02/20/2026
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARTERVILLE - For a team that entered the 2025-26 basketball season with a lot of question marks and expectations, the answers provided this regular season proved to be correct in the final exam.

The Carterville Lions put together a sparkling regular season finale on Friday night at home against league rival Murphysboro.

The Red Devils, with a victory, could have claimed a share of the SIRR Ohio Division championship.

That wasn't about to happen on the Lions' home floor in front of a Senior Night crowd.

Coach Shane Hawkins' crew dismantled Murphysboro defensively and junior guard Max Gulley took care of much of the scoring as Carterville clinched the league title, 60-36 to finish the regular season off in style.

The Lions finished up 27-3 overall, 7-1 in the SIRR Ohio standings, and ride a six-game winning streak into the postseason.

Murphysboro, on the other hand, fell to 19-10 overall for Coach Daryl Murphy.

Gulley led all scorers with 22-points and the defensive effort didn't allow anyone wearing Crimson and Corn to make it to double-digits.

“We put him (Gulley) in situations where he is coming off of ball-screens and Maddox has made his living coming off of that and making 15-foot pull ups all year,” said Coach Hawkins. “He is deceptively quick and he has gotten stronger. He can get to the rim and finish.”

Carterville forced 13-turnovers and turned many of them into points as they pulled away and turned the contest into a rout in the second half.

Two other Lions ended up with double-figures in the scorebook.

Senior Amareon Adams added 11-points to the output while sophomore Max Lustenberger contributed 10.

Senior Colton Hawkins might not dazzle teams with a bunch of points, but the 6-4 guard leads by example.

He scored eight-points, dished out a handful of assists and helped guard Murphysboro 6-7 senior Kemmeon Hale in the paint.

Hawkins, with some help, held Hale to just six-points on three made field goals.

Senior guard Myles Guthman led Murphysboro with just eight-points.

“I thought we were able to pressure their guards a little bit. I thought our guys did a great job of taking their (offensive) sets away,” said Coach Hawkins. “I thought we did a really good job of making (Cash) Brooks earn what he got. Kemmeon is going to get what he gets but I thought we made it hard for him. We had bodies on him. He made a couple of tough shots but we made it tough.”

The Lions broke free from a 5-5 early tie score to close out the quarter on a 12-2 run.

Gulley scored his first basket of the game on a drive down the middle of the floor and Adams stuck back a missed shot for points in the run.

As time dwindled down in the first quarter, Hawkins found teammate Zach Snow in the left corner with a cross-court pass.

The junior guard drilled home a 3-pointer for a 17-7 first quarter advantage.

(CONTINUED)

“He (Colton) is not a scorer. He's going to average 15 a game, he's going to go get six, seven or eight rebounds, he's going to lead you in assists, steals and deflections and blocked shots,” said Coach Hawkins about his son. “He can make open shots and I get on him sometimes because he passes up some shots. He has a very high IQ. He's going to make the right play most of the time. He just does so many other intangible things.”

Gulley made a nice assist to Adams for a score in the second quarter before adding a conventional three-point play on a drive inside while being fouled.

The made free throw made it 23-7 with 5:46 to go before the half.

Murphy finally got something going the rest of the second quarter.

Six-consecutive points, with four coming from junior Airrion Swansey, Jr. and Guthman cut into the Lions' edge.

This was part of the Red Devils' best run (9-2) with Hale scoring his first points on a nice spin move inside.

However Gulley added another basket getting to the rim and two free throws to end the quarter at 29-19.

Carterville pulled away with a big beginning of the second half.

Gulley scored nine of his points and a pair of free throws started the game clinching 12-0 run at the end of the frame.

Hawkins hit his only 3-pointer, from the top of the circle, and Gulley nailed down a 20-footer off of a Hawkins' assist.

A steal and fast break basket by Gulley was followed by a basket in the final seconds by Adams off of another great pass from Gulley.

The Adams bucket made it 50-29 heading to the fourth.

The Adams/Gulley combo struck again to open the final eight minutes.

Gulley dished inside to Adams for a lay up and the junior guard closed his brilliant performance with another basket on a drive before both coaches went to the cleanup crew in the final minutes.

Offensively Carterville has had better shooting nights than they had on Friday.

The Lions were 20-of-42 overall, 4-of-8 from long distance.

However they only committed five turnovers, two of which came during the mop up time late by reserves.

Coach Hawkins' squad hit 16-of-21 free throws with Gulley going 7-of-7.

Murphysboro managed just a 13-of-34 night from the floor, 3-of-11 from outside the circle.

The Red Devils didn't get to the foul line enough and hit just 7-of-14 when they toed the line.

Now it is on to the postseason for both teams.

The Lions were voted the top-seed in their sub-sectional and will play the winner of the Monday night first round matchup between Eldorado and West Frankfort.

That game will be Wednesday night at Massac County.

Murphysboro is the three seed at Benton and will face either Harrisburg or Hamilton County, who play Monday night.

“If you hold a team like that to 19-points in the first half and 17 in the second half you've done a really good job on the defensive end,” said Coach Hawkins. “We have monkeyed with this offense, keeping people spread out. We have enough guys who can hit jumpers that it is hard for them to cheat off. Our biggest thing is can we make the right read when we get there. We get ourselves in trouble sometimes because we think we have to get all the way to the rim.”