12-12-2018
BY JACK BULLOCK
WAYNE CITY – On Wednesday night at the Conrad Allen Wayne City Holiday Tournament the Red Hill Salukis didn't get their normal showing from leading scorer Drew Moore.

Moore came into the tournament averaging 17.6 points per outing but he got into foul trouble on the night and never got things going for himself, netting just six-points.

However his teammates stepped up and picked up the offensive slack in a big way.

Coach Bryan Havill got 19-points from 6-foot-3 lefty sophomore Drake Allen and 16-points and seven-rebounds from his son, senior guard Parker Havill, as the Salukis jumped out to an early lead and survived some Crab Orchard scoring runs to remain unbeaten in Pool A with a 65-46 win.

Five-foot-ten senior guard Conner McKinney also came up big on this night, throwing in 14-points for Red Hill, who is now 6-4 overall and 2-0 in the tournament.

“You know, I see them in practice so I know what each kid can do so we have six or seven kids that are highly capable of putting the ball in the hole and playing at a high level,” said Coach Havill. “Drake and Conner were huge for us tonight. They had their best games of the year for us. Drake is a sophomore and he is still learning a lot.”

Six-foot-six junior Nathan Wirth scored just four-points but he grabbed seven-rebounds to help the Salukis to a 30-17 rebounding advantage.

Crab Orchard saw it's record slip to 1-2 in Pool A despite a fine showing by 6-foot sophomore Kegan Peek, who led the Trojans with 16-points while 5-foot-10 junior guard Tony Lakotich tossed in four 3-point bombs for 12-points for the 6-6 overall squad.

“He (Peek) is one player that we have that could match their (Red Hill) strength and toughness. He showed he could hold his own against those guys,” said Coach Brown. “He got to the rim well and he got some shots in the lane, eight to 10-footers.

Red Hill got two big scoring runs; one in the first quarter and one in the final stanza, to provide the victory.

Breaking the only tie score of the contest (2-2) the Salukis scored the next 10-points to take control.

Havill scored six of his points in the first quarter, twice getting rebounds for put backs.

He also dished out some assists early, including a fast break feed for a lay in by Allen.

Moore scored his only points of the first half with a driving fast break, which forced Coach Brown to call his third timeout in the opening quarter with the Trojans trailing by double-digits.

McKinney also scored six-points in the period while Allen added six-points himself as the trio scored 18 of the team's 20 first quarter markers as they led 20-9 at the end of one.

While the Salukis never seemed in much danger in the second quarter, they didn't take advantage of the situation as Red Hill committed six of their 12 turnovers in the eight-minute stretch.

Unfortunately the Trojans weren't able to capitalize, either.

Coach Havill got two-points each from junior Josh Henry and sophomore Camren Ray.

Ray converted a fast break opportunity, Henry nailed a shot from the right corner and then Havill buried a 3-pointer for a 27-10 Salukis lead with 5:26 to go before the half.

The Trojans kept the game from turning ugly with some points in the second quarter by Peek inside, a pair of free throws by freshman Ian Dawes and a 3-pointer from junior Hunter Throgmorton.

But a conventional three-point play by Allen inside closed the half at 31-19 Red Hill.

Crab Orchard got to within seven-points twice in the second half before Red Hill put the game on ice.

Two 3-pointers from Lakotich closed the gap to just 37-30 with 3:48 to go in the third quarter.

However each run was answered with points as Allen got inside for a pair of buckets and a rebound basket by junior Colin Benson got the lead back to double-figures at 44-31.

Scoring nine of the game's next 12-points, Crab got to within 47-40 with 7:22 left.

Lakotich added one last 3-pointer for Crab before Red Hill, at that point, forced the Trojans into five of its seven fourth quarter turnovers and pulled away for the victory.

A 14-2 run, triggered on the defensive end, preserved the win for Coach Havill's club who is in search of its first Wayne City Holiday Tournament title since they joined the event three seasons ago.

The three previous tries resulted in fourth place finishes.

“We told the kids, they (Crab Orchard) are going to keep coming at us. They may miss a couple of 3's but they are going to keep shooting them,” said Coach Havill. “With Parker and Drew in the lineup we are better defensively and it showed late in the fourth.”

McKinney hit both of his 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, with one of them starting the final scoring spree that silenced the Trojans.

Havill added seven-points, with a conventional three-point play off of a steal and fast break that increased the advantage to 61-42 with 3:23 remaining.

Moore, who spent most of the second half on the pine with after picking up his fourth personal foul in the first minute of the second half, scored a couple of late buckets as Red Hill has a shot to play for the tourney title if they can down the host Indians on Friday night at 7:30 pm.

Red Hill hit 57.1 percent of their field goal attempts in the game (28-of-49) while committing 12-turnovers.

Six of the miscues came in the second quarter but the defensive effort kept the mistakes from hurting the cause.

Crab Orchard ended up just 17-of-50 (34 percent) with five of their 14-turnovers coming coming in the first half and seven of them late.

“Drew, the kind of athlete that he is in every sport, he doesn't care (about points) he was the biggest cheerleader on the bench for us tonight and I think that in today's world that is taken for granted,” said Coach Havill. “This group doesn't care who does what, they are happy to step up and help. We needed every bit of it tonight.”

Crab Orchard will now play Webber Township for fifth place on Saturday afternoon at 4:30 pm.

“They have some good guards but right now this kind of game is good for us,” said Coach Brown, talking about his young club. “We are trying to win every night, obviously, but we are trying to take in as many games as we can and get better. This is a young team and we are going to have everybody back next year so we are trying to prepare for the future while playing well now. Pick up some “W's” along the way if we can.”

Coach Jim Corona rallied his Tribe and made up the deficit behind a 32-7 run as they took a 20-17 halftime lead and expanded it by scoring 12-consecutive points to open the second half.

Marcus Durham, a 6-foot-2 sophomore, led the Indians with 14-points and eight-rebounds while 6-foot-1 junior Travis Dickey added 10.

Senior forward Dane Horton scored seven-points and grabbed 10-rebounds for Wayne City who improved to 2-0 in Pool A and 8-1 overall.

Cisne fell to 0-3 in the event and 1-6 overall although they put quite a scare into the hosts in the early going.

Six-foot-four sophomore Connor Brach led all scorers with 15-points and five-rebounds, including six-points in the early going.

Jace Hatcher, a 5-foot-4 sophomore guard, led the way from the backcourt for Coach Kevin Bowen's team.

He hit a pair of 3-pointers and ended up with eight-points for the Lions while sophomore Brenden Potter also tossed in eight-points.

The Lions will play Grayville on Saturday in the seventh place contest at 3:00 pm.

The Indians will face Red Hill (2-0) at 7:30 pm Friday night with the winner going on to Saturday night's title tilt.

Dylan Adcock and Kaiden Taylor tossed in eight and seven points respectively while Hayden Landreth also added seven-points for Coach Brad Beaty as the Trojans improved to 1-2 in the tournament and 3-6 on the season.

Grayville (1-5 overall, 0-3 in the tournament) got a game-best 26-points from 6-foot-1 Brayden Hatcher in the loss.

Coach Brian Hucker also got 10-points from sophomore Cole Neely.

The Bison will play in the seventh place game on Saturday at 3:00 pm while Webber Township will play in the fifth place game at 4:30 pm.