12/26/2024
BY JACK BULLOCK
SESSER – One of the old sayings about sports is that when two long-time rivals meet on the basketball court, you can “throw out the records” as upsets can occur when it comes down to playing familiar foes.

That didn't happen Thursday night at the 43rd annual Sesser-Valier Holiday Tournament when the host Red Devils took on nemesis Waltonville in the quarterfinals.

The Spartans displayed in full view why they were awarded the top spot in the seedings.

Waltonville jumped out to an early lead and coasted to a lop-sided, continuous clock win to improve to 11-0 on the season.

Coach Anthony Lowery's club moved into the semifinals to face DuQuoin, who upended higher-seed Marissa/Coulterville in the third quarterfinal game of opening day.

Top scorers for the senior 6-4 junior forward Gage Peterson and 6-foot junior guard Kyle Cooper had their usual nights of 15 and 17 points respectively.

But the Spartans continue to prove that they have other weapons on offense.

Six-five sophomore forward Jagger Mayville posted 21-points on Thursday night in the Spartans dominating 75-37 win.

“Our two sophomores (Mayville, Witten Devor) both work their tails off and we have great leadership for them to follow,” said Coach Lowery. “They make strides every single day. We have a lot of guys (depth) on our bench that are capable.”

Devor scored his only two points in the first quarter of the initial Waltonville run.
Waltonville scored the first 10-points of the game and led 21-4 at the end of the first quarter.

Junior Ryley Stewart came off of the bench to added eight-points to the offense and junior Weston Rose added a 3-pointer and pair of free throws in the second quarter for five-points.

Firing away in the first quarter while causing four Red Devils' turnovers, Waltonville canned 8-of-11 shots to lead a 17-point spread.

“As soon as the bracket came out I didn't love the matchup, playing them on their home floor, a rivalry game and the kids are so familiar with one another,” said Coach Lowery. “But we started talking to the kids about being ready for the atmosphere. It's going to be a big one (game) for both communities as we play sports together and that's what we talked about.”

Sesser-Valier and head coach Marcus Clarry drop into the consolation side of the bracket and will face Marissa/Coulterville at 6 pm on Friday.

Only one S-V player; senior Kyler Willmore, scored double-digits as he checked in with 14-points.

Junior guard Liam McMurray added eight-points and junior guard Kyan Short put in six-points.

Cooper, who was fouled shooting a 3-pointer in the opening minute, made three free throws for a quick Waltonville lead.

Peterson scored nine of his points early, including a 3-pointer late in the first quarter.

Cooper scored twice on steals and transition baskets for an early lead.

Some teams might show some mercy but not on this night.

Mayville at one point in the second quarter scored four-straight baskets for his team, all of which came in the lane.

Peterson added a one-handed dunk and Cooper hit yet another outside shot for a 42-12 halftime margin.

(CONTINUED)

The best scoring spree by Sesser-Valier came midway through the third quarter.

The Red Devils 11-2 run with scores from McMurray and junior Trace Payne to go with a 3-pointer from Short.

A basket by senior Jaxon Borta closed the run with Sesser-Valier down 48-23.

A 9-2 run answer by Waltonville took what was left of the wind in the Red Devils' sails.

Cooper added two more baskets and Mayville converted a three-point play for a 57-25 advantage at the 2:16 mark.

Two late scores from Willmore cut the margin down to 58-32 at the end of the third frame.

An 8-2 run by the Spartans triggered the mercy rule, with Mayville and Stewart each scoring four-points.

Reserves closed out the mop up duty in the final minutes.

Waltonville ended up 31-of-56 overall from the floor (55.3 percent) while hitting 3-of-5 from the arc and 10-of-13 from the foul line.

Coach Lowery's club took care of the ball, committing just five turnovers, three coming in the second half after the outcome had been decided.

S-V finished up 15-of-39 from the field (38.4 percent) and just 4-of-14 from long range.

Another telling statistic was the rebounding edge (29-17) by the Spartans.

Waltonville only allowed two offensive rebounds to Sesser-Valier.

“I thought we did a great job in the first half but there was a little period in the third quarter that I didn't like how we defended but we turned it back on,” said Coach Lowery. “I told them we can't do that every night because one of these times someone will get us. It's about trying to put together 32-minutes and we did a pretty good job of that tonight. Overall I'm pleased with the effort.”

Coach Coleman Fitch and his club moved into the semifinals against Waltonville on the strength of 10-players scoring in the contest and three of the DQ players hit double-figures in scoring for the now 3-6 Tribe.

Junior guard Jayden Davis netted 17-points for DuQuoin followed by 14-points from senior Layne Pyron and 10-points from sophomore Jeremiah Jones.

Coach Fitch also got nine-points from senior Layton Hawkins.

Pyron hit a trio of 3-pointers in the second quarter and DuQuoin ended up with seven-successful 3-point attempts.

Marissa/Coulterville (7-3) was led by senior Brock Portz with 19-points and senior Landen Perry with eight.

Coach Todd Tripp's squad got 21-points from 6-3 senior Connor Craig in the win while both senior Cole Tripp and sophomore Nick King scored 11 each.

Senior guard Trent Sternberg led Red Bud (4-7) with 23-points and junior guard Luke Quinton scored 20.

Coach John Niebrugge and his team advanced to take on Goreville on Friday.

Altamont (4-5) was topped with 30-points from junior Kade Milleville, 18-points from freshman Cooper McManaway, 14-points from senior Ben Roedl, and 1-points from sophomore Zaine Miller in the victory.

New Athens (7-4) was paced by 30-points from senior Isaiah Lintker and 16-points from senior Brady Middendorf.

Senior forward Tommy Dutkanych added 13-points for Coach Conrad Widdersheim as the Yellow Jackets fell into the consolation side.