Okawville vs. Goreville - 1A Cobden Sectional Semifinals

1A Cobden Sectional Semifinals

Okawville

Goreville

Okawville (41) - Wiese 0 0 0-0 0, Turner 2 2 1-1 11, Clay Maynard 0 0 0-0 0, Buehler 0 0 0-0 0, Gavin 0 1 0-0 3, Obermeier 2 0 1-2 5, Cepeda 0 0 0-0 0, Calvin Maynard 0 1 1-2 4, Charles 0 0 0-0 0, Schaller 0 1 0-0 3, Foley 0 0 0-0 0, Shubert 0 1 0-0 3, Anderson 4 0 4-8 12.
2FG-8/3FG-6/FT-7-13/PF-14.

Goreville (55) - Bocook 0 0 1-2 1, Land 0 0 0-0 0, Holm 0 0 1-2 1, Green 3 2 0-0 12, Tripp 3 2 1-2 13, Moore 1 0 0-0 2, Webb 0 0 0-0 0, Buffington 3 0 0-0 6, Craig 2 0 2-2 6, N. King 1 4 0-0 14, Turley 0 0 0-0 0, Church 0 0 0-0 0, Trovillion 0 0 0-0 0, T. King 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-13/3FG-8/FT-5-8/PF-20.

Fouled Out – Turner - Okawville.
Technical Fouls – Buffington - Goreville.

Blackcats' big start sends Okawville home
Goreville never trailed in 55-41 win; advance to Friday title game

03/04/2025
BY JACK BULLOCK
COBDEN - Impressive.

That sums up the state-ranked Goreville Blackcats' win over Okawville Tuesday night at the 1A Cobden Sectional.

Coach Todd Tripp's team never trailed and disrupted everything that the Rockets tried to do in its 55-41 victory.

Defensively the Blackcats took away what Coach Ryan Heck's club was trying to do and when the dust settled at Tom Crowell Gymnasium the Blackcats had improved to 32-3 on the season while sending Okawville home at 19-16.

“I have felt like we've done a good job of just going out and playing the game. We get good shots and we shared the ball really well. Defensively I thought we took some stuff away from them,” said Coach Tripp, who is looking for his third sectional title since 2018. “We doubled pretty well on their big kid (Anderson) who is a nice player. We had guys who stepped up tonight and made shots.”

Offensively Goreville knocked down eight 3-point shots, three in the first few minutes, and also got to the rim against the Okawville defense that had difficulty covering the multiple weapons that Coach Tripp has to offer.

Sophomore guard Nick King hit two of his four 3-point bombs in the first quarter and led the way with 14-points.

Teammates senior guard Cole Tripp finished with 13 and junior guard Zech Green had a dozen.

Tripp and Green each hit two 3-pointers for the eight made by the Blackcats.

Six-six senior Drake Buffington and 6-3 senior Connor Craig ended up with six-points apiece.

Buffington more than held his own against Okawville's 6-9 senior Aidan Anderson.

Anderson finished with 12-points and 12-rebounds but he got help from just one other Rocket; sophomore Braylen Turner, in double-figures with 11.

There were two early ties, 3-3 and 6-6.

Both of the Blackcats early 3-pointers were from King and a Green trifecta made it 9-6 Goreville with 3:45 left in the first quarter.

King added a drive to the basket and then dished an assist to Buffington in the paint followed by a Tripp score inside.

Turner beat the buzzer on a 40-foot prayer to close the quarter but the Rockets were still down 15-12.

“We knew that we needed to have a good start,” said Coach Heck. “Give #24 (King) credit. We watched tons and tons of film and I didn't give him much credit as a shooter and he made us pay.”

Two more Tripp scores, one on a steal and fast break and a 3-pointer from the left wing, along with another great assist from King to senior Earon Moore forced Coach Heck to burn a timeout down 24-15.

“He (Cole) doesn't have to score for us. He does such a good job taking care of the ball, getting it to where it needs to be,” said Coach Tripp. “That's what he's good at.”

Both King and Green added points with the third 3-pointer from the sophomore guard and Green adding a baseline shot as the lead ballooned to 30-17.

Anderson hit a couple of shots late in the second quarter, putting back an offensive rebound and then scoring on an inbound play as the Rockets trailed 30-21 at the half.

(CONTINUED)

The Blackcats forced seven first half turnovers from Okawville.

The Rockets needed an offense run and some defensive stops in the third quarter but they didn't get either.

Goreville used a 9-0 run to take its largest lead.

Buffington scored in the lane from an assist from Tripp to get the scoring spree started.

Consecutive rebound buckets by Craig and a 3-point bomb from the left corner by Green pushed the margin to 43-25 with 3:27 left in the third.

Okawville junior Landon Shubert scored his only points of the game, a 3-pointer from the left corner and Anderson added an inside score to cut the Blackcats lead to 43-30 heading to the fourth quarter.

Unfortunately for the Rockets, they never got the deficit cut any lower than 11-points in the final eight minutes.

Two more 3-pointers, by King and Tripp, made it 49-33.

Anderson scored the final points of his prep career on an inside drive but the Goreville finished off the win with 4-of-6 free throws and another bucket by Green.

“We've played some really good guards this year with our schedule and we've done a great job defensively. We're pretty versatile on who can go guard the ball so we can switch on and off when we need to,” said Coach Tripp. “We can really use our bench. This is a complete team as far as they want it (success) for each other and they're such a good group to coach. No selfishness. Our guys were prepared for this moment.”

Goreville ended up better statistically in all phases.

The Blackcats were 21-of-46 overall, 8-of-18 from long range and out-rebounded Okawville 30-20.

Okawville hit just 14-of-42 overall, 6-of-21 from the arc and committed 12-turnovers, five in the third quarter when Goreville pulled away.

“Their physicality, their tempo and their aggressiveness with Aidan (Anderson), their double teaming on him had us off balance from the get-go,” said Coach Heck.

Coach Tripp's club had some turnover trouble (11) as well but the defensive end made up for it as the Blackcats advanced to play the winner of the Mounds Meridian/Waltonville semifinal set to be played Wednesday night.

The sectional final is slated for Friday.

“We have a bunch of guys who can put it in the basket and when you have that on top of being unselfish, it's a great combination,” said Coach Tripp. “People watch us and we get that complement about how we share the ball and make that extra pass. The thing about this team as any of the guys can go into that locker room with zero points and you would never know it. They're never down, they're always up. It is about us winning.”