Goreville goes "Back-to-Back" in Black Diamond
Blackcats roar out to early lead, cruise home with 69-31 win
Ruseell, Snell prove to be too much for Chester on Saturday night
02-16-13
BY JACK BULLOCK
CHESTER
On Saturday night the stage was set for a big time performance from the Chester Yellow Jackets.

In front of a huge crowd for senior night, the festivities were completed and game time was approaching.

The introductions were done with flair.

After the visiting team was introduced, the gym was darkened as the the sounds of AC/DC's song “Hell's Bell's” blared over the PA system.

All things pointed to a huge effort for a potential upset as the hosts would try to earn a tie with visiting Goreville atop the Black Diamond Conference West Division final standings.

However Coach Tripp's troops had another AC/DC song on their minds.

Behind big-time performances from 6-foot-4 senior J.T. Russell and 6-foot-4 junior Zeke Snell, the Goreville Blackcats were “Back in Black” for back-to-back titles.

Russell got loose for 24-points while Snell was a beast in the paint for the championship 'Cats; nearly securing a triple-double as his stat sheet was bold with nine-points, eight-rebounds and a whopping 10-blocked shots.

Goreville improved to 24-4 and became the first team in BDC history to go 12-0 with the 69-51 romp.

Jumping out to a 17-4 early lead, Coach Tripp's team never let off the pedal until the final minutes of the game as they head into the postseason with confidence.

Starting strong in each quarter Goreville, who made a move to the BDC in 2011-12, made it two-consecutive West Division titles.

“I thought my kids came out and in the lockerroom I could tell that they were ready. I don't think that they were in any mood to share the conference title,” said Coach Tripp. “I thought we came out and did a really good job, everyone on the floor. We attacked the rim and got the ball in the right hands at the right time. We shared the ball tonight.”

Kyefer Cavins, a 6-foot-1 junior guard, came off the bench to spark Goreville with 10-points while Alex Andros added eight, as did starting guard Blake Gray.

High scoring Dayton Tripp, another of the long and lengthy Blackcats at 6-foot-4, was held to just six-points but contributed in other ways, part of a defensive effort that forced 15-turnovers from the Yellow Jackets.

All in all it was a dominating performance, which began with a purposeful yet lightning fast 7-2 lead in just a minute and a half gone from the opening bell.

Forcing five early Chester mistakes and turning them into points, Tripp, Gray and Russell turned Chester's night into Trip, Stumble and Fall.

After Chester's junior guard Jake Lochhead (pronounced Law-Head) scored on a drive to the basket to cut the deficit to 7-4 with 6:20 left, the Blackcats pounced again, this time with Cat-like 10-0 run.

Russell connected from long-ranged twice more and Cavins made a backdoor cut, taking a pass from teammate Gray for a 17-4 lead with 2:40 left in the first quarter.

“You can't do that (fall behind) to Goreville, they are just too good,” said Chester head coach Brad Norman, referring to the first quarter deficit. “We were prepared, we were ready. I'm not sure what caused us to come out and have those turnovers. We went over and over in practice about what happened in the first game (a 73-66 Goreville win) and we knew we couldn't give a team like Goreville a running start. And we did tonight. We've just got to do a better job early taking care of the ball.”

Snell provided the muscle and set the tone early in the contest on the defensive end as he contested nearly every shot, putting the Yellow Jackets into a “straight jacket” by keeping Chester from being effective in the lane.

He also managed to time a beautiful rebound tip that turned into an emphatic one-handed slam.

By the time Russell rang up another trey, Goreville led 22-10 after the first horn.

“How nasty was that dunk? He had ten blocked shots. He had more blocks than he had points and rebounds,” added Tripp. “He had a nice night for us. So did Russell. That (big effort from Russell) is what we expect from him. He struggled before Christmas but he has gotten to where he is attacking the rim more now.”

Chester got its act together for most of the second quarter but failed to make any serious dent in the Goreville armor.

Two free throws and a fast break score, both by Lochhead, forced a Coach Tripp timeout early in the second quarter.

One of the few flaws in the Goreville night was that they got into some foul difficulty.

But as it turned out Coach Tripp went to his reserve unit and those kids produced some solid minutes.

Back-ups Caleb Belcher and Dallas Melot hooked up with Belcher feeding the post for a Melot lay in and a 40-27 halftime lead.

Back-to-back scores from Andros and Blake along with 3-of-4 free throws to open the second half gave Goreville more momentum.

When Blake delivered on drive to the goal, Goreville led 49-32 at the 2:50 mark.

Chester, who saw its mark fall to 10-2 in the league and 19-8 overall, had a few bright spots.

Lochhead was one of them as this 6-foot-2 junior guard led the Jackets with 20-points and was deadly at the foul line as he finished 9-of-10 from the stripe.

Kyle Landon added 11-points while Chris Schwartz added 10.

However Goreville had all of the right answers as they passed yet another road test.

Another run spurred by its defense, this one of 6-0 variety, settled the issue.

Gray, Tripp and Cavins all scored in the run.

Snell finished his night with a near dunk as he was being fouled by Schwartz.

His made free throw for a conventional three-point play made it 62-41 with 5:37 remaining.

Goreville ran some clock in the final minutes and Russell ended his night with a drive to the basket off of a spread formation before both coaches emptied the fridge.

“Their length gave us problems and they are athletic. They're tough and they were recovering to our shooters really well,” added Coach Norman. “Tip your hat to them.”

The Blackcats were sharp on the night in most areas.

Goreville was 26-of-55 (47.2 percent) from the floor overall and hit 4-of-13 from deep.

The biggest advantage came on the boards as Coach Tripp witnessed a 39-23 rebounding edge from his team, including 18 impressive offensive rebounds.

Although they committed 15-turnovers, most of them came in the final three quarters after the Blackcats had the game well in hand.

“There is your story line (18-offensive rebounds allowed) you can't give up that many offensive rebounds because you give up too many second chances,” said Coach Norman. “I think this (loss) is going to make us better for our regional. So when we go into the regional next week I think we are going to be more prepared. This game knocked us down a notch and hopefully it opened up our eyes.”

Chester was just 18-of-52 overall (34.6 percent) and hit just 2-of-13 from behind the arc.

The Yellow Jackets also committed 15-turnovers and used a big excavating bucket while digging themselves a first half hole by going just 8-of-26 from the field while committing nine of their 15-turnovers in the first 16-minutes.

Both teams head into the postseason next week.

In the Zeigler-Royalton 1A Regional, Goreville is the top-seed and heavy favorite to advance to the Hardin County Sectional.

The Blackcats will take on the winner of the Cobden/Shawnee winner on Wednesday night. Ironically those two teams played on Saturday night with Shawnee winning 65-59.

Chester is in what appears to be a wide-open Murphysboro 2A Regional as they are seeded second and will play Carterville, a team they topped 68-65 at home back on February 2.

The Yellow Jackets have played Trico, the top-seed at Murphysboro, three times and have a 2-1 record. Chester won both regular season meetings but lost an early season matchup at Trico's Pioneer Invitational Tournament.

“The last thing I told the kids in the huddle (before the game) was that they (Chester) are a nice team and they have the crowd and at are home. They are going to make a run,” added Coach Tripp. “As most coaches will say, just don't let that run be a big one. We never let that happen. We have a bit more length then they do and a bit more physical and I think that showed up tonight. I feel good about this (win) and hopefully we can take this into next week.”

1
2
3
4
-
F
Goreville
22
18
11
18
-
69
Chester
10
17
10
14
-
51

Goreville (69) – Dunn 0 0 0-0 0, Tripp 1 1 1-2 6, Gray 4 0 0-0 8, Belcher 0 0 1-2 1, Lanahan 0 0 0-0 0, Cavins 3 4-6 10, Patterson 0 0 0-0 0, Snell 3 0 3-3 9, Russell 7 3 1-2 24, Messmer 0 0 0-0 0, Andros 3 0 3-3 9, Melot 1 0 0-0 2. 2FG-22, 3FG-4, FT-13-18, PF-19.
Chester (51) – Mileur 0 0 0-0 0, Cushman 1 0 1-3 3, Lochhead 4 1 9-10 20, Landon 4 1 0-0 11, Miles 0 0 0-0 0, Arbeiter 2 0 0-0 4, Gendron 0 0 0-0 0, Weir 0 0 1-2 1, Schwartz 4 0 2-3 10, Koeneman 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-16, 3FG-2, FT-13-18, PF-19.

Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – Chester Bench.