01-19-10
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARMI - In the second game on Tuesday night at the Carmi-White County Invitational Tournament – the Harrisburg Bulldogs topped the hosts 71-41.

Harrisburg improved to 2-0 in the tournament while CWC fell to 0-2.

Last season on the same exact night of the CWCIT – Harrisburg beat the hosts 61-41.

This year head coach Randy Smithpeters’ team added exactly 10-points to last season’s score and now find themselves in the hunt for this tourney title once again.

The hot shooting Bulldogs jumped all over Carmi and never trailed in a game that had very little suspense after the first quarter.

Cain Sheldon led all scorers with 19-points for Harrisburg – who improved to 14-5 on the season with the triumph.

Carmi-White County (9-8) had beaten Harrisburg 68-58 back on November 30 during the Harrisburg Invitational Tournament but was no match in the rematch.

“We thought it (getting off to a good start) was important tonight. This was a team that had beaten us the first game of the season and we thought it was important to come out and kind of set the tone for the game,” said Harrisburg head coach Randy Smithpeters – whose program has won this event four times previously but not since 2001. “The first time we played them we shot horribly – not poorly – horribly. Tonight we shot the ball and we have shot the ball well in this current stretch.”

Twelve of the fifteen Harrisburg players in uniform scored in the romp as Sheldon was helped out by teammates Reid Roper and Lucas Elverd with nine points and Capel Henshaw with eight.

Breaking a 2-2 tie in the first two minutes of the game – the Bulldogs in Purple made the Bulldogs in Maroon see Red by outgunning the hosts with three 3-pointers during a quick 16-6 scoring scamper.

Henshaw, Roper and Keelin Rasch all connect the dots from downtown and when Eldred hit 1-of-2 free throws with 2:35 to go in the first quarter – Harrisburg led 18-8.

Lawson Warren and Clay Matheny led CWC with 15-points each and Warren – who hauled in 11-rebounds - collected six of his points in the first frame.

His rebound basket off of his own missed shot cut the lead down to 20-12 with :14 left in the quarter.

But Harrisburg responded by getting down the floor for a fast break score by Sheldon to close the stanza at 22-12.

“We have so many good outside shooters it is tough to defend us,” added Coach Smithpeters. “Almost everyone of the kids can shoot it and everyone of our outside shooters can hit the three.”

Matheny opened the second quarter with a bucket and added two more scores in the quarter to help the CWC foundation.

However Harrisburg put together a deflating 7-0 dash in the final two minutes to push its advantage to 15 at intermission.

Sheldon was fouled by Carmi’s Tanner Maricle while attempting a 3-pointer from the right wing at the 2:18 mark.

Sheldon cashed in all three of his free throw chips – pushing the pedal down to a 33-20 lead.

The 5-foot-11 senior guard added a baseline drive less than a minute later and then picked up a steal of a telegraphed Warren pass and fed Tyler Smithpeters for a fast break tally and a 37-20 spread.

Matheny scored on an inbounds play to close the half as the CWC Dawgs limped back to the kennel down 15.

“Our defense is always a big factor for us. We held them to 22-points and Warren and Matheny had 18 of them,” Smithpeters said. “We spend lots of time and we really emphasize our press and our defense.”

Roper hit two of his 3-pointers in the third quarter – his second one on an assist from Sheldon – gave Harrisburg a 49-29 lead.

Warren and Matheny carried the scoring load for CWC in the third quarter as well but couldn’t cut into the HB advantage.

Warren scored six points in the frame and his drive in transition cut the lead back down to 49-31 heading to the final quarter

Harrisburg paddled CWC with a 15-3 run to open the fourth quarter and closed the door on the outcome.

Elverd – who sat much of the first three quarters with foul troubles – had no trouble getting to the basket in the first 1:15.

He scored three times in the lane to push the lead to 55-31.

Coach Smithpeters put in his reserve unit and the backup Bulldogs kept the hammer down.

When Harrisburg’s Tyler McGowan hit a 15-footer from near the top of the arc – the Bulldogs had their biggest lead at 71-37.

“We hit a lot of shots down that stretch and the guys came off the bench and I think we went four or five minutes (in the fourth quarter) and didn’t miss a shot,” added Coach Smithpeters. “We just expanded on that lead.”

Following Warren and Matheny – no other CWC player had more than two points.

The host Bulldogs finished the contest hitting 18-of-45 shots from the floor overall (40 percent) but missed all six of their attempts from beyond the arc.

To add to the plight – CWC was just 5-of-14 from the foul line.

Coach Jared Newell’s club committed 14 turnovers and was out rebounded 28-20.

For Harrisburg – the Bulldogs were a smoking 25-of-45 from the field and hit exactly half of their 18-trifecta tries.

Harrisburg will try and keep things rolling when they tackle Mount Vernon (IN.) on Thursday night at 5:30 pm when the CWCIT continues.

Carmi-White County will try to get back on track with a game against East Richland at 7 pm Thursday.

“Probably the thing that I have been the happiest about is the way our team has approached these first two games. They have taken the floor focused and we have played hard both games. The results have been what we wanted to be,” Smithpeters explained.

Harrisburg (71) – Re. Roper 0 3 0-0 9, Henshaw 0 2 2-2 8, Rasch 1 1 0-0 5, Sheldon 6 0 7-8 19, Elverd 4 0 1-2 9, King 0 0 0-0 0, Ry. Roper 0 0 0-0 0, Ty. Smithpeters 2 0 0-0 4, Ry. Smithpeters 0 1 0-0 3, STewart 0 0 0-0 0, McGowen 1 0 0-0 2, Younger 1 0 0-0 2, Price 0 1 2-2 5, Pappenfuss 0 1 0-0 3, Gibbs 01 0 0-0 2.
2FG-16, 3FG-9, FT-12-14, PF-15.
Carmi-White County (41) – Maricle 0 0 0-0 0, Matheny 7 0 1-2 15, Krummel 1 0 0-0 2, Capps 1 0 0-0 2, Warren 7 0 1-6 15, Thompson 0 0 2-2 2, Cox 0 0 0-0 0, Snapp 1 0 0-0 2, Owen 0 0 0-2 0, Bartley 1 0 0-0 2, Veatch 0 0 1-2 1.
2FG-18, 3FG-0, FT-5-14, PF-9.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

Mount Carmel plays Fairfield on Thursday night at 8:30 pm.

East Richland (49) – Bl. Pampe 0 0 2-2 2, VanGundy 1 1 0-0 5, Schonert 5 0 3-4 13, Berry 5 3 2-2 21, Kabbes 3 0 0-0 6, Br. Pampe 0 0 0-0 0, Fehrenbacher 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-15, 3FG-4, FT-7-8, PF-12.
Mount Carmel (35) – Bumpus 5 0 1-1 11, Molstad 0 0 0-0 0, Grant 1 0 2-2 4, Hale 3 0 3-6 9, Marcotte 0 0 1-2 1, Kennard 0 0 0-0 0, Condol 2 2 1-1 5, Griffin 0 0 0-0 0, Carpenter 0 0 0-0 0, Smith 0 1 2-3 5, McCarty 0 0 0-2 0, Cook 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-11, 3FG-1, FT-10-17, PF-10.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

EDITOR’S NOTE - Fairfield head coach Scott McElravy missed the game due to a family illness and the ABV thoughts and prayers go to his family and the Fairfield program.

Mt. Vernon (IN.) (76) – Newman 3 3 0-1 15, Stemple 0 0 0-0 0, Siefert 1 0 0-0 2, Steinhart 3 3 0-0 15, Straub 8 0 6-7 22, Ferguson 3 0 0-0 6, Rietman 0 1 0-0 3, Goebel 0 0 1-2 1, Dixon 02 0 0-2 4, Miller 3 0 0-2 6, Schroeder 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-24, 3FG-7, FT-7-14, PF-22.
Fairfield (56) – Atteberry 1 2 10-10 18, Simpson 2 0 0-0 4, Moore 1 0 0-0 2, Hutcheson 5 0 6-8 16, Bryan 1 1 3-3 8, Vaughn 0 1 0-2 3, McMeen 0 0 0-0 0, Bailey 0 0 0-0 0, Slover 1 1 0-0 5, Koontz 0 0 0-0 0, Skaggs 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-11, 3FG-5, FT-19-25, PF-17.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.