02-16-11
BY JACK BULLOCK
NASHVILLE – Coming up big in big games is nothing new to Murphysboro's Jerrod Gaston. He has done it all year.

In front of a near capacity crowd on the road at Nashville's Assembly Hall on Wednesday night – the senior had his way with one of the best defensive teams in the state.

The 6-foot-2 senior guard put his team on his back and carried them to a big-time road win to keep his team unbeaten with a 63-49 victory over a Hornets' squad that had prided itself all season long on the defensive end of the floor.

Gaston sliced and diced his way to 30-points from all over the floor in the match-up of Ohio Division and Mississippi Division champions.

“It is always a big game when you can meet up with Nashville and it is always more than just another game to me,” said Gaston - who as a senior has played against Nashville many times at different levels. “I respect them so much with their history and everything that they stand for. That is a good team over there. So every time I see them on the schedule I'm ready for that game.”

He and his teammates also managed to play some good defense in their own right as the Red Devils stayed the course and are now 28-0 on the season.

“They (Nashville) are aggressive defensively and that gave him (Gaston) some one-on-one opportunities and thank goodness he was knocking the shots down,' said Murphysboro head coach Daryl Murphy. “I thought in the second half we were able to execute our offense much better because he (Gaston) had to carry the load in the first half.”

The top ranked squad in the ABV Deep South 2A rankings took care of the third ranked Hornets by converting an astounding 72 percent from the floor (26-of-36) overall.

Gaston had a lot of help in the form of big shots made and defensive pressure delivered.

Six-foot-three senior classmate Dylan Craig added 15-points to the offensive assault and this lefty delivered some big shots in the second half for Coach Daryl Murphy's unbeaten club.

Eben Brooks and Pierre House added seven points each – at equally important times in the final two quarters after Gaston had scored 20 of his teams' 27 points at halftime.

Murphysboro also converted from the foul line by hitting 7-of-8 from the stripe.

And it wasn't that Nashville played poorly. The Hornets shot the ball well (18-of-39 overall) and hit 6-of-12 shots from the 3-point arc.

But on this night 46 percent wasn't going to get the job done.

Five-foot-ten senior guard Tyler Meyer topped the Hornets with 14-points while senior teammate Donovan Holle added 11.

In one of the more telling stats of the game Murphysboro out-rebounded the hosts 20-8.

“They (Murphysboro) really manhandled us at times tonight,” said Nashville mentor Brad Weathers. “We don't usually give up too many offensive boards but we got shoved underneath a few times and we normally don't give that up.”

Murphysboro missed just ten shots but got five offensive rebounds – making it difficult for Nashville to make enough stops to keep the Red Devils from putting up too many points for the Hornets to overcome.

“We have really been working on that (rebounding) in practice like we have all year but we felt like we needed to do a better job,” Murphy explained. “I thought for the most part we blocked out well and went after the ball aggressively.”

In a game that had a sectional championship game feel – it was the Red Devils who jumped out to an early lead after a couple of minutes of “feeling out” time between to very good defensive teams.

Gaston scored the game's first four points on a drive to the basket and a couple of free throws.

Meyer got the Hornets on the board early and his two 3-point bombs – one on a skip pass from Holle to the top of the arc and another from the left corner evened the score at 10-apiece at the 1:32 mark.

Following a Gaston basket on a mid-range shot from near the right elbow – Meyer scored on a drive down the lane to make it 14-13 Murphysboro after one quarter of play.

Nashville's best move of the night came in the second quarter after Murphysboro's Craig converted a conventional three-point play with 6:47 left to make it 19-16 Red Devils.

Nashville scored the next six points with Holle scoring twice underneath the basket and Meyer converting another drive in the paint for a 22-19 advantage with 3:59 to go before halftime.

Unfortunately for Coach Brad Weathers' squad – the Red Devils closed the half with an 8-0 run to take back command.

More precisely Gaston made an 8-0 run.

Four different times he took the ball into the paint and all four times he was successful.

After spreading the floor for a final shot in the last minute of the half – Gaston took the ball down the right side of the lane and his shot banked home just before the horn for a 27-22 Murphysboro advantage at intermission.

“We took a lot of good shots tonight. The best thing was that I thought that we didn't force the 3's much in the first half. I thought our shot selection was great,” said Coach Murphy. “I thought that we executed very well against probably the best defensive team we have faced all year.”

A big play coming out of the half helped increase the Red Devils comfort zone.

On a set play Murphysboro got the ball to Gaston who found Craig racing to the basket on the fly.

Craig's bucket on the lay in increased the lead to 29-22 just six seconds into the third quarter.

Nashville got the lead down to 34-33 midway through the third period thanks to three free throws by Zack Fieber - while being fouled by Craig – and scores by Meyer and Holle.

Meyer canned yet another 3-pointer as the ball rolled around the rim and found the net and Holle corralled a rebound and his put back cut the Red Devils lead to just a point with 4:01 remaining.

Murphysboro closed out the quarter in style with another score by Gaston and one of the game's biggest shots by House.

The 6-foot-1 junior guard was the recipient of a Gaston assist as the Red Devils held the ball for a final shot.

With Gaston near the top of the circle House got open from the right wing and - after taking the pass – drained a 20-footer that beat the buzzer for a 43-35 Murphysboro lead heading into the final quarter.

Craig scored on a fast break lay in while being fouled by Holle to open the fourth quarter with yet another conventional three-point trip.

Another Gaston score – a 3-pointer on an in-bounds play – and a basket by Craig pushed the lead to 51-38 with 5:30 to go.

Craig sealed the deal by coming off a screen and nailing a 3-pointer from the top of the arc for a 14-lead.

The Hornets would get no closer than 12 the remainder of the contest.

Late baskets by Murphysboro's Eben Brooks and Orlando Jarrett cleared the benches with under two minutes left.

Murphysboro committed 11-turnovers if one were to look for a “nit-pick” in the performance.

“We got some good looks tonight and I thought we did some good things to get those good looks at the basket,” added Coach Murphy. “I thought we played very unselfish as a team. I just don't think we took any bad shots tonight. If you take good open shots out of running your system good things usually happen.”

The Hornets saw its mark slip to 23-4 on the season.

Both teams head back into conference action on Friday with Murphysboro hosting Harrisburg and Nashville welcoming Sparta to the Assembly Hall.

“There is no doubt they have six kids that can play, not just Gaston,” added Coach Weathers. “I thought we did some things offensively that were good. We just had trouble keeping him (Gaston) from getting to the goal. Then we had to play catch-up and they spread the floor which is no different than us spreading the floor on somebody. They are quicker than us, there is no question.”

Murphysboro (63) – Rose 0 0 0-0 0, Greer 1 0 0-0 2, House 2 1 0-0 7, Craig 5 1 2-2 15, Gaston 10 2 4-4 30, Stanton 0 0 0-0 0, Heller 0 0 0-0 0, O. Jarrett 1 0 0-0 2, Brooks 3 0 1-2 7, Novara 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-22, 3FG-4, FT- 7-8, PF-14.
Nashville (49) – Meyer 4 2 0-0 14, Huge 0 0 0-0 0, Grathwohl 0 0 0-0 0, Fieber 0 2 3-3 9, Polczynski 0 0 0-0 0, Sc. Brown 0 1 0-0 3, Sa. Brown 1 1 3-5 8, Lietz 1 0 0-0 2, Meier 1 0 0-1 2, Krawiecki 0 0 0-0 0, Holle 5 0 1-2 11. 2FG-12, 3FG-6, FT-7-11, PF-14.
Fouled Out - Stanton - Murphysboro.
Technical Fouls – None.