12-31-12
BY JACK BULLOCK
SESSER –

But despite this separation slip, the defending state-champs are still the class of the Sesser-Valier Holiday Tournament, and the 1A Deep South.

Using a big push in the first half and hitting its free throws in the fourth quarter, Coach Shane Witzel's club won its third-consecutive tournament title with a 65-56 win over the Blackcats on Monday.

No other team it the tournament's 32-year history posted this trifecta.

Woodlawn had beaten the Blackcats handily in the past two seasons, including a 68-40 shellacking last December in the championship contest.

However this win would be anything but easy for the Cards.

Woodlawn was paced by Gabe Owens with 17-points. This senior guard hit 12-of-14 free throws in the game, all in the fourth quarter as the Cardinals protected their advantage.

Kris Harlow scored all eight of his points in the first half as both he and Owens were selected to the all-tournament squad.

But the Cardinals got a big spark from starter Jayson Hapeman who netted 16-points and hit some key shots in the contest, much to the chagrin of Goreville head coach Todd Tripp.

The Blackcats, after scouting the Cardinals, didn't concentrate on stopping the 6-foot junior.

This proved to be a painful oversight as Hapeman made 5-of-6 of his field goal attempts (one 3-pointer) and his 3-of-4 free throws in the fourth quarter added up to 16-points for the Cards offensive attack.

“We scouted them and on the shot chart he (Hapeman) didn't score much,” said Coach Tripp. “Today he hit shots.”

Goreville made a pair of rallies in the contest, only to see the Cardinals weather each storm.

“Our kids are hurting right now but we've got to play 32-minutes. You can't play 20-minutes and expect to beat good teams like them (Woodlawn),” added Coach Tripp. “Like I said, we showed signs that we can be really good. I think that the more we play the better we are going to get. I think we will get on track soon.”

Woodlawn built its early advantage by beating the Blackcats full-court pressure and turning the possessions into precision offensive displays.

Following a made 3-pointer from Goreville's J.T. Russell that gave the Blackcats their only lead of the game at 5-4, the Cardinals went on a 12-1 run.

Hapeman triggered the sprint, nailing a pair of shots from mid-range.

Harlow added two more made shots that forced a Goreville timeout at the 2:53 mark.

Chase Phelps and Jake Robinson each added points in the run.

Logan Isaac started the second quarter by converting a conventional three-point play which was followed by buckets from Matt Kennedy and Hapeman.

Hapeman's score in the lane coming off a screen gave Woodlawn its biggest lead of the game at 23-8.

“The number one key when you play them (Goreville) is how you handle their press and we wanted to take some chances behind them because all of their pressure was in the front,” added Witzel. “Our plan was to try and attack in the back and get some lay ups and if we didn't get an easy shot we wanted to back it out and run our offense. I thought we did a good job of that.”

Goreville made two big scoring runs in the contest and first came at the end of the second quarter.

Dayton Tripp and Zeke Snell, both all-tournament selections, each scored during an 8-0 run that cut the Goreville deficit to 27-21.

But Woodlawn ran a set play in the final seconds of the half, getting an open look for Hapeman who buried a shot on a drive to the paint for a 29-21 halftime lead.

“The execution on the play at the end of the half was big. We had let them (Goreville) back in it. They got on a big run at that is what they do. We things are going well for them they get on big runs and you have to withstand them,” said Coach Witzel. “That was a big basket to get at the horn by Hapeman. That helped us get off and running in the second half.”

Goreville's next big run was fueled by its defense as their pressure finally forced Woodlawn into some mistakes (six turnovers) in the third quarter.

Following a Hapeman 3-pointer which put Woodlawn up 37-25, Goreville outscored the Cardinals 13-3 to close the period.

A three-point play from post-player Alex Andros and a pair of nice moves by Snell closed the gap.

Snell hit a baseline jumper and, on the Cats next possession, took a backdoor feed for a two-handed dunk.

A quick steal by Goreville turned into a rebound basket by Kyfer Cavins just before the third quarter horn.

The Blackcats headed into the final quarter down just 41-38.

Goreville made a final move in the fourth quarter, but came up empty.

Tripp, a 6-foot-3 senior guard, nailed a 3-pointer from the top of the circle with :39 left to cut the Woodlawn lead to just 56-51.

But Goreville was forced to foul late in the game out of necessity and Woodlawn made them pay dearly.

The Cardinals canned 20-of-25 free throws in the final quarter with Owens leading the way.

“You need to make those (free throws) to close out the game and you want to get your best free throw shooters at the line,” said Coach Witzel. 'We are pretty confident with the guys we have out there but ideally you want to get the ball to your best free throw shooters.”

The final moments of the contest got a bit testy with a pair of technical fouls going against both teams following a pair of flagrant fouls by the Blackcats.

A technical on the Goreville bench added insult to injury and by the time the parade to the foul line had finished, Woodlawn led 65-53.

A 3-pointer by Goreville reserve Nik Dunn finished the scoring just before the final horn.

“They definitely set the tone of this game,” said Coach Tripp. “We would make a run and then we would turn it over. We had three straight possessions in the fourth quarter where we turned it over and they scored. We can't do that against good teams and expect to win.”

The Blackcats were led by Tripp with 16-points and Snell with 13-points.

Goreville finished a respectable 17-of-37 from the field but were just 4-of-16 from behind the arc.

The slight rebounding edge went with Woodlawn at 21-20.

Goreville did force the Cardinals into 19-turnovers, but they failed to capitalize enough to win the championship as they watched Woodlawn celebrate for the third consecutive season.

Woodlawn was 19-of-36 overall in victory and improved their record to 9-2.

Goreville is now 8-3 after the loss.

“I respect them (Woodlawn) and they work hard. Gabe (Owens) works hard and he was due. He struggled some in this tournament but we knew he would be ready today,” said Coach Tripp. “They have a great program, great coach and they do a great job. Our goal is to meet them in the super because they are going to be at SIU again.”

Woodlawn (65) – G. Owens 1 1 12-14 17, Hapeman 5 1 3-4 16, Harlow 4 0 0-0 8, Isaac 2 0 2-2 6, Kennedy 1 0 3-7 5, Coleman 1 0 1-2 3, Robinson 1 0 0-0 2, Phelps 2 0 4-6 8, R. Owens 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-17, 3FG-2, FT-25-35, PF-23.
Goreville (56) – Dunn 0 1 0-0 3, Tripp 3 2 4-5 16, Gray 1 0 5-6 7, Belcher 0 0 2-2 2, Cavins 2 0 1-2 5, Patterson 0 0 0-0 0, Snell 5 0 3-4 13, Russell 1 1 0-0 5, Andros 1 0 3-7 5. 2FG-13, 3FG-4, FT-18-26, PF-29.
Fouled Out – Coleman - Woodlawn; Gray, Russell - Goreville.
Technical Fouls – Isaac - Woodlawn; Cavins - Goreville; Goreville Bench.

New Athens (48) – Marlow 3 2 0-0 12, Hepp 1 1 0-0 5, Ragland 2 1 0-0 7, Kiefer 0 0 0-0 0, Meyer 6 0 2-6 14, Reuss 1 0 1-2 3. 2FG-13, 3FG-6, FT-4-10, PF-15.
Waltonville (53) – Winchester 0 0 1-2 1, Laird 1 0 0-0 2, Whisenant 3 1 0-0 9, Rogers 1 1 0-0 5, Witges 6 0 4-6 16, Hale 7 1 3-6 20, Zahm 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-18, 3FG-3 FT-8-14, PF-13.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

Z-R improved its stock this season at 12-4 with three consecutive wins after an opening round loss to Waltonville.

All-tournament selection Nick McPhail netted 21-points in the win by hitting 7-of-8 shots from the field and canned 7-of-8 free throws (5-of-6 in the final quarter) as he led his club to the final day triumph.

Jeffrey Pedigo added 11-points for Z-R as the Tornadoes were very good shooting the ball on Monday, connecting on 22-of-39 (56 percent).

Sesser-Valier saw its mark slip to 6-4 on the season, despite 22-points and 10-rebounds from Justin Kulich and 19-points from Derek Hood.

Sesser-Valier (54) – Barrett 0 0 0-0 0, Lingle 0 1 0-0 3, Gunter 1 0 0-0 2, Vanwey 1 0 0-0 2, Marlo 0 0 0-0 0, Baxter 0 0 0-0 0, Kulich 10 0 2-2 22, Hook 4 3 2-3 19, Eubanks 3 0 0-0 6. 2FG-19, 3FG-4, FT-4-5, PF-16.
Zeigler-Royalton (62) – Schimpf 0 1 0-0 3, McPhail 7 0 7-8 21, Moskoff 3 1 0-0 9, Weddle 0 1 0-0 3, Stubblefield 2 0 2-2 6, Pedigo 1 2 3-4 11, Jones 4 0 1-1 9. 2FG-17, 3FG-5, FT-13-15, PF-9.
Fouled Out – Marlo - Sesser-Valier.
Technical Fouls – None.