01-14-15
BY JACK BULLOCK
CHESTER - After falling in the opening game of the Chester Invitational Tournament on Monday night, the New Athens Yellow Jackets got back to the basics on Wednesday in their consolation bracket contest against Cobden.

Coach Marc Derwort got his club to key on their defensive effort and on getting on the glass.

Behind 21-points and 12-rebounds from senior forward Ryan Ruess and a 30-17 rebounding advantage in which they kept the Appleknockers from knocking down many shots, New Athens advanced the consolation title game to be held on Saturday with a 49-40 triumph.

Improving to 8-10 overall the Yellow Jackets jumped out to an early lead and never relinquished it to Cobden, a team that had downed 64-40 at the Sesser-Valier Holiday Tournament back in December.

New Athens also got 10-points from seniors Luke Mueller and Jimmy Kiefer in the win in a game where they held Cobden to just 14-of-41 from the field.

“That (rebounding) is something that we have really stressed. During our losing streak we had given up more offensive rebounds than we got and that was one of the key stats that we looked at,” said Coach Derwort. “That was one thing that we really tried to concentrate on this week in practice. Getting to the offensive boards and getting extra looks.”

Cobden got 20-points from senior forward Parker Flamm in the loss as head coach Rhett Barke saw his club commit just eight turnovers but couldn't take advantage of NA's 15-miscues in the game.

His teammate junior Logan Spalt added 11-points for the Appleknockers, will play the loser of the Shawnee-Marissa-Coulterville contest in the seventh place game on Saturday afternoon.

The Yellow Jackets survived some early foul issues and will play the Shawnee-M-C victor for the consy title on Saturday.

Jumping out to an early lead was important for Coach Derwort and his club and Ruess got things started with a steal and fast break lay in.

A 3-pointer by Mueller also highlighted an early part of the quarter which saw NA attack the Cobden zone defense.

Flamm, a 6-foot-4 senior forward, got loose early for the Appleknockers hitting a pair of first quarter shots.

However Kiefer scored on a shot in the paint on a pass from Ruess and then Ruess beat the first quarter horn with a 3-pointer from the top of the arc for a 15-7 first quarter spread.

Despite four early turnovers the Jackets were in charge by hitting 5-of-9 shots in the first eight minutes for a nine point lead.

“Ryan (Ruess) has turned into a nice player and the difference this year with him is that he has become more than just a shooter. He has become more offensive minded and taking the ball to the rim and being more active on the boards,” said Coach Derwort. “It was a nice win for us and it was good to get back to the right side of the win column.”

Cobden tried to stay close with New Athens by going outside for offense when Flamm wasn't doing damage inside.

A 3-pointer by Spalt and another drive to the basket by Flamm to get the Appleknockers close.

However Ruess nailed another long range bomb which was followed a trey by reserve Dylan Toedte which pushed the advantage to 23-14.

Cobden had chances to cut into the margin but hit only 3-of-6 free throws on three separate two-shot trips, making it 23-17 at intermission.

In spite of playing a pretty solid second quarter and getting New Athens in foul trouble, the Appleknockers trailed at the break.

Ruess went to the bench after picking up his third personal foul at the 2:52 mark but Cobden never benefited from the move.

New Athens finally got the scoring burst they wanted in the third quarter to get themselves some breathing room.

Coach Derwort's squad went inside to Kiefer and the senior forward scored three times as part of a 12-2 run.

Also in the sprint was a shot from the left wing by Mueller and another steal and fast break by Ruess.

When Kiefer closed the run with a bucket with 3:48 left, New Athens had a 35-21 lead.

Defensively inside, New Athens did a pretty good job keeping the Appleknockers from any extended runs.

“Jimmy (Kiefer) is one of our best defenders and I thought he did a good job on Flamm,” said Coach Derwort. “He (Flamm) is a nice player and hard to stop but he did a good job on him despite the foul problems we had early. He is left-handed and makes some nice moves around the basket.”

Cobden got a couple of 3-point shots to close the frame by Splat and 6-foot junior Austin Lewey.

But Ruess also added a score on a rebound tip-in as New Athens headed to the fourth up 37-27.

The Yellow Jackets were content to spread the floor in the fourth quarter and make cuts to the basket as Cobden was forced to play more man-to-man defense than Coach Barke wanted to.

“Once we got behind they did the smartest move and pulled the ball out and stopped looking for offense because they knew that they were up,” said Coach Barke. “That made us come out and play them and we aren't accustomed to playing. We did turn up the pressure and we got some looks but our biggest thing was we missed a lot of shots. You shoot like that (34 percent) from the field and you're not going to win many games.”

Kiefer and Ruess combined to score eight of the first ten points of the fourth quarter for NA.

Each took turns scoring off of assists from one another with all of the points scored in the lane.

When Ruess grabbed a lob pass from Kiefer for a lay in with 2:31 remaining, New Athens was on top 43-32.

Cobden extended its defense and created six fourth quarter turnovers that led to some points.

A score near the basket by Flamm and a 3-pointer from the top by Spalt closed the gap to 45-38 with 1:36 left.

But that was the end of the run for Cobden as they missed four shots in the final minute and a half.

After Spalt scored on a rebound, Cobden on one possession missed three consecutive shots.

Even with those chances, the Appleknockers couldn't find the range.

“We had a game-plan and we stuck to it but we just didn't hit enough shots,” said Coach Barke. “We got the looks we wanted but we didn't get the shots to fall. I'm proud of the effort tonight.”

A final rebound by Ruess allowed the Yellow Jackets to run out the clock to secure the victory.

New Athens went 18-of-34 from the floor overall for 52.9 percent.

Including in this percentage was a very good 5-of-9 from beyond the arc.

Coach Derwort's club held Cobden to 4-of-13 from downtown in the victory.

“We knew that they were a better team and that they would give us a better game than they did at Sesser-Valier and we ran into a little bit of foul trouble early and we had to make some adjustments,” said Coach Derwort. “Overall I thought the kids did a decent job fighting through the adversity.”

JACKSON (MO.) SAXONY LUTHERAN 68, STE. GENEVIEVE (MO.) VALLE CATHOLIC 65

In the other game at the 53rd annual CIT the Crusaders advanced to play the winner of the Chester-Perryville (MO.) semifinal on Saturday night in the championship game.

Saxony was topped by Corie Williams with a game-best 30-points while teammates Graesen Meystedt added 11-points. Ryan Palmer tossed home 10 in the triumph.
Daniel Berghtoldt scored 26-points to lead Valle Catholic.

Conner Basler ended up with 16-points while Andrew Basler contributed 15.

Valle Catholic will play the Chester-Perryville loser on Saturday evening for third place.

New Athens (49) – Mueller 1 2 2-3 10, Zapfe 0 0 0-0 0, Hespen 0 0 0-0 0, Toedke 0 1 0-0 3, Reuss 5 2 5-7 21, Kiefer 5 0 0-2 10, Ragland 2 0 1-3 5.
2FG-13, 3FG-5, FT-8-15, PF-11.
Cobden (40) - Inman 0 0 0-0 0, Moore 1 0 0-0 2, Spalt 1 3 0-0 11, Russell 1 0 0-0 2, Cohen 0 0 0-0 0, Flamm 7 0 6-12 20, Lewey 0 1 2-5 5.
2FG-10, 3FG-4, FT-8-17, PF-17.
Fouled Out – Flamm - Cobden.
Technical Fouls – None.