Steve Dunford franklincounty-news.com

CHRISTOPHER-  Tuesday night the Sesser-Valier Red Devils defeated the Christopher Bearcats 85-81 in overtime.  It was senior night for Kaeleb Pedigo, Gabe Schimpf, Zach Snell, and Andrew Dunford.

There was no flow to the game at all.  There were a lot of walks to the north and south end of “The Cave” as there were 53 fouls called in the contest 27 on Sesser-Valier and 26 on Christopher.  Jamie Lance and Seth Boles fouled out for the Devils, and Gabe Schimpf, Bradley Young and Jared Curry fouled out for the Bearcats.

I have watched a lot of high school basketball in my nearly 47 years on this earth.  S-V had one of the best nights at the free throw line I

ever witnessed. (28-30 94%)  Christopher was very good as well (23-28 82%)

The Red Devils bench came into play as fouls began to mount up on both teams.  Coach Shane Garner has a nine man rotation in my opinion is the deepest bench of any Class 1A school in Southern Illinois.  Christopher Coach Eric Stallman had to go a lot deeper into his bench than the Bearcats have been accustomed to this season.

In the first quarter Charles (I had to go back and correct for calling him Charlie) Farmer came out red hot.  He had the Devils first seven points for S-V in the first two and 1/2 minutes of the game.  It was tied at seven then.

The Bearcats began clicking on all cylinders as they went on a 22-7 run over the next four minutes.  Young had 12 of his 21 points on the night.

Farmer stopped the bleeding at the end of the first as he hit a 15 foot baseline jumper in the closing seconds of the quarter to cut the Bearcat lead down to 29-16.  He had 12 of his 26 on the night as well.

In the Second Quarter fouls started to mount up for both teams. Bradley Young picks up his third in the first minute of the quarter. Jared Curry goes down with his third about the 3:30 mark.  Jamie Lance and a couple other Devils also had three as well.

Christopher was in the double bonus at the end of the first quarter. Sesser-Valier was in it early. There were only two field goals for each team in the quarter.

There were only two field goals for each team in the quarter.  It was looking like the Bearcats were going to pull away.   The Bearcats had a 40-26 lead when Curry picked up his third foul just under the three minute mark.

Coach Stallman played a little McLeansboro ball the rest of the way…there were a couple of unforced turnovers and the Devils capitalized.  Both teams went to the popcorn break (Christopher has the best, and a huge sack for $1) with the Bearcats up 40-30.

Out of the locker rooms Christopher comes out and on the first two possessions come out with Young being hit on a fast break and Pedigo hitting a couple free throws in the first 30 seconds.  To put Christopher up 44-30.  Pedigo was there a lot as he was 12/12 at the line.  It looked like the Bearcats were well on their way to a blowout.

The next possession Young’s reappearance into the game did not last long as he picked up his fourth foul.  Curry picked up his fourth one just right after that.  Mainly they played a 2-3 but they also played a 3-2 and went to a 1-3-1 on a couple of possessions.

Lukas Gunter began to pick apart that zone, with dribble drive penetration, either from layups or getting fouled.  Most of his game high 29 came in the second half, going 19-20 from the free throw line.  Tyler Winchester also took advantage of it bombing four very deep threes in his 14 points on the night.

The momentum swung quickly to the Devils as they began to chip away.  Addison Baxter with a very deep three in front of the Sesser-Valier coaching staff to give the Devils the lead 53-52 with :42 on the clock at the end of the third.

Christopher coughs the ball up and the Devils could not convert on a possession as they had a chance for several stickbacks and the quarter ended with the Devils holding on to the one point lead.

The Devils come out the gate to start the fourth quick with back to back steals from Lukas Gunter and to go up 57-52.

The Devils keep a five point lead with L. Gunter and Pedigo trading trips to the line.  The Devils go up 63-56 at the 4:30 mark with a couple more free throws from the Red Baron who struck again. (WMIX broadcaster Danny Czerwinski’s name for Lukas Gunter)

Bradley Young then goes on a tear. The exclamation point was a break away two handed dunk to tie it up at 65 with two minutes and change left on the clock.

In the closing seconds of regulation,  Gabe Schimpf knocks down a pair of free throws to give Christopher the first lead in a long while. Tyler Winchester answers back with a three to put S-V back up 68-67.

Bryce Pratt (Cool Hand Luke for the Bearcats down the stretch this year)  goes 1/2 from the line, the Devils turn the ball over and Young finds Pratt in the post to put Christopher up 70-68.

The Red Baron struck again from the line again and Schimpf has a three that rims in and out at the buzzer as both teams are tied at 70 at the end of regulation.

In the extra frame, Pedigo and Schimpf strap the Bearcats on their back as Curry and Young foul out.  Tyler Winchester hits another three at the 2:46 mark of OT to give the Devils a three point lead and they kept the lead until Zach Snell drills a deep three with :39 seconds left to tie it up at 81.

Lukas Gunter goes down and hits two more free throws, and Pedigo misses a layup.  Charles Farmer ices it from the free throw line to give the Devils the four point victory.

Sesser-Valier improves to 15-13 on the season and 7-4 in the Black Diamond West.  They go on the road to face Chester on Friday night, before starting play in the Crab Orchard Class 1A regional against Zeigler-Royalton  Tuesday at 6:00 pm.

Christopher falls to 14-12 on the year and also 7-4 in the conference.  They make the short bus trip to Z-R on Friday to finish out the regular season.  They will play on Wednesday at the Crab Orchard regional facing the winner of Steeleville and Elverado, Wednesday at 6:00 p.m.

The Bearcats loss gave the BDC West championship to Goreville as they fell back two in the loss column with one game to go.

SESSER VALIER BOX:

L. Gunter 5 0 19-20 29; Farmer 9 2 2-2 26; Winchester 0 4 2-2 14; Boles 1 0 5-6 7; Baxter 1 0 0-0 3; Lance 1 0 0-0 2; Launius 1 0 0-0 2; J. Gunter 1 0 0-0 2; Page 0 0 0-0 0

CHRISTOPHER BOX: 

Pedigo 4 2 12-12 25; Young 7 0 7-12 21; Pratt 5 0 2-4 12; Curry 3 0 3-4 9; Snell 0 1 0-0 3; Saeger 0 0 0-0 0; Motsinger 0 0 0-0 0

SCORE BY QUARTERS:

SESSER-VALIER      16    14    23    17    15  –  85

CHRISTOPHER        29    11    12    18    11  –  81