Casey-Westfield @ Lawrenceville - Little Illini Conference

Lawrenceville rolls late
Indians pull away from Casey-Westfield; clinch share of league championship

02/09/2024
BY JACK BULLOCK
LAWRENCEVILLE - In a night in which they honored the 1974 IHSA Class A state champion boy's basketball team, the Lawrenceville Indians struggled in the early going of their 54-37 victory over Casey-Westfield.

But the good news of the night, besides bringing back a lot of great memories, Coach Randy Bishop's club put together a strong fourth quarter run to finally ice the Little Illini Conference win.

Lawrenceville 6-4 senior Bryant Jenkins was the top scorer for the Tribe, scoring 19-points.

Landon Sanders, a 6-3 senior, added 14.

The pair scored 11 of the teams' 19 fourth quarter points as they outlasted the Warriors.

Six-three junior Maddox Pargin scored 10-points and junior Zander Cessna added eight.

Seven of which came in the fourth quarter as he hit 4-of-4 foul shots and canned an important 3-pointer to start the final frame.

“They (Casey-Westfield) tried to spread our zone out tonight and it slowed the game down immensely because we normally pressure and we run,” said Coach Bishop. “They were really physical but finally in the second half we kept telling them (the players) to 'back-door' cut them and run some 'curls' and we did that. Jenkins and Sanders ran some cuts and got to the basket.”

Coach Tom Brannan and his Warriors had a major problem on Friday night.

Despite playing pretty strong defense for most of the contest, by comparison, the offense didn't generate enough to warrant a win.

C-W hit just 15-of-51 from the floor and just 4-of-25 from beyond the 3-point line.

For the most part the Warriors got open looks against the Lawrenceville 1-3-1 zone but couldn't get shots to go down.

Only one player for the 14-12 visitors scored double-figures.

Six-one senior forward Grant Cochonour scored 10-points in the second and third quarters for Coach Brannan.

Both junior Ryan Richards and senior Cole Gilbert added eight-points each while senior Connor Sullivan added five-points.

“That has been our modus operandi all year long. We just don't shoot the ball very well,” said Coach Brannan. “We have to do a better job of knocking down shots when we get good looks. We have good ball movement, the kids are stepping into their shots. We just have to make them.”

Lawrenceville hit on 19-of-35 from the field, including 16-of-24 (66 percent) on two-point field goals.

Which means when they got to the rim they were finishing.

Most of the Indians' points came from inside as the finally got some things going in the half-court in the second half.

Neither team played well in the opening eight minutes of the matchup.

The two clubs combined for 14-points and 13-turnovers in the first quarter.

After trailing 6-2 early after a pair of 3-pointers from Richards, Lawrenceville scored the last six points of the quarter.

Jenkins forced one of the Warriors' six first quarter turnovers as his steal resulted in a fast break two-handed dunk.

A 3-pointer by Sanders and then 1-of-2 free throws by Pargin ended the frame at 8-6 Indians.

The offenses finally got going for both teams in the second quarter.

Lawrenceville reached its largest margin of the half when sophomore Jaylen Goff drained a 3-pointer from the left corner for a 14-9 spread at the 3:10 mark.

Casey-Westfield managed to get a tie score before intermission.

Cochonour scored three times, which included consecutive steals and fast break scores.

But a late Sanders score ended the half at 22-20 Indians.

(CONTINUED)

A 7-0 run in the third quarter gave the Indians some distance.

Pargin had a rebound basket and Jenkins scored inside on an assist from Cessna.

Cessna got another assist when he fed Pargin on a lob pass in the lane for an additional bucket and a 33-24 advantage.

Casey-Westfield turned back to Cochonour who scored four-points late in the quarter and Sullivan scored on a pass from sophomore Nolan Clement.

Jenkins closed the scoring in the third quarter on another drive to the basket for a 35-30 advantage.

In a key possession to begin the fourth quarter Richards had a open look for a 3-pointer but the shot missed.

Subsequently Lawrenceville got the rebound and quickly got up court where Cessna found himself open from the left corner.

His bomb from 20-feet was a six-point swing as the Indians led 38-30.

Jenkins followed up with another drive for points and then the senior leader scored inside while being fouled by senior Cole Gilbert.

His made free throw pushed the lead to 43-30 with 4:38 to go.

A 3-pointer by Gilbert on the Warriors' next possession cut the lead back to 10.

Lawrenceville closed out the game by getting baskets by Sanders and Jenkins and the free throws by Cessna.

The Indians did miss six free throws in the final quarter, but they hit 5-of-6 in the final 2:10.

“I think anytime you honor a state championship basketball team and one of the best coaches to ever coach, it's going to add some pressure to the game,” said Coach Bishop. “We told the players before the game it's a special night and to honor those people but we would honor them even more if we could win. That state team was back behind our bench and were cheering for the kids. I think that helped motivate them.”

The Warriors were just 2-of-10 from the 3-point line, 2-of-16 overall in the final eight minutes.

Lawrenceville held a slight 26-23 rebounding edge as the two teams combined for 27-turnovers, 15 by the host team.

“I thought once we got them down I thought they (C-W) would have to force those 3's a little bit and we kept them off of the boards late,” said Coach Bishop. “They (C-W) are a nice team and at 1A they're a threat.”

Coach Bishop and his club have work to do before the postseason begins.

The Indians will host Carmi-White County next Tuesday and will close out the regular season with a trip to Paris on Friday.

A victory over the Tigers in the finale will clinch the Little Illini Conference regular season championship for Lawrenceville, it's first such title since the 2015-16 Indians' club that reached a sectional final.

Coach Brannan's club is now 3-3 in the LIC and will face Bloomington Central Catholic on Saturday at a shootout at Warrensburg-Latham.

“The season has been kind of long and we've had some injuries. Tonight I was excited of how they played. They played with effort and we were doing things right,” said Coach Brannan. “We head into a 1A Regional at our place and we will see what happens.”

The Warriors will close out their conference slate with a game at home against Newton on December 13.

“This time of the year you want to be playing your best basketball and I feel really good about where we are right now. Our kids are pretty seasoned. I hope that we can be playing our best basketball in the regional. I'm very proud of our kids. We beat Olney on their floor and Altamont has a nice team and we battled them. This game here we had to battle and this will help us in the regional,” said Coach Bishop.

Little Illini Conference	1	2	3	4	-	F
Casey-Westfield (14-12)	06	14	10	07	-	37
Lawrenceville (23-3)	08	14	13	19	-	54

Casey-Westfield (37) – Richards 1 2 0-0 8, Clement 1 0 0-0 2, Gilbert 1 2 0-0 8, Parcel 1 0 2-6 4, Maulding 0 0 0-0 0, Cochonour 5 0 0-0 10, Sullivan 2 0 1-2 5, Karras 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-11, 3FG-4, FT-3-8, PF-19.
Lawrenceville (54) – Hardiman 0 0 0-2 0, Sanders 4 1 3-6 14, Cessna 0 1 5-6 8, Jenkins 8 0 3-5 19, Pargin 4 0 2-3 10, Goff 0 1 0-0 3. 2FG-16, 3FG-3, FT-13-22, PF-8.
Fouled Out – Sullivan - Casey-Westfield.
Technical Fouls – Sullivan - Casey-Westfield.