03-01-11
BY JACK BULLOCK
ALTAMONT – On Tuesday night Red Hill was “in a zone” which kept Neoga from getting into its “zone.”

Using a match-up “3-2 scheme” - which capitalized on the Salukis size advantage – Red Hill moved into its second sectional title game in three years with a 49-37 victory in the opening game of the Altamont Class 1A Sectional.

Coach Bryan Havill's club improved to 17-12 on the year as Neoga's mark fell to similar 17-13.

The difference is that the Salukis move on to Friday night's title game while the Indians season came to an abrupt halt.

Forcing Neoga into tough shots from the perimeter and making just enough free throws in the fourth quarter – the Salukis pulled away late for the win.

Red Hill struggled at times this season but Coach Havill preached to his team that they could get to this point of the postseason.

“I told the kids all year not to worry about our record. We play a tough schedule and that we were aiming for this Friday night,” said Coach Havill about the potential of playing state-ranked and ABV Preseason Top Ranked Woodlawn on Friday night. “We knew that we could get to this game.”

Neoga – with only one starter over 6-foot tall – couldn't match-up with the taller, longer opposition on Tuesday night.

Forced to take many bad shots – Neoga connected on just 12-of-46 attempts in the contest (26 percent) and were eliminated.

On the other hand – Red Hill wasn't spectacular offensively but shot much better from the floor and showed a lot of patience in running their offense against the quicker Indians.

The Salukis were 17-of-33 from the field with most of the shots coming in close to the basket.

Six-foot-three junior forward Cameron Lawson led the Salukis' attack with 14-points while teammate senior guard Cameron Lewis added 10.

Red Hill took an early lead by working the ball inside.

Lewis scored on a drive to the basket and Lawson took a nice interior pass from Robert Young for a back door score and a 12-6 lead with 1:12 left in the first quarter.

Neoga struggled offensively for most of the game and committed four of its 16-turnovers in the first eight minutes.

However the Indians best stretch of the night came at the end of the first quarter and the opening minutes of the second frame.

Reserve guard Jacob Cole – a 5-foot-9 senior – came off the bench and hit a 3-pointer to cut the Neoga deficit to 14-11 at the first horn.

That score began an 11-0 run by the Tribe – highlighted by a pair of 3-point bombs by the “Dalton Gang.”

Dalton Roberts and Dalton McFarland hit back-to-back trey's and a steal and fast break score by Tyler Pikowski with 5:09 left forced Coach Havill to call a time out.

“We were talking on the bench about maybe switching defenses but I told the assistant coaches we needed to stick to the game-plan,” said Coach Havill. “I thought that our zone bothered them.”

A run by Red Hill in retaliation however changed the momentum back to the Salukis side to finish off the second quarter.

Lawson scored six consecutive points as part of a 9-0 run that switched things around for the Salukis.

Lawson took a pair of assists from teammates Kale Whittaker and Young for easy buckets.

When he took a lob from Young for a back door basket – Red Hill led 23-19.

Neoga went nearly five minutes without scoring in that run.

Lewis closed out the half with a 19-foot shot with his foot on the 3-point line that beat the buzzer for a 25-21 lead at intermission.

Neoga had more chances to get back into the game in the third and fourth quarters but couldn't muster up enough made shots in a row to get back the lead.

The closest the Indians would get was 27-25 with 4:18 remaining in the third quarter when Pikowski was fouled by Whittaker while attempting a 3-pointer.

Pikowski cashed in all three charity shots to cut the lead to just two points.

Six-foot-four senior forward Andrew Jones – who had advanced in the 3-point showdown before the contest – stepped off the bench and hit a wide-open trifecta from the top of the arc for Red Hill.

His trey gave the Salukis a 32-26 lead heading into the final stanza.

Neoga was 0-of-9 from the field in the third quarter and committed three more turnovers.

A 6-0 sprint in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter by Red Hill gave Coach Havill's club some breathing room which allowed the Salukis to survive one final Neoga run.

Lawson, Lewis and Mason Akers all scored in succession to move the Salukis to a 38-26 lead.

Back-to-back scores by Pikowski and a conventional three-point play by McFarland closed the gap to just 40-37 with 2:04 to go.

But that would be the final points for Neoga as Red Hill closed the contest by scoring the last nine points.

Red Hill caught Neoga napping on a length of the floor pass that gave Whittaker an easy basket and – after struggling a bit early in the quarter from the foul line – the Salukis hit 7-of-10 free throws in the final 1:45 to close out the victory.

Neoga had bright spots on the night but they couldn't do enough offensively to take advantage of its advantages.

The Indians out-hustled Red Hill on the glass – out rebounding the taller Salukis 31-21.

But the cold shooting combined with the easy shots they gave up defensively led to a season-ending defeat.

Following Lawson and Lewis was Whittaker with nine points and Logan Blair added six points – which included a 4-of-4 effort from the foul line.

Red Hill will play the winner of the Wednesday night match-up between Woodlawn-St. Elmo on Friday night.

“Their length and their size bothered us tonight. We went on a run in the second quarter but we only got 10-points each from our two best scorers and we aren't going to be able to beat a team as good as Red Hill if that happens,” said Neoga head coach Jason Hanson.