Pinckneyville moves into regional title game
Panthers shut down Red Bud, 59-47 at home Tuesday night; meet Du Quoin Friday

02-24-09
BY JACK BULLOCK
PINCKNEYVILLE - On Tuesday night at the Pinckneyville Class 2A Regional the host Panthers used a tried and true Columbia Blue and White formula to win its semifinal game against Red Bud.

They rebounded and they defended.

Holding the Musketeers to 38 percent shooting and out rebounding its foe 27-18 – Pinckneyville moved on to the regional final with a convincing 59-47 win at Duster Thomas Gym.

Making Red Bud earn every point – Coach Bob Waggoner’s club improved to 22-6 on the season and will hook up with Perry County rival Du Quoin on Friday.

Dustin Winter – the Panthers’ 6-foot senior guard – had a great game on both ends of the floor.

He knocked down four important 3-pointers and led all scorers with 18-points.

But his defensive effort in blanketing Red Bud guard Adam Kunkel would earn him a game ball if one were distributed.

Winter shadowed Kunkel and held the 5-foot-9 sophomore to just 10-points – five of which came in the final minutes when the outcome was settled.

After starting the game in a good fashion – the Musketeers struggled against the Panthers’ man-to-man.

Opening the game by hitting 6-of-12 shots in the first quarter – Red Bud hit just 9-of-27 the final 24-minutes.

Stefan Gregson led Red Bud with 13-points while Tim Conway added 11-points. Conway scored just four baskets (one in each quarter) as Pinckneyville held Red Bud to nearly 20-points below their scoring average as a team.

“I thought that their defense was really good tonight and we didn’t get a lot of open looks,” said Red Bud head coach Dave Gilllingham – whose team ended its season 20-10. “They took away drives and guarded the arc both. It was a struggle for us to score.”

The Panthers placed four players in double-figures led by Winter.

Cody Sims added 12-points while Nathan Morton and Drew Dudek added 10-points each.

“Dustin Winter hit some big shots and did a great job on Kunkel tonight defensively,” said Pinckneyville head coach Bob Waggoner. “He (Kunkel) is a very good player and Dustin contested everything and made it difficult for him. That was a big difference in the ballgame.”

Pinckneyville hit 16-of-39 shots from the floor but were a very good 7-of-13 from behind the arc. Making Red Bud come out to guard them on the perimeter – Pinckneyville dumped the ball inside in the second half and took up residency at the foul line.

For the game Pinckneyville hit 20-of-25 free throws – including 14-of-18 in the fourth quarter.

“In the first half they hit some big 3’s and we wondered if they could hit those shots with consistency and they hit five 3’s in the first half,” added Coach Gillingham. “In the second half we had to come out and guard them and they did a pretty good job of dumping it inside.”

Red Bud looked the part of the higher seeded team in the opening minutes – jumping out to an early advantage.

Gregson hit a pair of 3-pointers and a nice drive to the basket.

Then Kory Liefer took a pass from Conaway after a Panther turnover that produced a fast break score that beat the horn for a 15-11 lead.

But following the first quarter – the Musketeers had difficulty getting good looks at the basket.

Gregson didn’t score again until the final frame as the Pinckneyville defense found its groove and its offense broke down the Musketeers’ match up zone.

“We knew by seeing enough tape of them that they (Red Bud) weren’t going to come out of their zone and we knew that if we were patient enough that we could get in the gaps,” added Coach Waggoner. “We felt like that when they came out to trap us that we could get some lay ups out of it.”

Winter canned a pair of 3-pointers to get the Panthers rolling in the early stages of the second period.

His second bomb from the left corner gave Pinckneyville the lead at 17-15.

Derek Kellerman scored just six points for the Panthers but his two trifectas in the second quarter were big shots.

Finding openings in the Red Bud zone – Kellerman hit both of his shots from the left side of the court in front of the Musketeers bench.

Throw in a steal and fast break lay in by Sims and 4-of-4 shooting from the foul line by Sims and Drew Dudek and the Panthers had themselves a 29-21 lead at intermission.

Pinckneyville hit 5-of-6 shots from the floor in the second quarter.

“There were some key possessions here and there that they made some big shots and we missed some opportunities,” added Coach Gillingham. “But that is the difference between two good teams sometimes. They (Pinckneyville) made great plays and their defense didn’t allow us good looks at the basket.”

Red Bud chipped away at the Panthers advantage in the third quarter.

Kunkel finally got open for a good look at the top of the arc coming off of a screen to bury a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 32-28.

However Pinckneyville scored the final six points of the stanza.

Morton drove the baseline for a bucket while being fouled by Chance Albertson, which turned into a three-point play.

Then – following a Red Bud empty offensive trip – Pinckneyville worked the clock for a final shot.

Dudek took a skip pass that was high above his head. He settled himself and calmly connected from 20-feet in the left corner to beat the buzzer.

His trey gave his club a 38-28 lead heading home.

“We thought that if we could contest them for 32-minutes and stay after them and really make them work that they would wear down,” Coach Waggoner added. “They are a young ballclub and guard oriented and we made them shoot over us. We limited them to ‘one-and-done’ for most of the night.”

Following a Conway bucket to begin the fourth quarter – the Panthers took off on another run with Winter hitting his fourth 3-pointer of the game.

Add a Sims bucket from the left elbow and Pinckneyville was headed to the regional championship game.

Red Bud couldn’t hit enough shots in the fourth quarter to get the lead under 10-points as its season came to a conclusion.

Pinckneyville not only held a rebounding edge but they allowed Red Bud just seven offensive rebounds in the victory which sets up a third game with rival Du Quoin on Friday night.

‘I think that if you are any high school basketball fan, a coach or player, that this is what you want,” said Waggoner about the DQ/Pinckneyville title tilt. “It is going to come down to one game here Friday night and that is how it should be.”

 
1
2
3
4
-
F
Pinckneyville
11
18
09
21
-
59
Red Bud
15
06
07
19
-
47

Pinckneyville (59) – Dudek 1 1 5-6 10, Chandler 0 0 0-0 0, Winter 1 4 4-6 18, Bathon 0 0 0-0 0, D. Kellerman 0 2 0-0 6, Farthing 0 0 0-0 0, Pyatt 0 0 0-0 0, Lively 0 0 0-0 0, Sims 3 0 6-6 12, Shopinski 0 0 0-0 0, Morton 4 0 2-3 10, S. Kellerman 0 0 3-4 3, Lamb 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-9, 3FG-7, FT-20-25, PF-16.
Red Bud (47) – Kunkel 1 2 2-4 10, Buch 0 0 0-0 0, Gregson 1 3 2-2 13, Schrader 0 0 0-2 0, Hoffman 0 1 3-3 6, Kollin Liefer 0 0 0-0 0, Kory Liefer 2 0 0-0 4, Ringering 0 0 0-0 0, Conway 4 0 3-6 11, Albertson 1 0 1-2 3, Mgruder 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-9, 3FG-6, FT-11-19, PF-22.

Fouled Out – D. Kellerman - Pinckneyville.
Technical Fouls – None.