added eight and seven.
“We
let them get a couple of spurts and we did that (turnovers)
to ourselves but give them (Carterville) a lot of credit. I
thought that they played a terrific game tonight,” said
Coach Fiene. “I thought we got sped up too much and we
had some uncharacteristic turnovers but it's the second game
of the year and we'll get that cleaned up.”
Snow
and Max Lustenberger nailed down consecutive 3-pointers to push
the Lions to a 17-7 lead at the end of the first.
A big
run by Carterville to open the second quarter gave the appearance
that this was going to be a blow out victory.
A 13-3
scoring blitz, with three of the baskets coming in transition,
pushed the Lions advantage to 30-10 with 5:16 left before halftime.
Junior
guard Maddox Gulley finished with seven-points for Carterville
and he added to the scoring spree with basket in the run.
Steeleville
clawed back into contention with the late 3's by Hill and an
inside score by senior Colin Vallett as they trailed 38-26 at
the half.
“When
we made our run at the end of the first quarter and the start
of the second quarter, we made the right plays. We didn't let
them speed us up. We got a couple of open threes and a couple
of things at the rim,” said Coach Hawkins. “We need
to keep it really simple and make the right play. When we do
that we're pretty good. At the end of the second quarter we
had a stretch where we didn't make the right plays and the lead
went from 20 down to 12.”
(CONTINUED) |
Bockhorn
scored twice to start the third quarter, sandwiched around a
made free throw by Hawkins as Steeleville cut the Lions' edge
to just 39-30.