02-20-09
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARRIER MILLS - The Carrier Mills Wildcats have won their fourth consecutive regular season GEC title and they did so in championship fashion.

The Cats were barely tested as they racked up 14-straight league wins and finished the regular season with a fantastic 23-4 mark.

Galatia – coming into the contest on a seven-game winning streak - were overmatched by Coach Mark Motsinger’s club on Friday night.

In front of a senior night crowd – the host Wildcats buried the Bearcats with a 9-0 run to begin the second quarter while rolling to a 71-38 victory. CM out-pointed their opposition 41-12 in the middle two quarters - as the outcome was “said and done” by intermission.

Carrier Mills was led by Dallas Beeding with 22-points followed by Luke Morgan’s 18.

Morgan hauled down 10-rebounds in a contest in which he and his teammates owned the glass 37-16 and allowed Galatia just three offensive boards on the evening.

Coach Bob Bedford saw his club commit 19-turnovers in the loss – dropping the team to 11-14 overall and 6-8 in the final Greater Egyptian Conference standings.

Galatia was paced by sophomore Denton Reed with 10-points as no other Bearcat play reached double-figures.

“Anytime you can go undefeated in the conference – especially with so many road trips – is special and we have done it twice,” said Coach Motsinger. “The last two times we lost just one game and that is a good accomplishment.”

The Bearcats hung close early – using some trickery on the defensive end with a “triangle-and-two” defense that kept them in the contest early.

Galatia had a brief three-point lead in the first quarter when Reed hit the first of his two 3-pointers in the game at the four-minute mark to give Galatia a 10-7 advantage.

But Carrier Mills made its first of many runs outgunning the Bearcats 8-3 in the final two minutes to lead 18-15 at the first break.

Wyatt Kirkland came off the CM bench to hit a pair of open 3-pointers in the run from the left wing and the top of the arc.

“We came out in a “triangle-and-two” on them early guarding Nichols and Beeding and leaving Miller open. They brought in Kirkland off the bench so we had to come out and start defending their guards and they hit their shots,” said Coach Bedford. “That’s a good ballclub over there and I tip my hat to them. If you start getting into an up-tempo game with them with the size we have – we’re not as quick as them and they shoot the ball well. They are a pretty complete team.”

The 9-0 run to begin the second quarter started with a steal by Beeding who fed Ryan Nichols for a fast break score just seconds into the frame.

Beeding followed that defensive effort up with a 3-pointer and later another steal and fast break score for himself.

Morgan also got into the act with a bucket from the left elbow.

This run forced a Galatia timeout at 27-15 with 5:57 remaining until the half.

Morgan would score four more times in the second period including the final six points in succession before intermission.

He hit another 15-footer from the left elbow and collected a pair of scores around the basket.

The second in close basket ended the half – and most of the Galatia upset hope – at 37-19 at the break.

“We crashed the boards really well tonight. Beeding really did a good job tonight rebounding and Morgan always does a great job crashing the boards,” added Motsinger. “Whenever we get Dallas (Beeding) hitting the boards it steps us up a few notches.”

One of the keys to the game – and the game plan the rest of the season for Carrier Mills was 6-foot-3 senior D.J. Campbell who missed some games being away from the team but is back now to help the postseason push.

Campbell started the contest and added eight points in limited minutes that will increase as he gets back into playing shape.

“Having him back (Campbell) gives us an option to go bigger in our lineup and it also protects us some if we get in foul trouble,” Motsinger explained talking about his absence from the squad as he was away with his mother in Chicago during the bad weather in January when school was out. “It is a big difference. Most of the teams haven’t seen us play with him out there.”

Galatia committed eight first half miscues and were punished for most of them by Carrier Mills.

“They just keep after you and hound you until you make mistakes,” added Bedford. “Like I said – they are a very good ballclub. Tonight I thought we would try a little different look on defense and it worked for a few possessions.”

Following a score by Galatia’s Ryan Augustyniak to open the second half scoring – Carrier Mills outscored the Bearcats 15-2 to put the result to bed.

In the sprint Morgan scored five points and Kirkland added another trifecta.

A Campbell rebound put back gave Carrier Mills a commanding 50-22 lead at the 4:12 mark.

Beeding grabbed an offensive board and his turnaround shot beat the buzzer to end the quarter at 59-27.

An 8-2 blitz to open the fourth quarter gave CM its biggest scoring spread at 67-29.

Beeding had a hand in three of the scores on a drive to the basket and an assist to Jordan Miller for a fast break.

He also took a lob pass from Morgan for a basket in the run.

Coach Motsinger closed the game by allowing his seniors to take a bow one at a time coming out of the contest and allowing his bench players – including senior Glen Collins – to get some PT.

The Bearcats ended up shooting the ball pretty well – connecting on 16-of-35 shots overall.

But being hammered on the rebounding chart didn’t help matters for Galatia.

Coach Bedford’s team grabbed just three offensive rebounds and allowed Carrier Mills to grab and tap 23 offensive boards.

Carrier Mills closed its regular season by hitting 30-of-64 shots from the floor (the ‘Cats bench missed ten of those shots late in the game) and took care of the ball by committing just eight turnovers.

Galatia will face Waltonville on Tuesday night at the Zeigler-Royalton Class 1A Regional while Carrier Mills – the top seeded team at the Goreville Class 1A Regional - will battle one of its GEC rivals in the second round.

The winner of Monday night’s Hardin County/Pope County game will face CM on Wednesday.

Host Goreville likely has the best shot at upending Carrier Mills.

“Coach Tripp does a great job down at Goreville and his kids play hard,” added Coach Motsinger. “Anytime you are at home in a regional at your gym you have a little bit of an advantage. We can’t overlook that.”

Galatia (38) – Reed 2 2 0-0 10, Watson 2 0 0-0 4, Wallace 0 2 0-0 6, Cullum 0 0 0-2 0, Augustyniak 2 0 1-4 5, Pickering 3 0 0-0 6, R. Moore 1 0 0-0 2, Tennison 1 0 0-0 2, J. Moore 0 1 0-0 3, Baggett 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-11, 3FG-5, FT-1-6, PF-14.
Carrier Mills (71) – Beeding 6 3 1-4 22, Campbell 4 0 0-0 8, Morgan 9 0 0-0 18, Nichols 1 0 2-2 4, Kirkland 1 3 0-0 11, Miller 3 0 1-1 7, Jackson 0 0 1-2 1, Collins 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-24, 3FG-6, FT-5-9, PF-9.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.