01-11-05
BY JACK BULLOCK
VIENNA - On an unseasonably warm night in southern Illinois, the Meridian Bobcats were uncharacteristically cold.

'Freezing' might be a better description.

Hitting on only 19-of-71 field goal attempts, including a 0-for-12 start to the game, Meridian fell behind early and never recovered in losing to Vienna on the road, 68-44 Tuesday night in SEC play.

With Marland Johnson (knees), Jerrel Stockstill (gout) and Jerome Kizer (ankle) sidelined due to injury, Vienna pounded the ball inside and exploited the undermanned Bobcats with 6-foot-9 freshman Brett Thompson scoring 21-points for the Eagles.

The anticipated matchup between Thompson and the 6-foot-5 Johnson, two highly regarded freshmen, was not to be on this night.

While Meridian struggled early, Vienna took advantage by hitting 9-of-16 in the opening stanza to jump to a commanding lead.

"Our first quarter was really good tonight and it was important to get off to a fast start," said Vienna coach Rick Metcalf. "We struggled against their press some but if we win by 20-some points even though we committed a lot of turnovers, I will take that any day. I was really pleased with Thompson tonight; he really stepped up and played well and Garrett Davis hit some big shots early."

Thompson and the 6-foot-2 junior Davis did the bulk of the damage early.

In fact Davis shook loose from the Meridian defense scoring 13-points in the first quarter.

A Davis bucket in the opening seconds followed by a conventional 3-point play by Thompson staked the Eagles to a quick 5-0 lead with 6:09 to go.

At this point Davis scored the next eight points.

Two long 3-pointers while working against the Bobcat zone defense and two free throws pushed the lead to 13-0 forcing Coach Mandrell to want to talk it over with his troops at the 4:07 mark.

"Offensively we were out of sync because a lot of our kids aren't used to playing varsity," said Meridian coach Jeff Mandrell. "It made a difference in our system missing those kids, we used kids that are not used to playing and it showed tonight."

Meridian managed to get a couple of shots to fall late in the quarter when Rhonye Lincoln and Jeremiah Oats both scored.

But another 3-pointer by Davis and a rebound basket by Thompson closed the door on a 24-4 Meridian nightmarish first frame.

"If we had shot well in the first quarter we could have been right there," said Mandrell. "Contending with Thompson would have been a bit better if we had Johnson or Stockstill. He kind of had his way underneath."

As disastrous those first eight minutes were for Meridian, the Eagles suddenly became gift givers before intermission.

Vienna didn't handle the Bobcat press at all in the second quarter, which produced a comeback to make things reasonable at halftime.

Coach Rick Metcalf's club seemed to let up on its intensity and Meridian took advantage.

Forcing Vienna into eight second quarter turnovers, the Bobcats made a run.

Trailing 33-11 with 4:18 to go before intermission, Meridian picked up some easy baskets courtesy of the Vienna lapse.

A 12-3 scoring burst, highlighted by a steal and a fast break dunk by Lincoln, closed the half at 36-23.

"Had we had a little more depth tonight it would have been nice," said Coach Mandrell, who without those three starters had to play a lot of kids that normally wouldn't have been needed. "They (Vienna) did what we expected but we just couldn't convert our shots, we had opportunities but didn't make it happen."

The Eagles, despite not handling the ball well on this night, increased their lead in the third quarter thanks in part to more 'underneath the basket' play from Thompson.

He scored eight more points in the quarter, all from in close.

He was the benefactor of two real nice assists from both Huckelberry and freshman Derek Trovillion.

Isaiah Cornelius, who had missed the previous nine games with muscle spasms, made a difference by being back in the lineup for Coach Metcalf in the backcourt.

By the time Thompson finished off the run with a drive to the basket, Vienna led 53-31 with 1:50 to go in the third quarter.

Lincoln, perhaps the best athlete on the court on this night, got himself another fast break dunk after yet another Vienna turnover before the quarter ended.

But Jamie Kerley came off of the Vienna bench and hit his only points of the night on a 3-pointer just before the buzzer to send both teams to the fourth quarter at 56-35.

The Bobcats got within 17-points twice in the final quarter, but the Eagles put the game to rest by hitting 9-of-12 free throws in the final minutes.

"I was worried about fouls tonight and they outscored us from the line," added Mandrell. "With our shooting problems, it made for a long night."

Thompson led all scorers with 21 while Davis finished with 16-points after that outstanding opening quarter.

Kyle Willis pitched in nine points while Huckelberry ended up with seven as ten Eagle players scored.

Lincoln (14) and Everette Roberson (12) were the only two Meridian players in double-figures as its record slip to 8-7 overall and 2-2 in the SEC.

"We are hoping to get Stockstill and Johnson back before the conference tournament but Kizer will probably be out longer," added Mandrell, whose team will play at Century this Friday and then hook up with the Centurions in the opening round of the SEC Tournament at Goreville the following Tuesday.

Vienna (10-6, 4-0 in the SEC) connected on 23-of-45 (51 percent) of its field goal attempts and they out-rebounded the smaller Bobcats 38-25.

The actual number for the turnovers for Vienna was 21 for the game, but in the end it didn't influence the outcome.

"We knew coming into the game that we would have a size advantage and we did a good job of getting the ball to Thompson," added Metcalf. "We did a good job of boxing out tonight and we kept them from getting back into the game."

Vienna plays host to conference foe Dongola Friday night.

Meridian (44) - S. Johnson 3 0 0-0 6, Lincoln 6 0 2-5 14, Roberson 5 0 2-2 12, Oats 1 1 0-0 5, Waddy 0 0 1-2 1, Lewis 3 0 0-0 6.
2FG-18, 3FG-1, FT-5-9, PF-19.
Vienna (68) - Huckleberry 3 0 1-3 7, Davis 1 3 5-6 16, Willis 1 1 4-4 9, Thompson 10 0 1-1 21, Kerley 0 1 0-0 3, Trovillion 1 1 0-0 5, Cornelius 0 0 2-2 2, Crider 0 0 2-2 2, Elms 1 0 0-0 2, Flora 0 0 1-2 1.
2FG-17, 3FG-6, FT-16-20, PF-14.
Fouled Out - Lewis, Meridian.
Technical Fouls - None.