12-18-10
BY JACK BULLOCK
WAYNE CITY -The Crab Orchard Trojans will have a chance to defend its 2009 Conrad Allen Wayne City Holiday Tournament championship.

Behind 24-points from guard Drew Johnson along with 18-points from Dylan Hutson and 14 from Ben Kissing – the Trojans remained unbeaten in winning Pool A with a 62-43 triumph over Cisne on Saturday night.

Head coach Jon Brown's club overcame playing without Kissing (foul trouble) for nearly eight minutes in the second half to pull away from the upstart Lions.

Putting together a good defensive plan of starting out man-to-man and switching to a 1-3-1 – Crab Orchard frustrated Cisne.

“I thought that we mixed it up pretty good on them with our perimeter guys hitting some three's and getting to the rim on drives,” explained Coach Brown. “Coming into tonight we were pretty much playing man-to-man but our zone (1-3-1) is something that we have confidence in.”

Coach Kevin Bowen wanted his Cisne team to work the ball more offensively to try and slow down the Trojans but eventually Crab Orchard got the game going at its own pace.

“They (Crab Orchard) sped us up and we don't want to play that fast,” said Coach Bowen. “Johnson hit some early three's and that got them the lead that they wanted and we had to play faster than we wanted to.”

Crab Orchard started the game off well offensively – hitting a trio of 3-point shots in the opening stanza to get some breathing room.

Johnson hit two of those with his first one getting the Trojans on the board early to get a 3-2 lead.

Kissing hit the other 3-pointer from the top of the arc. Kissing scored seven of his 14 points in the first quarter and his drive to the basket finished the opening period at 15-7 Trojans.

The Lions – who fell to 3-1 in the tournament after the loss – hung close to Crab Orchard but couldn't get enough defensive stops to mount a rally.

Three Cisne players hit for double-figures with Dustin Atteberry leading the charge with 12-points.

Atteberry score twice in the second quarter and his bucket at the 2:07 mark cut the Lions' deficit to just 23-16.

Kissing had picked up his third foul a minute earlier and was on the bench when Cisne seemed to be heading toward an offensive move.

“With Kissing going to the bench with a third foul we switched to the zone,” added Coach Brown. “The zone took them (Cisne) out of their rhythm and I thought we did a good job of getting hands on passes.”

Johnson scored four more points and Hutson chipped in a pair of free throws for a 29-18 halftime lead.

“I thought that Johnson stepped up exceptionally well tonight when Kissing went to the bench,” added Coach Brown. “Hutson hit some big shots for us tonight in the second half.”

Even with Kissing on the pine for the early part of the third quarter – Crab Orchard didn't miss a beat on either end of the floor.

Hutson connected on two 3-point bombs in the third quarter with his second one pushing the Trojans to a 39-29.

“Going into the game we wanted to attack him (Kissing) in some spots and maybe get him into some foul trouble,” added Coach Bowen. “We thought we knew some of his tendencies and thought we could get some charges on him which we did. But they went to that 1-3-1 zone and it bothered us. I thought we were pretty effective getting to the rim when they were playing man.”

Crab Orchard took over from that point on.

Johnson again did the damage – scoring seven points in the final 1:40 of the third quarter.
Taking a pass from Kissing in the final seconds – Johnson drained a 3-pointer from the left wing for a 50-37 advantage.

Seven consecutive points by Crab Orchard to open the four quarter ended the drama.

Johnson, Hutson and Bandon Boester all scored in the run that made it 57-37.

A steal and fast break score by Hutson pushed the advantage to its pinnacle at 62-41.

Cisne got ten points apiece from Austin Atteberry and Aaron Maloy in the loss.

The Lions – playing a much faster tempo than they want to play – ended up with 16-turnovers.

Cisne shot the ball pretty well (18-of-40) but were just 2-of-10 from behind the arc.

Crab Orchard was 23-of-45 from the floor and hit 8-of-22 3-point attempts.

Crab Orchard is now 12-1 overall and will meet unbeaten Wayne City in the title game Monday night at 8:30 pm.

“We're thrilled to be in the championship game here,” finalized Coach Brown. “We are looking forward to defending the title. We like this tournament and that title was something that eluded us for a long time.”

Cisne (43) – A. Atteberry 5 0 0-0 10, Byars 3 0 0-0 6, Billington 1 0 1-2 3, Maloy 2 2 0-0 10, D. Atteberry 4 0 4-4 12, Powell 0 0 0-0 0, Rogers 0 0 0-0 0, Davis 0 0 0-0 0, Hughes 0 0 0-0 0, Howard 0 0 0-0 0, Faber 1 0 0-0 2, Allison 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-16, 3FG-2, FT-5-6, PF-10.
Crab Orchard (62) – Johnson 3 4 6-6 24, Wece 0 0 0-0 0, Kissing 5 1 1-2 14, Hutson 4 3 1-1 18, Boester 2 0 0-0 4, Perry 1 0 0-0 2, Bailey 0 0 0-0 0, J. Emery 0 0 0-0 0, C. Emery 0 0 0-0 0, Ray 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-15, 3FG-8, FT-8-9, PF-6.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

WAYNE CITY 64, EDWARDS COUNTY 40
The host Indians spotted the Lions a 5-0 early lead then outgunned outscored Ed Co. 37-19 to improve to 9-0 on the season.

Haden Smith topped all scorers with 18-points in the win as the Indians will play Crab Orchard in the championship on Monday night.

Zach Meritt added 15-points for Wayne City and senior Mark Feather added seven - including a fast break two-handed dunk.

Jacob Spear topped Edwards County with 10-points while Brandon Harris added nine.

Edwards County will play Cisne in the third place game on Monday night at 7 pm while Patoka and Zeigler-Royalton will play in the fifth place game at 5:30 pm.

Edwards County (40) – N. Lear 2 0 2-2 6, Spear 5 0 0-0 10, Laws 0 1 0-0 3, Harris 3 0 3-3 9, Frazier 1 0 1-2 3, Smith 1 0 1-1 3, Schuh 0 1 0-0 2, Raber 1 0 0-0 2, Vanblaricum 0 0 0-0 0, Utley 0 0 0-0 0, R. Lear 0 0 0-0 0, Toutloff 0 0 0-0 0, M. Lear 0 0 1-2 1. 2FG-13, 3FG-2, FT-8-10, PF-11.
Wayne City (64) – Draper 0 1 1-2 4, Hayes 3 0 1-1 7, Smith 9 0 0-0 18, Lauramore 0 0 0-0 0, Manahan 2 -0 0-2 4, Burge 0 0 0-0 0, Hutchcraft 1 0 0-0 2, Feather 3 0 1-2 7, Sharp 0 0 0-0 0, Withrow 0 0 0-0 0, Meritt 2 3 2-2 15, Caldwell 2 0 3-3 7. 2FG-22, 3FG-4, FT-8-12, PF-12.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.