03-12-11
BY JACK BULLOCK
PEORIA – What a difference a day makes in a life of a high school basketball team.

Just 24-hours after playing perhaps the worst game of their collective lives – the Woodlawn Cardinals responded with one of their best performances of the season.

Behind senior leader Dawson Verhines and his 19-points and a staunch all-around defensive effort – Woodlawn took home the third place trophy with a 52-37 win over Deer Creek-Mackinaw on Saturday afternoon in the IHSA State Finals.

After shooting a horrendous 24.4 percent from the field in an embarrassing loss on Friday – this team did an about-face and took control early in the third place game and never let Dee-Mack back into the contest.

Using an early scoring surge to begin the game and then a 10-0 run in the midway part of the third quarter – the Cardinals ended their 2010-11 season on a high note as Coach Shane Witzel's troops finished the season 30-4.

“We knew Verhines was going to score better today than he did yesterday,” said Dee-Mack mentor Mitch Holmgren. “He is too good of a player and they are a good team. Give them credit. When we got close they made the plays to extend it back out. All four of the teams up here are good and Woodlawn is no exception.”

Verhines – a 6-foot-2 senior guard and IBCA First Team All-State selection – put his 1-of-14 performance on Friday behind him by connecting on 6-of-8 field goal attempts against the Chiefs.

“There is a reason why he (Verhines) is an all-stater and he does a lot of good things for us on the floor,” said Woodlawn head coach Shane Witzel. “His leadership abilities with this group along with Josh (Wiggs) these two guys are outstanding and they make me look a lot smarter than I really am. Both of them played big today and we needed them.”

Verhines also spearheaded a commanding 34-21 rebounding edge by grabbing nine boards and was credited with three assists.

Gabe Owens – Woodlawn's 6-foot-4 sophomore forward – added 11-points to the Woodlawn total.

“Gabe Owens really battled hard today and did a lot of good things on the court for us that allowed us to come out here and be successful and end our season with a win,” added Coach Witzel.

Josh Wiggs ended his prep career with nine points and six rebounds while Christian Hollenkamp chipped in seven points.

“That has been our story for most of the season. We've guarded well; we've rebounded well and we have shot free throws well,” said Coach Witzel. “Thirty times this year we were successful and we tied the school record for wins. We didn't even talk about that. All we wanted to do was to win today and go out on winning note.”

A.J. Webb scored five points and made five steals as he helped get the Cardinals rolling early on the defensive end.

After a pair of Verhines scores to open the game – Webb collected one of his five pilfers and then dished a nice pass to Owens for a fast break score and an 11-2 lead with :40.

Hollenkamp converted a conventional three-point play in the run and then Webb made one of the biggest steals of his career – snaring an errant inbound pass for a quick lay up and a 15-4 Woodlawn lead at the first horn.

“The first quarter was more important for us than the third quarter (run) because of the way the game went yesterday. Just to try and get our confidence back,” added Coach Witzel. “I liked the way that we came out strong out of the gate and we wanted to be the more aggressive team and attack and put that game behind us.”

Woodlawn's early scoring was a direct result of their defensive pressure they put on Dee-Mack.

The Cards forced the Chiefs into six first quarter blunders with points being produced on the turnovers.

Woodlawn was a bit careless with the ball in the second quarter (six turnovers) but they didn't let Dee-Mack do much damage.

The Chiefs made a bit of a move in that second stanza and then its biggest run of the game to begin the third frame.

Dalton Andrews canned his only made shot of the match up – a 3-pointer from the right wing which was followed 4-of-6 free throws by Andrews and 6-foot-1 senior Matt Krause.

Krause – also an IBCA First Team pick – hit 3-of-4 from the line to close the half at 24-16 Woodlawn.

Dee-Mack got to within four points twice in the third quarter but Woodlawn answered with a big run each time.

A 3-pointer by junior guard T.J. Schrader and another free throw by Krause got the Woodlawn lead down to just 30-26.

However the Cardinals exploded for a 10-0 scoring sprint – highlighted by a pair of big offensive rebounds by the 6-foot-8 Wiggs.

His stick back of a Verhines' missed 3-pointer and then 3-of-4 free throws in the final minute put Woodlawn up 40-26 at the end of the third quarter.

Dee-Mack would get no closer than 11-points the remainder of the game as they saw their season end at 25-7.

Woodlawn closed out the fourth quarter by hitting 8-of-13 free throws (21-of-30 for the game) to chalk up the victory.

Both coaches brought in reserves one at a time to let the senior starters to get their moment in the Carver Arena lights.

Dee-Mack was led by Krause with 13-points but no other Chiefs' player reached double-figures.

The Chiefs were held to just 20 percent shooting (8-of-40 overall) and just 2-of-20 from behind the arc.

“This was just another offensive struggle. Looking at these numbers they aren't very comforting for sure,” said Coach Holmgren. “Our defense hung in there yesterday and today but we just couldn't put the ball in the basket. We got it close a couple of times – within two possessions – but we couldn't get that big basket. The kids hung in there and played hard. Again I couldn't be prouder of this group.”

Woodlawn was much better from the floor than their semifinal loss on Friday – hitting exactly half of their shots (14-of-28 overall) and an even better 8-of-14 from the field in the final two quarters.

“First and foremost I'm just proud of these guys. We had a rough way to go yesterday and we were about as low as we've been and we took it (the loss) hard, all of us did because we come up here to try and win a state championship. But these young men are very resilient and the way they bounced back today was outstanding,” Coach Witzel added.