02-04-11
BY JACK BULLOCK
HERRIN – Eleven in a row!

The Herrin Tigers are hot at the right time and the teams remaining on their schedule had better pay attention.

After a 4-10 start to the season Coach Irv Lukens' ball club played with emotion and precision and SIRR Ohio Division rival Harrisburg found out the hard way on Friday night in front of a large “Pink-Out” crowd at Herrin.

The Tigers outscored the Bulldogs 40-12 in the second half of a 67-42 resounding triumph to improve to 15-10 on the season.

JoJo Hart led the way for Herrin with 21-points while dishing out eight assists – several of which went to teammates Vennis Brown and Jamie Jones.

Brown – a 6-foot-7 senior forward - finished a dominating inside performance with 14-points, 11-rebounds and five blocked shots.

The 6-foot-2 senior forward Jones dropped in 13-points which included a pair of 3-pointers for the Tigers who rallied from a 30-27 halftime deficit for the big win in front of an energetic home crowd.

The victory pushed the Tigers' mark in the Ohio to 4-3.

“We were making it very tough on them (Harrisburg) to get something offensively,” said Herrin head coach Irv Lukens. “I thought our defense was good, we contested every shot and we fed off of that because we got some rebounds and some fast break points. That just changed the game. We just started rolling.”

Coach Randy Smithpeters' team saw its mark slip to 20-5 overall while dropping just their second loss in conference play to fall to 5-2.

Harrisburg – after jumping out to an early lead – found the going much tougher in the second half as they failed to score for the first 6:07 of the third quarter.

“We're a shooting team. We're an offensive team and we didn't shoot the ball well and we didn't rebound well. We missed some shots that we normally hit,” said Harrisburg mentor Randy Smithpeters. “We didn't get open the people that we need to get open. We were satisfied with the looks that we got and that is not how you beat this team (Herrin). We didn't come out an perform.”

In the meantime – Herrin went on an 11-0 run to begin the third quarter to assume control.

Tyler Smithpeters tried to get the Bulldogs going as he hit a 3-pointer to stop the Herrin scoring run temporarily.

But Hart responded with a 3-pointer of his own to close the quarter at 41-33 Tigers.

An 8-0 run to begin the final frame finished off the Herrin win with Hart and Brown scoring first.

Hart scored on a drive to the basket and added another assist on a lob to Brown for another slam.

Jones scored on a fast break lay in and added a pair of free throws for a 49-33 lead with 5:23 left.

The Bulldogs made a brief move to get back to within 11-points with Capel Henshaw hitting a 3-pointer from the top of the arc followed by a pair of Keelin Rasch free throws to cut the Herrin lead to 51-40.

Unfortunately for the Bulldogs – Herrin would outscore the Dawgs 16-2 the remainder of the contest.

Herrin went 8-of-8 from the foul line in the final eight minutes to secure the victory.

Harrisburg jumped out to an early lead – playing like a team that had won 20-of-24 games on the year.

The Bulldogs led 8-0 in a quarter in which the Tigers committed eight turnovers and were just 3-of-10 from the floor.

But the momentum changed hands in the middle part of the second quarter as Herrin got on a roll.

Harris grabbed his own rebound for a stick back while being fouled by Jalen Stewart. The three-point play cut the Harrisburg lead to just 20-16 with 5:04 left.

Two free throws and a late score by Hart closed the half at 30-27 Bulldogs.

“Its confidence. They (our team) have found a way to win and winning just starts growing on people and that is what they are doing right now,” said Coach Lukens. “They are feeding off of each other. That was my big speech to begin the game. I told them I need everyone to play big tonight. Even if you are coming off the bench. Play big and play your role. Everyone is starting to do that and we are seeing that success.”

The Tigers controlled the entire second half on both ends of the floor for the win.

The Bulldogs can look at a woeful shooting night as part of the blame for defeat as Harrisburg connected on just 15-of-57 shots overall (26 percent) and were a downright pitiful 2-of-18 in the fourth quarter.

Henshaw led Harrisburg as the only double-figure scorer for Coach Smithpeters ended up with 18-points. Tyler Smithpeters was held to just nine points on the night by Herrin.

“Give Herrin credit. They're a good team and I don't think that there is any question about that,” added Coach Smithpeters. “We knew coming over here that it would be a tough game. We had to perform well and we didn't do some of the things that we had to do. I think that this is a wake up call for us. Having a week off (because of the weather) with a young club it was tough but our job is to put this one behind us. We play again in 16 hours (Benton Shootout).

Coach Lukens saw his squad settle down and roll offensively by hitting 26-of-49 shots overall (53 percent) with 3-of-9 from beyond the arc.

Herrin won the rebounding battle at 35-30 and - after committing eight turnovers in the first quarter – the Tigers settled down and committed just two the rest of the game.

“We had to control the boards and we should control the boards against them. We're bigger and our goal was to control both ends of the floor on the boards and I thought we did an excellent job,” added Coach Lukens. “I thought we were a bit too keyed up in the beginning in front of an emotional crowd but once we settled down we were okay.”

Harrisburg (42) – Rasch 0 0 2-2 2, Smithpeters 0 3 0-1 9, Younger 0 0 0-0 0, Henshaw 6 1 3-4 18, Roper 1 0 0-0 2, Stewart 1 0 0-0 2, Goldman 0 0 0-0 0, Price 0 1 0-0 3, McCowan 0 0 0-0 0, Taborn-Scott 0 0 0-0 0, Short 0 0 2-2 2.
2FG-17, 3FG-0, FT-12-16, PF-21.
Herrin (67) – J. Hart 6 1 6-8 21, Jones 1 2 5-5 13, Harris 3 0 1-1 7, Mannie 2 0 2-3 6, Brown 7 0 0-6 14, Orso 0 0 0-0 0, N. Lukens 2 0 0-0 4, J. Lukens 1 0 0-0 2, Wayer 0 0 0-0 0, Davis 0 0 0-2 0, Harkins 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-22, 3FG-3, FT-14-25, PF-15.
Fouled Out – Smithpeters - Harrisburg
Technical Fouls – None.