02-04-15
BY JACK BULLOCK
TAMMS - The Cairo Pilots have struggled lately getting wins but came up with a pretty good second half to pull away from Egyptian to pick up a victory on the road on Wednesday night.

Overwhelming the undermanned Pharaohs with its pressure and depth, Cairo picked up their seventh win against a pretty strong schedule with a 77-52 win.

Coach Brian Brandtner saw his troops force a whopping 30-turnovers from the hosts, many of which were extracted by steals that turned into a transition scores.

After struggling early with foul difficulties which put the Pharaohs on the foul line (bonus) in the first quarter, the Pilots survived this issue and went to its bench for some relief.

It turned out to be a strategy that got more kids involved.

Getting 24-points from sophomore Dave Taylor and 13-points from Demetrius McGee, Cairo outscored Egyptian 37-17 in the second half to pick up the victory.

Demarius Taylor added 12-points on four made 3-pointers for Cairo.

In a game that will certainly put the Pilots in position to be the number one seed at the upcoming 1A Century regional, Cairo improved to 7-13 overall.

“The way we have played this year, we will take any win we can get,” said Coach Brandtner. “We had a lot of fouls just being lazy and reaching. We have scored more baskets in most of the games we have lost but we put people on the free throw line too often. We have to do a better job with that.”

For Egyptian, the match up was pretty good for them in the first half as they managed to keep the Pilots from pulling away.

Jeromy Turner, a 6-foot senior guard, became eligible in January after moving back to the program after living in Aurora for the past three years.

He led the Pharaohs (2-21) with 16-points and 12-rebounds.

Coach Matt Mandrell's club had just four players score in the contest.

Besides Turner, 14-points came from 6-foot sophomore Samuel Hale and 13-points were added by Noah Dillingham, a 5-foot-11 junior.

Egyptian had nine-points from Ryan Saunders, a 6-foot freshman.

Adding to the issues for Egyptian was a very tough shooting night.

Coach Mandrell's team hit just 20-of-53 shots overall and 2-of-10 from the 3-point arc.\

“They (Cairo) stretched our defense because they are so quick and can get up and down the court so well. We struggled with it and they were able to penetrate. They had us out of position. And we gave up way too many easy baskets simply because we couldn't take care of the ball,” said Coach Mandrell. “We missed way too many easy shots and we have to make those. We have done that all year and tonight was no different. We aren't a good enough rebounding team to get many put-backs so we have to make more of our shots.”

Cairo launched a lot more shots as they were 33-of-79 overall, averaging over two attempts a minute.

Most of the attempts were in transition, caused by and large from steals and long rebounds.

Egyptian jumped out to an early lead but couldn't sustain what they were trying to accomplish.

They really didn't want to go full into an “up and down” game with the speedy Pilots but with the pressure caused by Cairo, the Pharaohs had little choice.

Egyptian took an early lead, thanks to the Pilots getting into foul difficulty.

The Pharaohs led 13-7 early and, by the 3:25 mark of the opening quarter, were in the bonus.

But as it turned out, Egyptian really couldn't capitalize on the Pilots dilemma.

Coach Mandrell's team hit just 10-of-22 foul shots in the game, 7-of-16 in the first quarter when they had a chance to push the lead to double-figures.

After Cairo finally settled in and got going, Coach Brandtner's club took control.

The Pilots took their first lead of the contest with 1:54 remaining in the opening quarter, getting a 3-pointer from Demarius Taylor which began an 8-3 run for a 19-15 lead.

Brother Dave Taylor also added a long-distance shot, hitting a trey from the left corner.

Dave also grabbed an offensive rebound for a stick-back to close the streak and the quarter.

Cairo, thanks to Dave Taylor again scoring to begin the second quarter, got out to its first large lead in the second quarter.

Taylor hit another long shot and converted a drive in the lane.

McGee grabbed a long rebound off of a missed Egyptian 3-pointer and raced the length of the court of a lay in and a 30-20 spread at the 5:07 mark.

The hosts made things close for a few more minutes as they reached halftime down just five points.

Saunders scored twice in a row, finishing a tip-in offensive board and then nailing a 3-pointer from the left wing.

Turner and Dillingham each scored to close out the half, with Turner grabbing an errant shot by teammate DJ Waddy for a score to make it 40-35 Cairo at intermission.

A 10-2 run in the third quarter separated Cairo from the hosts.

Junior Melvin Duncan cashed in on the fun, hitting a 3-point shot and then grabbed a rebound off of a shot attempt by Turner that he rejected.

The guard raced the length of the court for a score and a 56-43 advantage.

Cairo closed out the game with a 16-2 run to expand the final count.

Dave Taylor scored six points in the frame and converted two-straight attempts in transition as the Pilots forced 12-turnovers by Egyptian in the final eight minutes.

Demareon Garvin, a 6-foot-1 freshman, scored six-points as did 6-foot-1 junior Terrell Johnson.

Both netted points in the final stanza.

Johnson started that final run with a bucket on a mid-range shot and closed the game with a rebound score.

Garvin added a pair of free throws and another put-back, which made it 73-52 with 1:41 remaining.

“I think that they (Egyptian) got a little tired in the second half and the momentum changed. They hit some big shots in the first half but I think we wore them down in the fourth quarter,” said Coach Brandtner.

Egyptian and Cairo combined for 82-rebounds with the Pharaohs holding a slight 42-40 advantage.

But the Pilots made the most of their boards, grabbing 18-offensive rebounds, many of which resulted in points.

Cairo committed exactly half as many turnovers as Egyptian (15) in the mistake prone game.

But the total sum on the night added up to a win for the Pilots, who are seeking their second consecutive regional title for Coach Brandtner.

Cairo will likely be the top-seed at the regional in three weeks.

The Pilots host Fulton County (KY.) on Friday night while the Pharaohs next action will be next Tuesday when they travel to Scott City (MO.).

“We have some young kids and Saunders played pretty well. I know it isn't showing up in the won-loss record but we are playing better than we were in the beginning of the year,” said Coach Mandrell. “It is frustrating for us but we just have to believe that better days are ahead.”