Christopher Falls in Turkey Tourney Championship to Wayne City

Christopher Falls in Turkey Tourney Championship to Wayne City

Steve Dunford, Franklin County Hoops and Gridiron

CHRISTOPHER-  I talk to a lot of basketball fans across Southern Illinois .  When it came to the Christopher Turkey Tournament, most of us had penciled in a potential championship game against the Christopher Bearcats and the Waltonville Spartans.  In fact, as a Thompsonville alumnus, I was hoping to draw Wayne City in the first round instead of Webber Township.  For 31 minutes, the Indians flat out outplayed the Bearcats on both ends of the floor in route to a 61-57 victory over the hosts in the 42^nd annual Christopher Thanksgiving Tournament.

The pace was very slow in the first quarter.  Christopher coach Eric Stallman comes out in a 2-3 zone, which the Bearcats play man-to-man 90 percent of the time.  The Indians had a 7-6 lead with about two minutes to play in the first.  The Bearcats go on a 6-0 run at the end of the quarter to take a 12-7 lead after one.

Wayne City goes on an 8-0 run to take a 15-12 lead at the 6:15 mark at the second quarter.  Christopher coach Eric Stallman calls a time out and the Bearcats come out in a full court press.  Wayne City broke the press but for a few possessions, it forced them to play up tempo which the Bearcats like to play.  Christopher took back the lead for a short while.  In the last three minutes of the quarter the Indians began to bust open the Bearcat zone open by hitting three very deep three pointers.  At the intermission Wayne City has a 22-18 lead

The Bearcats come out of the locker room going back to playing man-to-man.  They also came out of the locker room flat.  There were several unforced turnovers and the lid was on the bucket.  To put it bluntly the Bearcats just looked out of sync. Wayne City extended the lead to nine on several occasions.  In the closing seconds of the quarter Kaelab Pedigo hits a three to cut the Wayne City lead to 34-28.

The fourth quarter became very rough.  Both sides of the gym became very vocal with the boo birds coming out.  When the officials tried to establish control, it was tool late.  When Wayne City was pulling away Pedigo would come up with something big, as he had 15 on the quarter.  The Indians kept pounding the ball into 6’ 4” center Chad Dickey who had 14 on the quarter.  It was looking like Wayne City was going to blow the game wide open when the Bearcats were storming back in the closing seconds.  They could not get the lead under three as Wayne City takes the title with the 61-57 victory

Pedigo had a game high 26 points for the Bearcats.  Bradley Young added 12 on the night with seven rebounds.  Jarred Curry chipped in 10 and led the Bearcats with six assists.  There are some little things that does not show up in the box score from time to time.  Zach Snell had four rebounds and an assist in the fourth quarter

For Wayne City Eric Green had a game high 22,  Dickey added sixteen, Jordan Greenwalt added 10 for the Indians.

The Bearcats won the cheerleading title.  The All Tournament Team was the following:  Kaleab Pedigo was named MVP with Bradley Young and Jared Curry from Christopher;  Chad Dickey and Eric Green From Wayne City; Charles Neal and Jaxon Helm from Webber Township;  Isaac McPhail and Zane Wilson from Waltonville and Matt Long from NCOE.

In other action of the evening Webber Township took third place with a 58-55 win over Waltonville.  Thompsonville won the consolation bracket with a 51-38 win over Zeigler-Royalton.  NCOE won the 7^th place game with a 77-49 win over the Hamilton County JV squad.

The Hamilton County JV squad set a tournament record with most three pointers made in a tournament with 26.  The record was previously held by the 1996 Christopher Bearcats.

The Bearcats will have a very long extended break from action.  Their next contest will be on Saturday, December 10 at home against the Woodlawn Cardinals.

BOX SCORE:

CHRISTOPHER (57)  Pedigo 5 4 4-5 26;  Young 2 0 8-11 12;  Curry 5 0 0-0 10;  Sanders 2 0 0-0 4 Pratt 0 1 0-0 3;  Schimpf 1 0 0-0 2; Snell 0 0 0-0 0  Motsinger 0 0 0-0 0    TOTALS:  15  5 12-17  57

FOULED OUT:  Pedigo, Young, Schimpf

WAYNE CITY  (61)  Green 1 3 10-14 21; Dickey 7 0 2-2 16; Greenwalt 2 1 3-9 10;  Willett  0 1 1-2 4; Caudle 0 1 0-0 3; Tubbs 1 0 1-4 3  Henson 1 0-0 0 2;

King 0 1 1-2 1   TOTALS:  12 6 19-31 61

FOULED OUT:  King, Tubbs

SCORE BY QUARTERS

CHRISTOPHER (2-1)           12   6  10  29- 57

WAYNE CITY  (3-0)                7  15  12  27-61