03-09-13
BY JACK BULLOCK
PEORIA – So much for private school domination of the boy's state basketball tournament.

For the second straight season and the third time in the last four years, a public school has worn the crown.

The Harrisburg Bulldogs, the pride of Southern Illinois, got the job done by taking advantage of Seton Academy's problems in a 50-44 win to take the championship of Class 2A back to the South for the second consecutive season.

Behind senior Tyler Smithpeters' 23-points and a defensive effort that forced the Sting into 17-of-45 shooting effort, the Bulldogs took down the Chicago area private school with a 50-44 win.

Trailing by as many as 10-points in the first half, Harrisburg never gave into the notion that they had to try and outscore Seton Academy.

“Coming in I wasn't sure how our chances would be against a team like Seton that is as athletic and skilled. We had to play a different way than we had played all season long,” said Harrisburg head coach Randy Smithpeters. “All season long the games were about us. If we come out and do what we do, we win. It wasn't about that tonight. We had to really adjust our defense. We had to really adjust our offense. That is the quality of this team that is very rare.”

Being patient and using the stingy defense that carried them for the entire season, Harrisburg stuck to their game plan and frustrated the Sting.

The one that was the most frustrated was senior guard Mark Weems, who was called for two quick technical fouls and was ejected from the game with just 2:05 left in the second quarter.

Weems argued with an official and then bumped the same ref. Two technical's is an automatic ejection.

Harrisburg's Henshaw capitalized on the double-tech by hitting four straight free throws that cut the Seton Academy lead to just 23-19.

A basket by reserve Snjolfur Bjornsson and two more free throws by Henshaw and the Bulldogs trailed just 24-23 at the half.

In the second half, Harrisburg controlled the tempo and the game by forcing Seton Academy into foul trouble.

The Bulldogs ended up hitting 24-of-31 free throws in the contest.

When they weren't parading to the foul line, Harrisburg was getting big baskets from everyone involved.

Back-to-back 3-point bombs by senior's Ryne Roper and Smithpeters gave the Bulldogs the lead for good with 3:20 left in the third quarter.

Seton Academy's Christopher Seaton scored on a rebound to get the Sting to within 40-38 but Smithpeters took a great pass from Bahari Amaya for a lay in while being fouled by Alex Foster.

His made free throw converted the three-point play for a 43-38 lead.

Amaya wasn't done sharing the ball as, on the next Harrisburg possession, he found Henshaw on a back door cut to give the Bulldogs its biggest lead.

Harrisburg finished off the Sting by hitting 5-of-8 free throws in the final 2:36.

Seton Academy had many chances in the fourth quarter, but they were just 3-of-13 from the field in the frame.

Coach Randy Smithpeters high scoring club didn't want to make this game a track meet with the athletic Sting and so they took care of business by precision half-court sets in the second half.

The Bulldogs finished with 13-turnovers, but just two of them came in the final frame.

Henshaw finished with 13-points on the night while Eli Taborn-Scott added five points and five rebounds in the low scoring affair.

Amaya scored four points and nailed one of the biggest shots of the game, a mid-range shot from the right wing to open the fourth quarter.

He added two big charity tosses in the game winning free throw exhibit.

Seton Academy (22-11) had the game in hand in the first half before the temperament issues steered the Sting off of its championship course.

Kamal Shasi, who led Seton with nine points, nailed a 3-pointer to close a 10-4 run to give the Sting a 23-13 lead with 3:29 remaining in the half.

But after Smithpeters had committed a foul on Seaton, Weems was upset and argued with an official who issued the first technical.

Pleading his case, Weems touched the official which is a no-no.

The second technical sent Weems to the lockerroom and Henshaw to the foul line.

The four point swing got Harrisburg back in the contest and helped make 2A champions out of the Bulldogs.

Harrisburg finished its title run by hitting just 12-of-32 field goals (37.5 percent) but knocking down 77.4 percent from the foul line.

After losing to Breese Central last season in the Carbondale Supersectional and then watching the Cougars take home the championship last March, Coach Smithpeters knew that his team could get the job done this season.

“I met with the team Thursday night and I talked to them about the fact that we've gotten this far and we have seen the competition and we can be Number One,” added Coach Smithpeters. “We can compete with the people that are here. I think that they understood that and came out and played well.”

	1	2	3	4	-	F
Harrisburg	06	17	15	12	-	50
Seton Academy	11	13	12	08	-	44

Harrisburg (50) – Taborn-Scott 2 0 1-3 5, Upchurch 0 0 0-0 0, Smithpeters 4 1 12-16 23, Henshaw 2 0 9-10 13, Roper 10 1 0-0 3, Younger 0 0 0-0 0, Amaya 1 0 2-2 4, Bjornsson 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-10, 3FG-2, FT-24-31, PF-17.
Seton Academy (44) – Evans 0 0 0-0 0, Foster 3 0 1-3 7, Weems 2 1 1-2 8, Mooring 1 0 3-4 5, Shasi 0 3 0-0 9, Seaton 2 0 0-1 4, Payton 0 0 0-0 0, Nelson 0 0 0-0 0, Clemons 2 0 0-0 5, Harrison 0 0 0-0 0, Haskins 0 0 0-0 0, Patterson 3 0 1-7 7.
2FG-13, 3FG-4, FT-6-17, PF-24.