02/19/2024
BY JACK BULLOCK
ANNA - Heading into Monday night's opening round matchup of the Massac County 2A Regional the Harrisburg Bulldogs were on a losing streak.

Coach Andy Fehrenbacher's club had dropped seven-consecutive contests, all of them by single-digits.

The Bulldogs had lost both previous encounters against first round opponent Anna-Jonesboro during the regular season.

So perhaps not much was expected when the Bulldogs headed on the road to take on the Wildcats for a third time.

But when you have a big-time scorer who is capable of an explosive night, good things can happen.

Six-three senior guard Cameron Ande scored a game-best 31-points, including 19 in the first half, as Harrisburg shot 'light's out' in the first two quarters and survived an Anna-Jonesboro second half rally to advance to the semifinals with a 70-56 victory at A-J.

With the win Harrisburg will face host Massac County in the regional semifinals on Wednesday night.

“It feels great. We've lost a lot of close ones recently. We have worked on our defensive mistakes in practice and we came out here with a good plan and it worked tonight,” said Cameron Ande. “A-J is a good team but we came out with the win.”

Junior guard Cayden Young scored 11-points for the Bulldogs while classmate Adrian Mann scored eight.

Coach Fehrenbacher got six-points each from junior Reed Rider and senior Connor Henshaw and four-points apiece from junior Owen Rann and freshman Braxton Murphy as the scoring and the defensive effort added up to a postseason victory for Harrisburg.

The Bulldogs are now 14-18 overall while Anna-Jonesboro and head coach Mike Chamness saw their season come to a halt at 17-15.

Five-ten senior guard Dylan Harvel closed out his career with an 18-point effort in the loss while sophomore Aidan McFadden added 14.

Senior Drew Page scored 11-points followed by 6-5 senior Noah Cavins with seven and junior Taj Hodges with six.

Offensively and defensively the Bulldogs put together an exceptional first half.

Harrisburg hit 16-of-25 first half shots from the floor and finished the game at 28-of-44.

The Bulldogs pulled away with an 11-of-15 second quarter and overcame 10 second half turnovers to advance.

Anna-Jonesboro wasn't as sharp shooting the ball on Monday night.

The Wildcats finished 21-of-59 overall and just 5-of-22 from behind the 3-point line while committing seven of their 13-turnovers in the first 16 minutes.

“I thought they (Harrisburg) were really good in the second quarter making shots and this time of year it comes down to making shots,” said Coach Chamness. “They did that and we didn't.”

Although A-J got off to an early lead, it was short-lived.

Baskets by Page, including a 3-pointer, and an inside score from Cavins made it 7-4 with just 2:46 left in the first frame.

At this point, Ande took control.

Three consecutive scores by the senior flipped the switch.

He nailed down the first of his four 3-pointers and followed it up with a score inside on an assist from Rann.

A steal and fast break lay in made it 11-7 Bulldogs.

Two scores on drives from McFadden and a pair of free throws by Ande closed the first quarter at 13-11 Harrisburg.

“When he is on he is pretty dangerous and you saw that tonight. He has scored over 1,700-points and has over 700 this season,” said Coach Fehrenbacher about Cameron Ande.

The Bulldogs lit up the scoreboard in the second quarter with six different players scoring points.

Ande continued his hot shooting with 10-points in the stanza.

A conventional three-point play started the run and he nailed another 3-pointer.

Young scored on a pair of shots inside and Rider also added shot in the lane.

Back-to-back baskets by Henshaw and Mann, off an assist by Ande pushed the Bulldogs lead to 38-22 at halftime.

“At halftime I told our kids that I felt like they (Harrisburg) were getting to every loose ball, every rebound was theirs and we needed to want it a little more,” said Coach Chamness. “You can't spot a team a big lead like that because it takes so much out of you to come back.”

(CONTINUED)

Anna-Jonesboro hit 4-of-8 from the field in the second quarter but committed four-turnovers and were just 3-of-7 from the foul line.

“I was real happy with the way our kids carried out our defensive and offensive game plans tonight,” said Coach Fehrenbacher. “I thought we were pretty solid on both ends of the floor. We shot real well in the first half and defensively we stayed between them and the basket. We kept Cavins from hurting us inside as he did the two times we played them before. We closed out on shooters.”

Harrisburg looked home free midway through the third quarter.

Ande added two more 3-pointers, from the top of the arc and again from the right corner.

His second long-range shot boosted the Bulldogs lead to 48-26 at the 4:46 mark.

The Wildcats rallied by turning up the defensive pressure on Harrisburg.

Coach Chamness' club cut into the margin by forcing five turnovers in the third quarter and by getting to the foul line.

Harrisburg ended up in foul trouble and A-J crawled back into the contest.

The hosts put together a 10-2 run to end the third.

Page hit his second 3-pointer of the game and Harvel added a back door lay in.

McFadden hit 5-of-6 free throws as the Wildcats closed to 50-35 heading to the fourth quarter.

Anna-Jonesboro got to within eight-points twice in the final eight minutes but Harrisburg held off the rally for the win.

Harvel scored 12 of his points in the fourth.

McFadden added a drive in the paint and a pair of free throws that got the Bulldogs lead down to 56-48 with 4:33 left.

The Bulldogs answered by breaking the A-J full-court press with a couple of fast break scores by Rider and Young.

The final points from the Wildcats came from Harvel and Hodges before two free throws by Young and another transition score breaking the press by the junior guard closed the book on the Harrisburg win.

“Cam (Ande) can go get a bucket when he needs to for us and we have some other guys as the season has gone along have stepped up. Adrian, Conner, Cayden and Reed made some big plays for us,” said Coach Fehrenbacher. “It was good that we could withstand some of those runs and not let it snowball in to something catastrophic. I give A-J and Coach Chamness a lot of credit. They're a senior led team and I knew they weren't going to give up.”

A-J was just 4-of-17 from the field in the final quarter, although they managed five offensive rebounds during that stretch.

Harrisburg hit 10-of-11 free throws in the game, 5-of-6 in the fourth quarter.

The Wildcats held a slight rebounding edge 25-22 as the Bulldogs got only two offensive rebounds.

But when you hit 63.6 percent of your shots there are not a lot of second chance opportunities.

Coach Fehrenbacher and his club will face rival Massac County on Wednesday.

The Bulldogs and Patriots split their two regular season meetings with each team winning on the road.

Harrisburg beat Massac 64-51 on December 15 and lost to the Patriots 76-70 at home on February 2.

“Harvel has been a four-year starter for us and a special leader. Page has been a two-year starter for us. Hall is a tough kid and great teammate for us. Cavins is probably the most improved kid we've ever had here and Gerardi came on strong late in the year for us,” said Coach Chamness about his seniors. “I'm going to miss those guys. They have meant so much to me. They were committed to our program and it is hard to see guys like that go.”

Harrisburg (70) - Ande 8 4 3-3 31, Young 4 0 3-4 11, Rider 3 0 0-0 6, Henshaw 3 0 0-0 6, Mann 2 0 4-4 8, Rann 2 0 0-0 4, Murphy 2 0 0-0 4. 2FG-24/ 3FG-4/FT-10-11/PF-23.
Anna-Jonesboro (56) - Hall 0 0 0-0 0, Hodges 3 0 0-0 6, Page 1 3 0-3 11, Gerardi 0 0 0-0 0, Harvel 5 2 2-2 18, McFadden 4 0 6-10 14, Cavins 3 0 1-2 7. 2FG-16/3FG-5/FT-9-17/PF-17.
Fouled Out – Rann - Harrisburg.
Technical Fouls – None.