VANDALIA HOLIDAY TOURNAMENT
Flora holds off Pana, wears VHT crown
MVP Paul Knapp leads Wolves to 75-69 win; Panthers suffer first defeat of season
Vandalia tops Greenville for third; St. Elmo, Altamont, Shelbyville also final day winners

12-29-11
BY JACK BULLOCK
VANDALIA
Opponents of the Flora Wolves know what Paul Knapp and Nick Painter can do.

But in the title tilt of the 40th annual Vandalia Holiday Tournament, it was what teammate Ethan Leib did that made the difference in the Wolves 75-69 title game triumph.

The 6-foot-3 sophomore scored 17-points and grabbed a team-high 11-rebounds in the championship game as Flora improved to 15-1 on the season.

Leib found his way to the basket with many of his points coming on second chances.

Knapp, the tournament's Most Valuable Player, topped the scoring list with 26-points while Painter threw in 17.

Christian Taylor added 11-points to the total for Flora, including hitting all three of his 3-point attempts.

Flora head coach Phil Leib, father of Ethan, watched his team hang on as Pana's fourth quarter rally fell short.

“I'm awfully proud of him (Ethan) and I might get choked up a bit talking about him but he was a warrior on the glass tonight,” said Coach Leib. “He knows he is going to play in the shadows of Knapp and Painter but he knows he has a role and that is to hit the boards and finish. He struggled some early in the year but he has really come on. He made a difference tonight.”

The title game win was the school's eighth at this long standing and well run affair.

Pana was led by Jarred McMillan and Mitchell Beyers with 22 and 20 points respectively.

Coach Gary Bowker saw his club suffer their first defeat after 11-consecutive wins to open the season.

“I told him (Ethan Leib) that he killed us tonight. I told the kids tonight that Knapp and Painter are great players and they are going to get their points but they are going to miss some shots and you can't forget to box out,” said Coach Bowker. “Those are the guys that are going to get the rebounds and get the points that will beat you. Tonight Ethan Leib was the difference in the ballgame.”

In a game that featured 12 lead changes in the first three quarters, Flora finally got the lead for good near the end of the third quarter and managed to hold on for dear life as Pana rallied late.

The Panthers started strong with McMillan scoring twice in the opening period near the basket.

His shot from the right blocks tied the score at 11-all and his teammate Avery Hrabak hit his only shot of the contest, a 3-pointer from the top of the circle, as Pana led 14-13 at the end of the first quarter.

Beyers, a 6-foot-2 senior, delivered a 3-pointer during a 7-2 run for Pana that forced a Flora timeout with 4:40 left before intermission.

Three consecutive scores by McMillan gave Pana a 27-26 lead at the break.

Saddled with foul trouble in the first half, Painter (at the urging of Coach Leib) began to look to score in the second half and the 6-foot-6 senior responded.

Painter netted eight points in just over two minutes as Flora took control.

His bucket on an offensive rebound triggered a 13-1 run that changed the scene.

During that run, Flora scored three times on offensive rebounds.

“We made a concerted effort to get the ball into the post in the second half. We needed to get the ball into Nick Painter. I told him that there is no one that can touch you in there and he started scoring at will.”

Knapp, who only had just 10-points midway through the third quarter, got going by hitting a pair of long-distance bombs.

His trey from the top of the arc at the 3:58 mark gave the Wolves a 41-32 lead.

Taylor, a 6-foot-2 junior, took advantage of Pana's defensive efforts on Knapp and Painter, and found himself open for a buzzer beating 18-footer from the left wing to give his team a 51-42 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

“Against good teams (Pana) you have to hit your shots from the outside and you have to get the ball into the post,” added Coach Leib. “We got stronger with the ball in the second half. We didn't do a very good job protecting the ball in the first half but we did a better job in the second half.”

All teams have at least one good run in them during a title game and Pana came up with one that fell just short at the end.

The Panthers cut the deficit down to three points twice in the final quarter only to see Flora retaliate.

Beyers scored nine points early in the final frame and his rebound basket got the Panthers to within 57-53.

Pana's Garrett Claxon made a big defensive play, stripping Flora's Painter of the ball after a rebound. He then chased the ball down in the right corner before firing up a 3-pointer that found the mark to get the Panthers within four points at 61-57 with 3:19 left.

The Panthers last big run came after a Knapp, normally an excellent free throw shooter, missed a pair of free throws with 1:07 left.

Pana then got a 3-pointer from senior Allen Kile and two free throws by Beyers and suddenly the Panthers were down just 70-67 with :48 remaining.

Knapp and Co. closed out the contest by hitting 5-of-6 free throws to nab the championship, the school's first 2009.

“Paul (Knapp) is Paul. He hit some big buckets for us tonight. He got to the line for us and made the big free throws,” added Coach Leib. “It was just a great team effort.”

Knapp hit 6-of-13 shots from the floor and made 11-of-13 from the foul line. The 6-foot-1 senior play-maker also grabbed six rebounds.

The Wolves finished 27-of-45 from the floor overall, and 6-of-9 from behind the arc while out-rebounding the Panthers 29-22.

Flora committed 14 turnovers but survived by 15-of-19 free throws.

“Flora has good shooters and when you get behind them late you are going to have to foul them and give them credit, they finished the game off,” added Coach Bowker. “They are a great basketball team and they will be very successful.”

The Panthers didn't shoot the ball well enough to win, hitting just 25-of-60 shots overall while connecting on just 8-of-23 long range shots.

Besides Beyers and McMillan, Kile finished with 14-points for the 11-1 Panthers.

McMillan was the most efficient of the Pana shooters, hitting 9-of-15 from the floor.

“We got back to the basics and the basics won us this championship,” Coach Leib said. “You have to play good defense and you have to hit your free throws when it counts. Paul (Knapp) came up big.”

1
2
3
4
-
F
Pana
13
03
11
12
-
39
Flora
12
15
08
18
-
53

Pana (69) – Claxon 1 1 1-2 6, Kile 2 3 1-2 14, Hrabak 0 1 0-0 3, Beyers 3 3 5-6 20, McMillan 9 0 4-5 22, Zahradka 0 0 0-0 0, Metzger 0 0 0-0 0, Epley 1 0 0-0 2, Hester 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-17, 3FG-8, FT-11-15, PF-19.
Flora (75) – Burgess 2 0 0-0 4, Leib 8 0 1-2 17, Knapp 3 3 11-13 26, Painter 7 0 3-4 17, Taylor 1 3 0-0 11, Shehorn 0 0 0-0 0, Moore 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-21, 3FG-6, FT-15-19, PF-16.

Fouled Out – Claxon, Pana.
Technical Fouls – None.

VANDALIA 53, GREENVILLE 41
Recovering from a loss to Pana the day before that relegated the host Vandals to the third place game, Coach Kevin Jackson's club delivered a big first half effort and held off Greenville to take home third place in their event.

Vandalia outscored the mistake prone Comets 34-10 in the first half as Coach Todd Cantrill's team had more turnovers (12) than points.

Dathan Benning topped the scoring parade for Vandalia with 23-points while teammate Tim Ritchy finished with 15.

Greenville rallied in the second half behind 16-points from senior Dylan Bone who hit four 3-pointers.

Benning scored six points in the opening minutes and his back door cut to the basket gave his team an 11-6 early lead.

A 13-0 scoring crusade to begin the second quarter put the Vandals in a comfort zone.

Benning scored five of those points for Vandalia, including a conventional three-point play with 4:55 before halftime.

Ritchey scored twice in the quarter on drives to the basket and when Benning canned a 3-pointer from the left corner as time expired, the Vandals we in charge at 34-10.

Greenville, to their credit, didn't start the bus and head home at that point.

Bone hit a pair of trifectas as part of a 12-0 run for the Comets to begin the second half.

When teammate Dannon Young hit a trey from the top of the arc, Greenville trailed just 34-22 with 4:01 left.

Vandalia didn't let the Comets to get to within single-digits as Benning scored six more points in the quarter and he and his teammates closed out the contest by making 12-straight free throws before finally missing one with :44.1 remaining.

Following Bone on the Greenville offensive scoring list was Young with 12-points.

Greenville, after that bad start, settled down by hitting 8-of-15 shots from behind the 3-point line.

However they were just 5-of-21 from inside the arc and committed 19 turnovers, including nine in the second quarter when Vandalia pulled away.

Coach Jackson's squad commanded the boards 29-15 while hitting 19-of-45 from the floor for the game. The team connected on 13-of-17 from the foul line.

Vandalia improved to 12-3 on the season while the Comets fell to 7-6 overall.

ST. ELMO 53, WESCLIN 52
The Eagles finished the tournament in fifth place after a narrow win over Wesclin.

Coach Greg Feezel's team got 12-points from Ben Sperry and 10-points from Blake Pruett in the victory, as St. Elmo improved to 9-3 on the season.

Wesclin saw its mark drop to 6-7 overall despite 17-points from Alex Wilken and 14-points from Michael Klein.

The Warriors outrebounded St. Elmo 37-23 and shot the ball better than their opposition but managed to drop the fifth place game.

Wesclin hit 22-of-51 from the field while St. Elmo hit 18-of-57.

Connor Beasley grabbed 11-rebounds to go with his seven points for St. Elmo.

ALTAMONT 65, STEWARDSON-STARSBURG 57
In a battle of National Trail Conference teams, the Indians took home the seventh place spot with a victory over the Comets.

The Tribe was led by sophomore guard Garrett Zeigler with 20-points while three other Altamont players (Cody Drone, Jason Hooks and Dustin Gordon) finished with 12-points each.

Stew-Stras got 21-points and nine rebounds from Justin Fulk and 14-points from Nick Ferris in defeat.

The Comets shot the ball poorly, hitting just 21-of-73 attempts (28 percent) while Altamont managed to hit 23-of-46 from the field.

The two teams were even in rebounding at 29-each.

Altamont improved to 9-4 with the win while Stew-Stras is now 6-5.

SHELBYVILLE 42, SOUTH CENTRAL 33
The Rams won the ninth place game behind 14-points from Nate Standerfer and 12-points from Jake Keown.

Fisher Tharp paced the Cougars with 12-points while Colby Bushue finished with 10.