03-09-04
MASSAC COUNTY VS. PINCKNEYVILLE
SIU CARBONDALE CLASS A SUPERSECTIONAL
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE - After a seemingly endless trail of tears, the Massac County Patriots have reached the basketball promised land.

Heading into the Carbondale Class A Supersectional Tuesday night, no southern Illinois team in the past 18-years had won more games without an 'Elite Eight' appearance than Coach Joe Hosman's quality program.

However on Tuesday night at SIU Arena this coach (and this wrongly labeled 'bride's maid' program) caught the 'big bouquet.'

The Red, White and Blue clad crusaders of the Ohio River jumped out to a big early lead and held off a comeback attempt by state-ranked Pinckneyville to advance to Friday's state finals with a 47-46 win.

Massac County will make the 300-mile trip to Peoria for a 12:15 pm game against Peoria Christian in the first quarterfinal game.

Despite committing five fourth quarter turnovers, Massac held on for the win behind a defensive stand by 6-8 senior Gerren Rogers.

Blocking three Pinckneyville shots in the final minute, the Patriots dodged a bullet in improving to 27-6 on the season.

Coach Dick Corn's Panthers had three different chances in the waning moments to take the lead.

But two Rogers blocked shots and a last second Daniel Maddox shot at the buzzer never found the mark.

"I thought it was going in," explained Corn when talking about the Maddox off-balanced attempt from the left side just before the final buzzer. "The play that we ran we put in yesterday and worked on it in practice. It worked but the shot just didn't fall for us."

When the 6-8 lefty's throw hit off of the backboard and rim, Massac had completed perhaps the program's biggest triumph.

"We have worked so hard over the years. We have had some great kids that I love very much and I just thank the Lord that we have this opportunity," added Hosman.

Although Pinckneyville was the team that came into the game with a history of success on the SIU Arena floor, it was the Patriots that looked more at home in the early going.

After spotting the Panthers an early 4-2 lead following Panther baskets by teammates' Eric Stutes and Maddox, Massac County ripped off the best run of the night to gain early control.

Six-two senior Matt Jacobs picked up where he left off last Friday night at the Eldorado Sectional when he nailed his first shot of the night on a 3-pointer from the top of the arc to give the Pats a 5-4 lead with 6:13 to go in the quarter.

Although neither team managed to score in the next 4:39, Massac took advantage of the situation.

While running a modified spread offense, Coach Hosman's club got a pair of easy lay ups off of back door cuts to the basket.

Jacobs scored on a pass from Gerren Rogers and he then hit reserve Bryan Meyer with another pass behind the Pinckneyville defense to give his team a 9-4 lead with :35 to play.

Jacobs later hit one of two free throws to end the low scoring first quarter at 10-4 Massac.

As Pinckneyville struggled to get its offense going, Massac continued to pour it on in the second stanza.

Jacobs connected again with another 3-pointer from the top of the arc.

After Maddox scored his second basket of the night to cut the Patriots lead to 13-6, Massac scored seven straight points to take its largest lead of the night.

Point guard Aaron Bowman hit his only 3-point attempt on a shot from the left wing for a 16-6 lead.

Jacobs scored late in the run on a drive to the basket, which ballooned the advantage to 20-6 and forced a Panther timeout with 5:26 left before intermission.

Pinckneyville clawed back into the game before the half, thanks in part to 6-4 senior Eric Stutes.

A 3-pointer late in the quarter along with a 10-foot baseline jumper with :03 left capped a 15-6 run to cut the lead to 26-21 at intermission.

"We were very happy to be only down five at halftime," added Corn. "We were really tense early and I thought that we would get loose but we really didn't tonight."

Pinckneyville did produce a strong defensive stand in the third quarter by holding the Patriots to just eight points. However they only managed to score 10 points of their own.

Stutes hit his second 3-pointer of the night from the left corner to cut the lead to 30-29 with 3:49 left.
However Jacobs finished out the quarter by scoring on a drive to the basket and one of two late quarter free throws to make it 34-31 heading to the final eight minutes.

"Jacobs is a good player and gave us problems on the penetration," Corn said. "Massac never lost the lead tonight and we couldn't get over the hump to get ahead."

In the final quarter Jacobs, as he has done so many times this season, put the Patriots on his back.

While running its spread offense and still looking to score, Jacobs scored three huge baskets in the final period to keep Pinckneyville at arms length.

His second shot on a drive down the right baseline gave Massac a 41-35 advantage with 5:23 to go.

"Matt Jacobs is a winner, a competitor and our leader on the court," said a very happy and relieved Coach Hosman, whose team has beaten three state-ranked teams this season and is now heading to Peoria with a shot of winning a state championship. "He goes to war every night for us and we are here now because of him."

But the Panthers were far from done, as things got really interesting in the final minutes.

Aaron Bowman followed a Maddox basket with yet another Massac County back door lay in.

But Bowman went to the floor as both of his legs cramped up. He was carried to the bench and his return was doubtful.

With its top point guard on the bench, Massac committed a pair of quick turnovers that resulted in Panther points.

After Mason Woodside scored on a spin move in the lane, Stutes stole the ball away from Kindle on the next Patriots possession.

His fast break lay in cut the Pinckneyville deficit to 43-41 forcing a Massac timeout with 3:23 remaining.

Bowman would return to the court and play a huge role in getting the Patriots their elusive trip to Peoria.

After yet another Jacobs drive to the basket resulted in points, Bowman hit a pair of big free throws with 1:02 to go to give the Patriots a 47-41 advantage.

Woodside scored again on another drive to the basket to cut the deficit to four.

Then Massac committed its first of three consecutive turnovers.

Pinckneyville responded with a drive to the basket by Beninati where Jacobs fouled him.

His two made free throws cut it to 47-45 with :43 remaining.

Pinckneyville's press forced another miscue as Maddox ended up with the ball. His pass to Josh Kellerman resulted in a shot attempt while being fouled by Bowman with :30 left.

After making the first free throw, Kellerman missed the second one. The rebound ended up going back to Pinckneyville.

The Panthers now smelled blood with possession of the ball and having a golden opportunity to win the game in the final moments.

As Pinckneyville worked the ball around, it ended up in Woodside's hands.

His shot attempt was swatted away by Rogers and the ball deflected out of bounds off of a Pinckneyville player to give Massac back the ball and certainly the game with just :04 remaining.

However the unthinkable happened to Massac County.

Bowman threw the ball inbound to Kindle only to have it stolen away by Pinckneyville, who quickly called timeout to set up the final shot by Maddox.

If the Panthers want to look at one glaring stat, they can point to the missed opportunities from its potential 'second chance' points.

They corralled 11 offensive boards but only managed two put backs, one each by Priebe and Maddox.

Pinckneyville (25-7) was just 19-of-52 from the field (36.5 percent) and just 2-of-10 from behind the 3-point arc.

"Our defense couldn't create enough offense for us tonight," finalized Corn.

Massac County was 16-of-40 (40 percent) from the field but hit on 3-of-8 from 3-point land.

Although the fouls were even at 16-each, Massac took advantage of their opportunities at the line as they hit on 12-of-19 free throws compared to 6-of-10 for Pinckneyville.

Stutes topped the Panthers with 14 points while Woodside and Maddox added 11 and 10.

Jacobs pitched home a game-high 20 points to pace the state bound Patriots.

Bowman, Kindle and Rogers all rolled seven's on this night in points.

"I hope we can go up there (Peoria) and represent southern Illinois well," added Hosman.

Pinckneyville (46) - Kellerman 0 0 1-2 1, Beninati 2 0 2-3 6, Stutes 3 2 2-2 14, Woodside 5 0 1-2 11, Maddox 5 0 0-1 10, McCrary 1 0 0-0 2, Priebe 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-17, 3FG-2, FT-6-10, PF-16.
Massac County (74) - Jacobs 8 2 2-4 20, Bowman 2 1 2-3 7, Rogers 2 0 3-4 7, Petty 1 0 0-2 2, Kindle 2 0 3-4 7, Meyer 1 0 2-2 4.
2FG-13, 3FG-3, FT-12-19, PF-16.
Fouled Out - None.
Technical Fouls - None.