12/01/2023
BY JACK BULLOCK
CAMPBELL HILL - Red Bud senior Isaac Moll is listed as 5-feet-4-inches tall in the program.

However this diminutive guard came up huge on Friday night at the Trico Pioneer Invitational Tournament.

Moll connected on four key 3-pointers, two each in the third and fourth quarters, to help spur his club to a 51-48 win over Carterville in what turned out to be the championship game of the annual tournament that is a four team, round robin format.

Coach Dane Walter and his program won the PIT for the first time since 2008 with the victory which wrapped up a 3-0 week and start to the 2023-24 season.

“I was wondering about that on the bus ride over here. I didn't know when the last time was or how long it had been,” said Coach Walter about winning the PIT. “I think it's pretty darn cool. That's a good team (Carterville) and they are hard to guard. It's a good win for us.”

Moll finished with 13-points for the Musketeers while junior backcourt mate Trent Sternberg led the club with 16.

“We lost him (Moll) a bunch tonight. He went to the corner and Liefer and Sternberg would dribble drive. They were able to break us down off of the dribble tonight,” said Coach Hawkins. “We got to the rim all night long but we couldn't finish. We went there off balanced and trying to play for fouls instead of trying to play for baskets. We needed to make two more lay ups and then the game is different.”

Owen Liefer, who was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player for the week, added eight-points for the unbeaten squad.

Carterville head coach Shane Hawkins' crew fell to 2-1 overall and in the event.

Falling behind by 16 points in the third quarter, the Lions clawed their way back into contention but the fourth quarter rally fell short.

Junior guard Drew Barrington led Carterville with 14-points while seniors Josh Waller and Brandon Skelcher finished with 10-points apiece.

“And at big times on top of it all. He (Moll) knows his size and does a great job of creating space and getting open,” said Coach Walter. “He does a great job with what he's got.”

After an evenly matched first half in which there were seven lead changes, Red Bud made the first big scoring run of the night that got the Musketeers the lead that held up until the final horn.

Coach Walter's kids nailed down their first five field goal attempts in the third quarter, 7-of-9 in the frame.

Moll hit two of his long range bombs and Sternberg added two drives to the basket for buckets plus he added a pair of 3-pointers as well in the scoring spree.

Moll's second bomb of the quarter, a shot from the left corner, gave Red Bud its largest lead at 38-22 with 3:18 left in the third quarter.

However the Lions rallied as they forced four third quarter turnovers and got 3-point bombs from Barrington and Waller.

Waller added a steal and fast break bucket and Barrington closed the third with a driving score to cut the Musketeers' advantage to just 41-37 heading to the fourth.

The final eight minutes wasn't pretty by any stretch.

The two combatants combined for 11-turnovers and Carterville had its chances to win it late.

Moll hit two more 3-pointers, one from the left corner in front of the Red Bud bench and the other from the right wing.

Skelcher helped the Lions rally with a 3-pointer and a conventional three-point play while being fouled by Sternberg.

(CONTINUED)

Barrington scored the Lions' final six points.

The junior guard made a pair of key steals in the final minute off of the Carterville full-court press and converted the two turnovers into driving lay ups.

The second one cut the Red Bud lead to just 49-48 with :11.7 remaining.

Following two free throws made by Sternberg and Moll, each player converting 1-of-2 on two different trips to the line, the Musketeers were the recipients of the 13th Carterville turnover in the final seconds that ended the contest.

In between the two Red Bud free throw trips, Barrington came up short on a long 3-pointer that would have given the Lions the lead.

Shooting the ball both teams were actually better from long range than they were in close.

The Musketeers ended up just 17-of-43 from the field but were 10-of-19 from the arc.

Carterville finished 16-of-39 overall and 5-of-12 from long range.

As what usually happens when teams play strong defense early in the season, turnovers were a plenty.

The Lions had 13-turnovers compared to 16 by Red Bud.

Another factor for Coach Walter's club is that they managed to out-rebound Carterville, 31-17 as they held the Lions to just a pair of offensive rebounds.

“I was impressed with our defense and our rebound ability tonight. We made a huge run in the third quarter but it was a four point lead at the end of the quarter but it should have been ten,” said Coach Walter. “They (Carterville) can shoot and they have a lot of weapons.”

Red Bud hosts Waterloo on December 5th and the Lions will travel to Vienna on the same night.

“I've said this for years. We have a bunch of guys that played JV basketball last year and there is a major difference between the 6 o'clock game and the 8 o'clock game,” said Coach Hawkins. “If you're not used to playing the 8 o'clock games it's going to take a while. We got three games of experience this week. We will keep working at it day-by-day and we'll be better next week.”

Carterville (48) - Kimbrough 0 0 0-0 0, Waller 1 2 2-2 10, Skelcher 3 1 1-1 10, Barrington 4 1 3-5 14, Wilson 1 0 0-0 2, Hawkins 1 0 2-5 5, Wakey 2 0 1-2 5, Guthrie 0 0 2-3 2. 2FG-11, 3FG-5, FT-11-18 , PF-15.
Red Bud (51) – Krebs 0 0 0-0 0, Liefer 1 2 0-0 8, Moll 0 4 1-2 13, Wanger 1 0 2-4 4, Easter 0 0 0-0 0, Lucht 2 2 0-0 10, Sternberg 3 2 4-6 16. 2FG-7, 3FG-10, FT-7-12, PF-17.
Fouled Out – Waller - Carterville.
Technical Fouls – None.

Coach Aaron Fiene's club is now 1-2 in the event and overall.

Steeleville was led by 6-2 junior Canon Ruby with 25-points while sophomore Nate Witthoff added 12.

Hayden Sternberg, a 6-3 junior, tossed in eight-points in the victory.

“This is a game that no matter who's good or who's bad, it's going to be tight,” said Coach Fiene. “It's our biggest rival. The kids are friends and know each other and tonight was a real nice crowd with a lot of energy. We're a young team and throughout the season we're going to improve. I'm really excited for this group and I'm proud of them getting a win tonight.”

Trico was topped by 5-11 senior guard Brady Heinz with 13-points while 6-7 senior Kanon Wilson scored 11 before fouling out.

Paxten Sidner, a 6-0 senior, added eight-points in the loss.

“We got better every day this week. We played Red Bud and then we lost big to Carterville but I thought we moved the ball better. If a couple of things go our way tonight and Wilson doesn't foul out maybe the outcome is different,” said Coach Luke. “We struggle without him.”

Steeleville (58) - Tr. Ingles 0 0 0-0 0, Vallett 1 0 2-2 4, Newby 0 0 2-2 2, Ruby 9 1 4-12 25, Ty. Ingles 0 0 0-0 0, Witthoft 6 0 0-3 12, Fiene 0 2 1-2 7, Sternberg 4 0 0-1 8. 2FG-20, 3FG-3, FT-9-22 , PF-21.
Trico (50) – Compton 1 0 0-2 2, Sidener 1 2 0-0 8, Chapman 0 0 2-2 2, Koehn 3 0 3-4 9, Heinz 1 1 8-12 13, Wilson 4 0 3-6 11, Bowerman 2 0 0-0 4, Naile 0 0 1-2 1. 2FG-12, 3FG-3, FT-17-28, PF-19.
Fouled Out – Fiene - Steeleville; Koehn, Wilson - Trico.
Technical Fouls – Sternberg - Steeleville.