02-22-11
BY JACK BULLOCK
NASHVILLE – The Carlyle Indians game plan on Tuesday night was simple.

Defend well, be deliberate on offense and cut down on their turnovers.

In the matter of pulling an upset over state ranked and ABV top ranked Breese Central – two out of three doesn't get the job done.

Coach Andy Palmer's club committed 12-costly turnovers in the game in which possessions were limited.

In doing so the Indians dug themselves a deliberate hole in which they never could dig out of in losing to the Cougars 44-31 on Tuesday night in the opening game of the Nashville Class 2A Regional.Carlyle committed six of those miscues in the first quarter which allowed Coach Stan Eagleson's squad to get an early lead and kept the slow-down tactics from working.

“We had to take care of the ball and not turn it over to give ourselves a chance and as coaches we felt like this is the way we are going to have to play the game and I think it was the right decision,” said Coach Palmer. “We just didn't execute at times. We had some opportunities at the rim early that we didn't finish and those would have been big buckets.The start of the second half we kind of self-destructed a little bit and had three straight turnovers and it kind of got out of hand.”

Blake Norrenberns came up huge for BC with 15-points - including a 9-of-9 effort from the foul line - as his teammates struggled against Carlyle's zone defense.

Six-foot-five junior Brandon Book – normally a double-figure scorer – was saddled with two early fouls and wound up with only six points in the game.

Jacob Timmermann and Nick Grapperhaus added seven points each in the win.

“I thought defensively we were much better in the second half. We got some breathing room there in the third quarter,” said Coach Eagleson. “Blake Norrenberns did a tremendous job on the boards tonight. He really played with a lot of intensity. When they shadowed Booker (Brandon Book) we put Blake down in there and he was able to either score or kick it out. I thought he had a heck of a game.”

Carlyle was paced by Jordan Smith with 10-points.

The Indians had a pair of early leads in the contest as Carlyle's Smith found Logan Zachry for a lay up while beating the Cougars press for a 4-2 lead and later Smith added a pair of free throws to make it 6-5 at the 4:13 mark.

But BC would have nothing to do with an upset bid on this night as they scored the game's next seven points to lead 12-6 at the end of the first quarter.

Grapperhaus hit a 3-pointer from the top of the arc and four free throws by Norrenberns closed the quarter with Central up by six.

Five first quarter turnovers didn't help matters for Carlyle.

Grapperhaus scored twice in the low scoring second frame and his reverse lay in pushed the led to 17-10.

A pair of free throws by Jared Linton closed the gap to just 17-12 at intermission.

“For the most part we kept them in front of us,” added Coach Eagleson – whose team improved to 27-2 on the season. “We didn't give them anything easy to the basket. Carlyle has very good shooters. They are probably better outside shooters than we are. So if you give them a look they are going to knock them down.”

The Central run that got the Cougars the breathing room that they needed came at the start of the second half as Coach Eagleson's team scored 13 of the first 15 points scored.

Jacob Timmermann scored seven of those points with a drive to the basket, a pair of free throws and a back-breaking 3-pointer from top of the arc to pushed the Cougars advantage to 30-14 with 3:31 remaining.
The Indians had something left in the tank as they made one final run at the Cougars.

Coach Palmer's troops finished the third quarter on a 7-1 run with Matt Hilmes hitting a 3-pointer and Smith beating the buzzer with a fall-away 15-footer from the right wing to make it 31-21.

When Cody Huels connected from the right corner from 20-feet to open the fourth quarter – Carlyle was suddenly within striking distance at 31-24.

But an 8-2 scoring run by Central – while being deliberate themselves – doomed Carlyle and finished the Indians' season at 13-16.

Norrenberns took an assist from Book for a score in the lane while being fouled by Tyson Boehne. His three point play gave the Cougars a 12-point lead.

Central hit 6-of-8 free throws down the stretch to finish off Carlyle and advance to the Friday night title game against Nashville.

Another key stat in the contest was rebounding as Central held a commanding 18-6 advantage over the Indians.

Central hit 11-of-26 shots from the floor and were a deadly 19-of-23 from the foul line.
Carlyle – following Smith's 10-points – got six points from Huels and four each from Hilmes and Hunter Hartung.

“We the old cliché is that you can't play Friday unless you win on Tuesday so we took the first step,” Coach Eagleson explained. “We thought tonight with that pace of game that if we got into the 40's that they would have a hard time winning. We think that our defense at that pace should hold them under 40. Our defense was the difference in the game.”

Carlyle (31) – Huels 0 2 0-0 6, McGee 1 0 0-0 2, Linton 0 0 2-2 2, Hartung 1 0 2-2 4, Miller 0 0 0-0 0, Smith 2 0 6-6 10, Boehne 0 1 0-0 3, Zachry 0 0 0-0 0, Hilmes 2 0 0-1 4, Walker 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-6, 3FG-3, FT-10-11, PF-17.
Central (44) – Rakeers 0 0 1-2 1, J. Timmermann 1 1 2-2 7, Grapperhaus 2 1 0-0 7, A. Timmermann 0 0 0-0 0, Becker 0 0 3-4 3, Thomas 0 0 0-0 0, Schutte 0 0 0-0 0, Norrenberns 3 0 9-9 15, Rickhoff 0 0 0-0 0, Ke. Scheer 1 0 3-4 5, Book 1 1 1-2 6, Ky. Scheer 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-8, 3FG-3, FT-19-23, PF-15.
Fouled Out – Hilmes - Carlyle.
Technical Fouls – None.