12-26-2018
BY JACK BULLOCK
SESSER – The number four-seed at the 38th annual Sesser-Valier Holiday Tournament certainly didn't play like a team that entered the tourney on an eight-game winning streak.

But the Marissa/Coulterville Meteors were anything but “blazing” as they shot the ball terribly in their opening round action against Waltonville.

Coach Scott Wine watched in disbelief as his club hit just 2-of-17 shots from the floor in the first quarter, and 7-of-35 in the first half.

On top of that, M/C was out-rebounded by the Spartans 37-26 in the game.

They looked like a team that hadn't played a game since a win over Lebanon on December 11th.

Despite the frigid field goal shooting and the lack of board work, the Meteors managed a 22-16 halftime advantage.

While the offense wasn't up to par, the defense got Marissa/Coulterville into the quarterfinals.

The Meteors forced 24 Waltonville turnovers in a 55-40 victory on the opening day of the event.

It helped M/C overcome a lot of issues as they improved to 9-1 on the season.

Their top scorer for the season, 6-foot-3 junior Sebastion Ivory-Greer who came into the event averaging over 18-points a game, was in foul trouble and finished with just six-points.

“Today was a perfect example, we saw “Box-and-One” defenses all the time when we had Kyle Smith for four years. We practiced it one day this year for Sebastion because we didn't think we would ever see it,” said Coach Wine. “So today he had no idea were to go on that offense. Today was learning experience for all of them. We get to move to the right on the bracket which is a good thing. We feel like we can compete with the teams here at this tournament.”

The Meteors' second leading scorer 6-foot-1 junior Logan Jones (16.2 p.p.g.) was held to just nine-points.

But Coach Scott Wine has more weapons and they helped bail the Meteors out of a mess on Wednesday afternoon.

Five-foot-nine senior guard John Broshears stepped up and canned a pair of 3-pointers in a second quarter move that got Marissa/Coulterville the lead for good.

Broshears added nine-points in the second half to end up the top scorer with 15.

Six-foot senior point-guard Cameron Bowlby, who has taken on the role of floor general for Coach Wine this season, proved he can still step up and produce points.

Bowlby ended up with 13-points in the contest as he also added a pair of 3-pointers as the Meteors advanced to play Sparta on Thursday afternoon.

Waltonville got 10-points from senior McKendal Malone and eight-points from senior Jacob Tucker.

As bad as things were offensively for the Meteors early, the Spartans weren't much better.

It took 3:20 of playing time for either team to score as Bowlby got the Orange and Black on the board with one of the 3-pointers.

A Reagan Newell triple from the right wing for Waltonville tied the game at 3-3.

Junior Blake Steinwagner cashed in a 3-pointer for the Meteors for their second basket and a 7-6 lead.

But Tucker answered for Coach Anthony Lowery's club, nailing a pair of 3-point bombs as the Spartans grabbed an 11-7 advantage at the end of eight minutes of woeful hardwood action.

M/C hit just 11.3 percent from the floor in the frame while Waltonville coughed up five of its turnovers.

“What we just talked about is that we are an older team with juniors and seniors but at the same time we are a young team as far as playing time and varsity experience,” said Coach Lowery. “We talk about the next step is getting over the hump and about being able to trust each other out there. Our motto is 'brick by brick' we are building towards February so we will have things going the way we want to go. We are learning and getting better and that is all that I can ask for.”

The Meteors got a bit better in the second quarter as Bowlby notched his second 3-pointer and Broshears tossed in his second trey of the day for a 22-16 halftime lead.

Despite a 7-of-35 showing for the floor in 16 minutes, Coach Scott Wine took his club to the locker room with a six-point advantage.

The Spartans closed the first have with 11-turnovers, which offset their good showing in other categories.

The middle part of the third quarter gave the Meteors the breathing room they needed.

Leading by just five-points, they ran off four consecutive baskets for a 33-20 lead with 3:14 left in the period.

Junior guard Cade Portz, and Broshears scored along with a pair of buckets by 6-foot-3 junior Austin Gilley on fast break chances that forced a Waltonville timeout.

Broshears closed out the quarter with 3-of-4 free throws and a 37-24 lead heading to the fourth.

“Gilley came in there for us today and gave us a big lift. We had trouble today and we got into foul trouble but we try to stress to everyone that we have seven guys that can lead us in scoring,” said Coach Wine. “We have capable scorers on the floor besides Jones and Ivory-Greer.”

The Spartans got to within eight-points one time in the final frame but never threatened the Meteors.

Bowlby and Jones, together, made 6-of-8 free throws in the final minutes to seal the win and a spot in the championship side quarterfinals.

Waltonville will now face New Athens in the consolation quarterfinals.

The Spartans shot the ball better in this game than their opponents but they couldn't keep from turning it over.

They added seven more turnovers in the fourth quarter when they needed to make a run.

“We are never going to kill anyone offensively. If we are going to win we have to take our shots defensively and rebounding,” said Coach Lowery. “We get another shot at them in two weeks at their place and maybe we can have better offensive possessions then.”

Coach Lowery's team ended up 14-of-37 overall (37.8 percent) while M/C was like the Foreigner song as their performance shooting the ball was “Cold As Ice.”

The Meteors were just 19-of-58 overall (32.7 percent) which is a far cry from what they have produced in previous games.

In their 70-40 slaughter of 1A ABV ranked Steeleville, the Meteors hit 61 percent from the field and 61 percent from the 3-point line.

“The Steeleville game everything went in and today we couldn't throw it in the ocean,” said Coach Wine. “I told the kids we aren't a great offensive team every night but we can hold teams to 40 and have a chance to win against a lot of teams. What I stressed to them in there (locker room) is that some days they (the shots) go down and some days they don't, but you've got to hang your hat on the defensive end.”

Coach Shane Garner's club improved to 6-3 on the season behind 20-points from senior guard Tyler Winchester and 13-points from senior Eli Gunter.

Juniors Logan Kirk and Peyton Bates added 11-point each in the triumph.

Winchester scored 12 of his points in the decisive second quarter push as Sesser-Valier led 41-19 after two quarters of play.

Red Bud (1-11) was led in scoring by junior Jayden Birkner and junior Alex Kueker for head coach CJ Cruser's crew.

The Red Devils will now face Johnston City in the quarterfinals. S-V beat JC, 89-43 on December 11.

Red Bud will get a shot at redemption in the consolation bracket as they will face Cobden on Thursday.

Head coach Scott Bursynski saw his club trail 32-24 at halftime before getting their act together in the second half to improve to 5-7 overall.

Senior guard Chase Selby scored 28-points to top all scorers, including four 3-pointers and a very sharp 8-of-9 from the foul line.

He canned 7-of-7 from the stripe in the fourth quarter as they held off Cobden.

Houston Hall, a 5-foot-10 senior guard, added 20-points for the Tribe as they most into the title round of the bracket to face the second-seeded host Red Devils on Thursday.

Cobden (7-7) and head coach Wendell Wheeler got 18-points from 6-foot-5 sophomore Noah Franklin and 6-foot-5 junior forward Joe Brumleve added 16.

A 19-8 third quarter for JC got the game turned back around and Selby took care of the outcome from the line for the win.

Coach Todd Tripp had 11 different players produce points in their romp.

Landon Albright, a 6-foot-2 junior, notched 10-points for 6-5 Goreville.

Senior guard Logyn Frassato added nine-points for the Blackcats while junior guard Luke Brown tossed home eight.

Galatia (3-8) had just three players score points; senior Dominic Ammon scored nine-points, junior AJ Hankins scored five and senior Cole Curry added one basket for two.

Goreville led 29-9 at intermission and coasted home to the victory.

Galatia will play Z-R in the consolation quarterfinals on Thursday.

After the consolation championship run last December, the Tigers have won four-straight at the SVHT and now have a date with Goreville on Thursday.

Coach Pete Gordon got 20-points from 6-foot-7 senior Anthony Darge and 19-points from senior guard Tyson Kessler.

Six-foot-two junior guard Corbin Fitch added 11-points in the win.

Thompsonville “rushed” to a 21-12 first quarter lead and extended the advantage 37-19 at halftime.

Zeigler-Royalton (1-9) was led in scoring by sophomore Rick Chekevdia with 11-points.

Coach Matt Morgan's club will face Galatia on Thursday in the consolation bracket.

Head coach Jon Norton saw 11-of-12 Bulldogs “ink the book” as they improved to 6-5 overall for 2018-19 and they are into the quarterfinals.

Five-foot-ten junior guard Carlos Keen scored 12-points as the only double-figure scorer for the Dawgs.

Senior Jared Stefani added nine-points while four other Sparta players; senior Trae Herbert, junior Miles Parks, junior Kerry Harris and freshman Dawson Algee all scored eight-points.

Sparta led 32-20 at intermission and then poured it on by outgunning New Athens, 38-10 in the second half, including a 22-1 fourth quarter.

New Athens fell into the consolation side as their record is now 5-5.

Coach Conrad Widdersheim got seven-points from sophomore Ryan Juenger and five-points apiece from junior Joe Range and junior Dylan Boone.

Sparta will now face fourth-seed Marissa/Coulterville on Thursday afternoon while New Athens will play Waltonville again in Day Two action.

The Spartans and Jackets hooked up in the consolation championship game at the Christopher Turkey Tournament on November 24 with NA winning 58-57.

Coach Eric Stallman got 15-points from sophomore Kye Carver, 11-points from junior Gabe Motsinger in the win.

Senior Dalton Saeger added 10-points as the Bearcats improved to 6-4 on the season and they will now get a rematch with Woodlawn, a club they lost to back on December 7, 52-37.

Odin saw its record drop to 5-8 on the season with the loss.

The Eagles got 28-points from Dylan Friend in the defeat as they rallied late to nearly force overtime.

Coach Tyler Michell also got 14-points from Lucas Shaffer.

Odin trailed 33-22 at halftime but they came back to make a game of it.

The Eagles will now play Century in an elimination game Thursday morning.

Coach Brian Gamber used everyone in a uniform in the route as they were led by Blake McKay with 24-points, including four 3-pointers.

Senior forward Jake Martin added 15-points for Woodlawn as they took a 44-8 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Woodlawn also got eight-points apiece from sophomore Hunter England and senior Jackson Bennett.

Twelve different players scored for Woodlawn.

Century saw its mark slip to 2-9 for Coach Mark Zahm.

Jacob Jones, a 6-foot sophomore, led Century with 10-points.