12-14-04
BY JACK BULLOCK
VIENNA - It took a big run to separate Goreville from its non-conference opponent Zeigler-Royalton on Tuesday night.

In an important win for the Blackcats, coach Todd Tripp's club broke open a close game by scoring 16-straight points between the second and third quarters in route to an 84-67 win on the road Tuesday night.

In a 'helter skelter' type game, Goreville was better at its brand of 'madcap' basketball than the Tornadoes were on this night.

The Blackcats won their sixth straight game after an opening round loss to conference mate Egyptian at the Christopher Thanksgiving Tournament.

"This was a good win for us but I know we have a lot of improvement to do before we can be good," said Coach Tripp, who is in his first season as head coach at Goreville. "It is good to have played like this and still get a 'W'."

In a game that could be described as the 'no wild shot left behind' program, the Blackcats 42-attempts in the opening half resulted in just 14 makes.

However three of the shots were 3-pointers by Goreville's 6-foot-3 senior guard Jordan Tebbe, who was on his way to a game-high 20-points on the night.

It appeared that the 2-6 Tornadoes would be up to the challenge in the early going, especially after the first few minutes played by 6-foot-4 senior Matt Morgan.

He scored three times in his first three 'touches' to give his squad an early 6-1 lead with under two minutes gone in the first quarter.

But as an inexperienced player, he picked up a couple of quick personal fouls and headed to the bench with 4:47 remaining.

"This kid (Morgan) has really improved even since Thanksgiving for them," added Tripp.
With Morgan on the bench, Goreville made its first move.

A 9-3 run highlighted by Tebbe's first 'trifecta' and 3-of-4 free throws by Derek Yocum, the Blackcats got their initial lead at 10-9 with 3:06 left.

Justin Hood added six first quarter points for the Blackcat cause, including two straight buckets to finish the quarter at 14-13 Goreville.

With both teams gambling on the defensive end, the second quarter turned into a 'Chinese-fire-drill' with lay ups, 3-pointers and turnovers as the norm.

In a matter of 2:56 seconds, the two teams combined to score 24-points.

Tebbe tossed in two more 3-pointers while Z-R's Kyle Parcell and Brandon Ortega combined for seven of those points to help keep the game close.

But after Ortega scored on a fast break lay in and subsequent free throw while being fouled by Goreville's Lowell Stone, the Blackcats scampered off on their impressive scoring salvo.

A pair of free throws by Brandon Rogowski and a 'coast-to-coast' bucket right before the second quarter horn by Hood produced a 36-32 halftime advantage for coach Todd Tripp's team.

When the two teams came out for the third quarter, Goreville showed the Tornadoes the taillights.

Twelve points in 2:59 seconds put the game out of reach.
The total amount of the run was 20-3.

Yocum, Tebbe, Hood and Rogowski all scored in this 'avalanche' with three of the baskets coming off of three-straight Tornadoes turnovers.

When the dust had settled, Goreville led 54-35 with 3:50 left in the third quarter.

"We knew our bench was deeper and this is the type of game we want to play, going up and down the floor," added Tripp. "We are going to give up some points that way but we were a little bit erratic tonight but they were, too. When two teams play that way at the same time, it can get a bit 'crazy' out there. In the second half, we stayed back some after gambling on defense for most of the first half. We wore them down there in the third quarter."

The Blackcats led by as many as 23-points before closing out the game at 84-67.

In this 'wild' contest, 20 different players scored (10 for each team) before a good crowd for a non-conference game.

Tebbe led the way with 20-points for Goreville while Hood pitched home 19 while pulling down 10-rebounds.

Rogowski added 14 and Yocum 13 as four players hit for double-figures.

Zeigler-Royalton has three 'bright' spots with Ortega adding 15-points while Morgan and Parcell chipped in 12 each.

Aaron Jones, in 'mop up' duty in the final two quarters, stepped off the Tornado bench to score eight points including a pair of 3-pointers.

The Blackcats, who are likely to get a 'high seed' at the upcoming Sesser-Valier Holiday Tournament, are off until Tuesday the 21st when they travel to Pope County while Z-R heads to Dongola Friday night to tackle the Demons.

Goreville (84) - Reynolds 1 0 1-2 3, Tebbe 4 4 0-0 20, Maze 1 0 3-4 5, Rogowski 4 1 3-4 14, Yocum 5 0 3-4 13, Stone 0 0 0-0 0, Hood 8 0 3-6 19, Fischer 1 0 0-0 2, Robertson 1 0 2-2 4, Patschke 1 0 0-1 2, Trovillion 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-27, 3FG-5, FT-15-23, PF-21.
Zeigler-Royalton (73) Ortega 4 0 7-12 15, Menckowski 2 1 0-0 7, Nix 0 0 0-0 0, Morgan 6 0 0-1 12, Parcell 4 0 4-5 12, Jones 1 2 0-0 8, J. Bramlett 0 0 2-2 2, Fletcher 1 0 0-2 2, Prosise 1 1 0-0 5, Williams 1 0 0-0 2, Davis 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-21, 3FG-4, FT-13-25, PF-18.
Fouled Out - Morgan, Zeigler-Royalton.
Technical Fouls - None.