WEST FRANKFORT 2A SECTIONAL
Bulldogs roll past Chester
Harrisburg stays the course in easy win; Nashville awaits Friday
02-27-13
BY JACK BULLOCK
WEST FRANKFORT - When talking about the Harrisburg Bulldogs boy's basketball team, ABV is running out of adjectives to describe how good they really are.

Outstanding, extraordinary, fantastic, phenomenal, etc.

The picture is crystal clear, however.

They are really good and no one in this postseason has come within a millennium of them on the scoreboard.

The latest victim was the Chester Yellow Jackets on Wednesday night at the 2A West Frankfort Sectional.

Coach Randy Smithpeters' team was so dominant that the game was over in a the first few minutes, jumping out to a 21-4 advantage so fast that fans had barely gotten settled in before the outcome was settled.

And this was a Yellow Jackets club that had just won the schools' first regional boy's basketball title since 1975 and were 21-8 coming into the semifinal.

They weren't a bad team by any stretch, they just weren't on the same planet with the top-ranked Bulldogs.

As for the contest, it was over shortly after the National Anthem was played.

Harrisburg opened the contest with top scorer Tyler Smithpeters nailing a 3-point shot just seconds into the game and, despite giving up a couple of fast break scores, led by 17-points with just five minutes gone in the opening quarter.

“It is always important for us to get off to a good start. I thought our press stepped the intensity up but I also thought that our half-court defense created the situations where Chester missed a lot of shots and those missed shots provided us the opportunity to put some points up,” said Coach Smithpeters. “There 1-3-1 zone is something that we don't see so we worked on that this week. And I was happy with the way that the guys executed what we wanted to do there.”

Smithpeters, a 6-foot-4 senior guard, was on fire offensively in the first quarter as he scored 17 of his game-high 25-points in the opening stanza.

Smithpeters nailed three 3-point shots in the run and he also added a steal and a fast break one-handed slam dunk for a 25-6 lead with just 1:52 remaining.

He also closed the frame with his third trifecta as Chester looked up at the scoreboard and found themselves down 30-9 after eight minutes had been played.

“We knew it was all about weathering that storm early. We tried our best and we used our timeouts and our kids busted their tails but you just have to tip your hat,” said Chester head coach Norman. “They (Harrisburg) are damn good.”

Capel Henshaw, a 6-foot-3 senior guard, netted 21-points for Harrisburg.

Henshaw added two additional 3-pointers for the Bulldogs, who hit seven of those shots from behind the arc in the game.

Senior center Dakota Upchurch added 12-points for Harrisburg, who improved to a stellar 29-1 (a new record for most wins in a season) as they are now two wins away from their ultimate goal of reaching Peoria for the state finals.

Coach Smithpeters saw his club force Chester into 16-turnovers and a 19-of-56 shooting night.

Harrisburg finalized the rout at the end of the first half on yet another offensive burst, closing frame on a 10-2 run for a 48-23 halftime lead.

“I thought that we, as a team, came out with a lot of intensity and it is something that you want to do at sectional time,” added Coach Smithpeters. “That contributes to (success) at both ends (of the floor). We had a good game at both ends of the floor. We really take a lot of pride in our defense. I was happy with this performance.”

Henshaw scored twice in the sprint, on a pair of fast break scores as the Bulldogs had taken away the drama and the hope of Chester by intermission.

The second half was more of the same for Harrisburg, with even their reserves getting in on the act.

Harrisburg took its largest lead of the game on a rebound basket by Jarren Goldman with 4:22 left in the fourth quarter as the Bulldogs were up 70-40.

Following Smithpeters, Henshaw and Upchurch on the scoring parade was Eli Taborn-Scott and Goldman with four points each while Ryne Roper and Logan Hartley added three.

Nine different Bulldogs scored in this blizzard of baskets as Harrisburg will now face Nashville on Friday night at West Frankfort with the winner reaching the “Elite Eight.”

“We have a lot of respect for Nashville,” said Coach Smithpeters. “It is a program that has beaten a lot of teams over the years and beat us in the super a few years ago (1997 and 1998) and they are a very disciplined group and I have the utmost respect for Brad (Weathers) as a coach and I know they will be very prepared so we will have to come with our shoes tied on.”

Harrisburg finished 21-of-42 on its field goals inside of the arc and 28-of-62 overall.

Chester was led by 12-points from junior guard Jake Lochhead and 10-points from senior Caleb Arbeiter.

Kyle Landon, a 6-foot-6 senior forward, added nine points for the Yellow Jackets, whose season ended after the team became the first to reach 20-wins in boy's basketball in its history.

Chester held a slight rebounding edge at 38-37 but that was small consolation in their 21-point loss.

“I just want to make sure that the fact that I'm giving credit to my players because coaches don't do that enough. I appreciate this senior group I've had because they have worked hard for me. Hopefully our fans will realize that these kids did a great job this year,” added Coach Norman. “And it wasn't just the fact that they were great ballplayers but they were good students and I didn't have a problem with any of them all year. I couldn't have a coached a better group of kids.”

1
2
3
4
-
F
Benton
09
07
09
21
-
46
Sesser-Valier
30
23
10
14
-
77

Harrisburg (75)
– Hartley 1 0 1-2 3, Bartok 0 0 1-2 1, Smithpeters 3 4 7-8 26, Younger 1 0 0-2 2, Henshaw 7 2 1-3 21, Roper 0 1 0-0 3, Goldman 2 0 0-0 4, Houston 0 0 0-0 0, Bjornsson 0 0 0-0 0, Taborn-Scott 2 0 0-1 4, Oglesby 0 0 0-0 0, Simerly 0 0 0-0 0, Batts 0 0 0-0 0, Upchurch 5 0 2-6 12.
2FG-21, 3FG-7, FT-12-24, PF-14.

Chester (77) – Cushman 2 0 2-2 6, Lochhead 1 2 4-8 12, Landon 3 1 0-0 9, Arbeiter 3 0 4-6 10, Schwartz 3 0 3-4 9, Miles 2 0 0-0 4, Weir 1 0 0 0-0 2, Koeneman 1 0 0-0 2, Alms 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-16, 3FG-3, FT-13-20, PF-17.

Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.