Warriors pick up key road win
Jered Cain nets 36-points, Patoka wins 63-48; Cougars cough up 24-turnovers

12-08-14
BY JACK BULLOCK
FARINA
- There were two very important numbers that came out of the Patoka Warriors dominant win Monday night over South Central.

The first one was “36.”

It was the number of points scored by sophomore guard Jered Cain for Coach Joe Eddy's club.

The second was “24.”

This was the total of turnovers committed by the host Cougars.

This combination turned out to be an equation of success for one club, defeat for the other.

The Warriors jumped out to an early lead, used a big third quarter run to sustain the advantage and survived a few turnovers in the fourth quarter to pick up a well deserved 63-48 road victory at Farina.

The 6-foot-2 second year starter for Patoka, scored from all over the court, including drives to the basket as the Warriors ran a “spread offense” to take advantage of their quickness.

Six-foot junior Dylan Back scored 11-points for the Warriors, including a trio of 3-pointers in a key run during the third quarter.

“We want to spread the floor; we want to play fast and use our athleticism,” said Coach Eddy. “We're not a big team (physically big) we are long but not big. We try and get into the passing lanes. When we get it we want to get out and go. Especially against teams that are are half-court oriented.”

For South Central, the Cougars never got much going until the fourth quarter.

But by then the excavation project of digging themselves a hole was too much to overcome.

Coach Rick Simmons' club, now 2-2 on the season, committed eight of their miscues in the opening eight minutes and fell behind.

“That was an unbelievable amount of turnovers, I mean you are just asking for trouble when you continue to make those type of mistakes,” said Coach Simmons. “They were silly turnovers. It wasn't like they (turnovers) were forced upon us, we just did it to ourselves.”

Evan Langley, a 6-foot-2 senior forward, topped the Cougars with 16-points.

Six-foot-one junior Brett Harmeier was another bright spot, netting 15-points to lead South Central.

Teammate Dre Hill, a 6-foot-2 junior, added 13-markers for the hosts, who fell behind by 20-points in the third quarter before making a late rally.

Normally putting three players in double-figures in scoring would help lead a club to a victory.

But defensively the Cougars had no answers for JC.

It didn't take Cain long to begin his onslaught on the Cougars.

He notched seven of his points in the opening quarter.

Cain netted three straight baskets, which included a conventional three-point play, to open the Patoka scoring.

He then fed teammate Garrett Belcher an assist on a fast break.

A basket by Shane Cain at 3:50 left in the quarter made it 11-4 Patoka.

Nearly all of the Warriors' offensive numbers came as a result of South Central mistakes.

Coach Simmons' club struggled offensively early and trailed 15-8 at the first horn.

A 10-3 burst to open the second quarter gave Patoka its first double-digit advantage.

Jered Cain scored five of the points, first on his only 3-pointer of the night from the right wing, and then on another score in transition off an assist from Belcher.

By the time Shane Cain scored on yet another fast break (while being fouled by South Central's Gavin Ratermann) Patoka was in charge at 25-11 with 4:34 left before halftime.

Langley scored seven of his points in the second quarter, mostly on getting to the basket.

He also added a mid-range shot to his repertoire, connecting from near the foul line to cut the Patoka lead to 29-20.

But the Warriors, while holding for a final shot in the half, ran nearly :40 off the clock and then Jered Cain took the ball the basket on a drive down the baseline.

He missed his first attempt, but corralled the rebound and his bank shot from the left side of the goal beat the buzzer for a 31-20 lead at intermission.

South Central added six more turnovers in that frame as they trailed at home at the break.

The offensive strategy in the third quarter was simple for Patoka.

Spread the floor, run an up-front three-man weave that would make the Harlem Globetrotters proud, and nail open shots when they became available.

Cain added 11-points to his total in the quarter and Dylan Back nailed three consecutive “back-breaking” 3-pointers during a 10-0 scoring spree.

When Back finished his trifecta of trey's on a bomb from the left wing at the 2:41 mark, the Warriors were up 47-27.

After two more baskets by JC, Patoka headed into the final quarter up 51-31.

To South Central's credit, they had a run left in them as Coach Simmons' squad didn't give up hope.

The Cougars took advantage of Patoka missing five free throws in the final eight minutes and committing five of their nine turnovers in the fourth quarter.

Hill (1) and Harmeier (2) combined for three 3-pointers in the final eight minutes.

A rebound basket by Langley and a Harmeier drive to the goal produced some anxiety on the Warriors bench.

The Harmeier bucket cut the Cougars' deficit to just 60-48 with 1:40 remaining.

But a costly turnover by South Central on its next possession and three more points from Jered Cain (1-of-2 free throws and a transition score off another turnover) sealed the win for the Warriors.

South Central added six more turnovers in that pivotal fourth quarter as they suffered the defeat on their home floor.

Coach Simmons club finished 17-of-39 from the field (43.5 percent) including 4-of-11 from beyond the arc.

“We had no rhythm on offense and we just didn't keep the ball moving facing their zone,” added Coach Simmons. “We just were hesitant to do anything. It (the game) wasn't very pretty.”

Normally when a team wins the rebounding war (33-20) they can somehow muster up a win but South Central's mistakes on the offensive end doomed the hosts.

Patoka came out of the game on Monday night with a victory due in part to hitting exactly half of their field goal attempts.

The Warriors finished 25-of-50 overall, with the best percentage coming from inside the 3-point line (20-of-38 for 52.6 percent).

They only managed seven offensive rebounds, but that wasn't too bad considering half of the shots they threw up to the basket went in.

But the story of the night was Jered Cain, who hit just the one 3-pointer while doing most of his damage driving to the basket. He also converted 5-of-7 free throws when he got to the line.

Patoka heads back into action Tuesday night at Mulberry Grove in an Egyptian Illini fray while the Cougars will host Altamont on Friday night.

“I told the kids, every time we would make a move and do something good then we would give up a run,” said Coach Simmons. “I kept saying it to the kids, you have to do it on the defensive end. You have to find a way to stop them. Jered Cain is a load. You have to give credit to him. But there is no way we should give up that much penetration.”

1
2
3
4
-
F
Patoka
15
16
20
12
-
63
South Central
08
12
11
17
-
48

Patoka (63)
– S. Cain 3 0 1-5 7, Organ 0 0 2-4 2, Belcher 2 1 0-0 7, J. Cain 14 1 5-7 36, T. Back 0 0 0-0 0, D. Back 1 3 0-0 11, Gramlick 0 0 0-0 0, Cobb 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-20, 3FG-5, FT-8-16, PF-16.
South Central
(48) – Harmeier 1 3 4-6 15, Ratermann 0 0 0-0 0, Hill 4 1 2-2 13, Wilkins 0 0 0-0 0, Markley 0 0 0-0 0, Langley 6 0 4-6 16, Riley 1 0 0-0 2, Arnold 0 0 0-0 0, Powless 1 0 0-0 2..
2FG-13, 3FG-4, FT-10-14, PF-15.

Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.