12-30-05
BY JACK BULLOCK
SESSER - For the Waltonville Spartans, the name of the game is defense. Coach Mike Denault instilled this philosophy into this program when he arrived at WHS three years ago.

On Friday night in the title game of the 25th Annual Sesser-Valier Holiday Tournament, the Spartans showed that they could shut opponents down when they have to.

The Vienna Eagles can attest to that statement.

In the final minute, with the Eagles desperate for points, 6-foot-7 junior forward Josh Ralls put an exclamation point on his teams' 61-53 title game triumph.

Ralls blocked three Vienna shots and his teammates Anthony Lowery and Jon Kash combined to hit 5-of-6 free throws in that same time frame to cap of a four-game SVHT championship run.

Ralls and Co. slammed the door shut on the victory and ended Vienna's 13-game winning streak by holding down coach Rick Metcalf's top two offensive threats Garrett Davis and Brett Thompson.

Davis scored 16-points, but he had just four points in the first half while Waltonville was building an early double-digit advantage.

The 6-foot-11 Thompson managed just seven points on the night.

Vienna shot just 16-of-42 from the field for the game (38 percent) in dropping their first game of the season after 13-consecutive wins.

With the win, the Spartans stand at 13-0 for the year and deserving of a high statewide ranking.

"There was a lot on the line tonight for us with us getting respect in a tournament that we had never won so we really focused on our defense," said Waltonville's Adam Kitowski, a 5-foot-11 senior who led his team with 19-points. "We wanted this win really bad."

One of the few problems that the Spartans had on the night was free throw shooting.

Waltonville hit just 15-of-26 on the night. But the Spartans made the important ones when Vienna made a final run.

When the game was on the line, coach Denault's club finished the job.

"We are a small school and we are probably never going to get the respect that maybe we deserve but we finished strong last year and people started to notice us," said Denault.
"People are starting to talk about us and that is fine with me. I am happy with going to practice everyday and watching us get better."

In winning the championship, Waltonville beat Goreville and Vienna who were a combined 22-0.

In front of an estimated crowd of nearly 1,000, Waltonville grabbed an early lead.

Vienna held just one advantage, with Thompson scoring in the first minute on a shot in close to the basket.

After that, Waltonville scored the games next seven points.
With Kitowski hitting a 3-pointer from the left corner and Kash and Ralls hitting shots, the Spartans led 7-2 with 5:49 to play in the quarter.

Vienna managed to get even with a conventional three-point play early on by Brock Ackmann.

Unfortunately for the Eagles and their faithful on this night, Waltonville took command for good the remainder of the frame.

Lowery, known around his team as a defensive stopper, showed that he could also score.

He polished off the first quarter with a pair of buckets.

He took the ball right at Thompson on back-to-back offensive trips. His fade away shot in the lane finished off the first quarter at 19-12 Waltonville.

"The number one thing that I talked about was taking care of their guards penetration and we didn't do it tonight," said Vienna head coach Rick Metcalf. "They beat us pretty good tonight and I congratulate them for their win."

Jordan Kabat, another defender extraordinaire for the Spartans, canned a wide-open 3-pointer early in the game.

Hitting 7-of-14 shots in the quarter, Waltonville made Vienna play from behind.

Coach Metcalf's club stayed within striking range in the second quarter thanks to the Spartans getting into foul trouble.

A 10-of-10 performance from the line represented almost all of the offense in the second quarter for the Eagles.
Kyle Willis scored Vienna's lone basket in the frame, a baseline shot with 6:43 to go making the score 21-16 Waltonville.

Two free throws by the Eagles Derek Trovillion cut the Spartans advantage down to 25-22.

But at this point, Waltonville put their machine into a higher gear.

A 12-2 run, highlighted by three Kitowski assists to Brandon Spotanski and Kabat (2) finished off the first half at 37-24 Waltonville.

"We couldn’t get the ball inside to the big guy enough," said Vienna coach Rick Metcalf. "They pressured our guards pretty well. We never got anything sustained for the whole game."

Vienna needed to make some offensive adjustments at the half and they came out with a strong third quarter to get back into the contest.

Davis, who had been held in check for the first 16 minutes, found his game in the second half.

This highly touted 6-foot-2 senior scored 10-points in the stanza.

He hit a pair of 3-pointers; his second one with 1:24 to got cut the Vienna deficit to just 49-43.

Thompson also chipped in as his turnaround shot in the lane on a spin move against Spotanski made it 49-45 heading to the final quarter.
But as has been the case throughout the 2005-06 season, Waltonville took the other teams' best shot and delivered the goods at the end.

"Our big kids did an excellent job on Thompson," added Denault. "We knew he was going to score some but we contained him pretty well."

After a Vienna turnover on a possession on which the Eagles could have cut the lead down to two points,
Kitowski stuck home a 3-pointer from the right wing right in front of the Waltonville bench to make it 55-47.

Vienna had one last run, a six-point burst with Davis scoring his final points on a lay in at 2:27 to go.

It also turned out to be the final Vienna points as well.

Waltonville stopped the Eagles on their next five possessions and Kash and Lowery finished off the championship run from the foul line.

Ralls rejected three Vienna attempts in the last :36 to seal the win.

"We fouled too much early and gave them too many opportunities to score from the foul line," added Denault. "But we shot the ball well in the first half and built a lead. I knew that they (Vienna) would make a run at us but we had enough to hold on."

Waltonville shot the ball extremely well.

Hitting 21-of-44 from the field, the Spartans made good from long range by going 4-of-7 from behind the arc.

They scorched the Eagles in the first half, going 14-of-26 overall.

With an overall size advantage with Spotanski, Ralls and Kash in the paint, Waltonville held a 28-19 rebounding edge.

Despite the free throw shooting adventures, the Spartans are on the school's best roll in nearly a decade.

"Our kids take a lot of pride in defense and our program is built on that foundation," added Denault. "We know that if we defend well, we have a chance to win. We know that when we play tough teams in the postseason that we are going to have to get stops and tonight we got stops against a good team."

	1	2	3	4		Final
Waltonville	19	18	12	12	-	61
Vienna	12	12	21	8	-	53

Waltonville (61) - Owens 0 0 0-0 0, Ralls 3 0 1-2 7, Tepovich 2 0 0-1 4, Lowery 3 0 6-8 12, Kitowski 2 3 6-12 19, J. Kash 4 0 2-2 10, Kabat 2 1 0-0 7, Spotanski 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-17, 3FG-4, FT-15-26, PF-16.
Vienna (53) - Davis 3 2 4-4 16, Willis 4 0 2-2 10, Thompson 2 0 3-4 7, Ackmann 2 0 2-3 6, Watts 2 0 0-0 4, Cornelius 0 0 4-4 4, Trovillion 1 0 4-4 6,
2FG-14, 3FG-2, FT-19-21, PF-20.
Fouled Out - None.
Technical Fouls - None.