Redbirds 2-0 in the MWC and .500 on the season-upset Carterville

January 20, 2017 By Leave a Comment

WEST FRANKFORT-  (Steve Dunford-franklincounty-news.com) I have a nose for games going OT.  I was smelling it about the four minute mark.  I was smelling double overtime down the stretch.

Kyle Hammers (23) slashes through the lane, as Andrew Sturgill gets ready to set a pic, Keegan Thrash (35) has the ball at the top of the key for WF

Kyle Hammers (23) slashes through the lane, as Andrew Sturgill (33) gets ready to set a pic, Keegan Thrash (35) has the ball at the top of the key for WF

Teams need a signature win to go on a roll.  It happened  Wednesday night at Max Morris Gym as the West Frankfort Redbirds picked up that win, as they pulled out a 52-50 win over the Carterville Lions Wednesday night.

The Redbirds handled Carterville’s full court press in the first half. Like against Christopher, Austin Glodich was on fire in the first half as he had 12 of his 18 points in the first half.  The Redbird went to the locker room with a 27-21 lead.

Carterville came out of the locker room in a  full court man to man and played it in the entire second half.  The Redbirds had immediate trouble with it.  The Lions took the lead around the five minute mark of the third quarter and it was a see saw battle the rest of the night.

The only coach in Southern Illinois that compares to coaching with the intensity that Carterville Coach Shane Hawkins does, is Cobden Coach Rhett Barke, who is a Carbondale attorney.  I would want him as my lawyer.  I love that style of coaching

Shane Hawkins coaches like he played in high school at Pinckneville, in college at SIU, and now as a coach.  I asked him about going to the full court man to man in the second half he said “We just could not keep the intensity we had coming out the second half.”  We had a couple tough losses this week.”  The Lions fell to now 20-1 and state ranked in class 2A Eldorado 60-53 Monday night in a game that was closer than the final score.  The rest of the conversation was about Christoper tomorrow night.

The Redbirds played more zone that I have ever witnessed a Kevin Toney coached team play.  It was effective as big man Luke Ford, who coach Toney called a “full grown man” last night had only four points and was limited to three rebounds on the night.

The Redbirds shared the basketball very well on the night.  I had them with fourteen assists with Andrew Sturgill and Kyle Hammers had four each.

Scotty Clinton came in and gave the Redbirds some key minutes in late in the third quarter when the Redbirds were in foul trouble.

The other beast in the post for Carterville Taylor Heil.  I watched him play in junior high during my time living in Sesser.  He tied Gloodich leading all scorers for 18.  Brendan Beasley had 14 on the night.  Both will be on my all tournament team ballot.

Along with Glodich’s 18, Noah Allen was Noah Allen on both ends off the floor had 16 on the night for the Redbirds.

The Redbirds improve to 8-8 on the year and  will play either Marion or have a rematch in the with the Herrin Tigers.  If they pull the task and upset Eldorado  tonight they will play in the championship against whoever wins the Marion/Herrin game.

Carterville falls to 0-2 in the tournament and 10-8 on the season. They play another Franklin county team, the Christopher Bearcats at 5:30 p.m. tonight.

BOX SCORE:

WEST FRANKFORT (52)  Glodich 8 0 2-4 18;  Allen 5 1 3-4 16;  Thrash 3 0 0-0 6; Hammers 1 1 0-0 5; Wolfe 3 0 1-5 4; Clinton 1 0 0-0 2 Sturgill 0 0 1-2 1; Clark 0 0 0-0 0

CARTERVILLE (50) Heil 8 0 2-3 18; Beasley 3 2 2-2 14; Jackson 1 1 0-0 5; Johnson 2 0 0-0 4 Ford 2 0 0-2 4; Moore 0 0 3-4 3; Valerius 1 0 0-0 2

SCORE BY QUARTERS 

WEST FRANKFORT    15    12    12     6    7  –  52

CARTERVILLE            10    11    14   10    5  –  50

 

Filed Under: High School Sports, Sports, Uncategorized, West Frankfort High School Sports

Oxford’s clutch free-throw puts final arrow in Indians

January 19, 2017 By Leave a Comment
Derek Oxford shoots over a Carlyle defender. He had 10 points on the night including a game winning FT....

Derek Oxford shoots over a Carlyle defender. He had 10 points on the night including a game winning FT….

BENTON- (Click on the link to get the entire story from William McPherson of the Benton Gazette. Here is an excerpt) Night two of the Benton Invitational Tournament is in the books, and the Benton Rangers are now 2-0 in the tournament and 15-1 on the season as they pulled off a dramatic comeback win over the Carlyle Indians (9-9), winning 54-53 on Wednesday night at Rich Herrin Gymnasium…….Both teams exhibited great defense for the final minute of the game. The Indians called a timeout at the 28.1 second mark but were unable to get anything going. In the final possession of the game, Oxford drew a foul with just two seconds left in regulation. With the Ranger faithful in hushed anticipation, he sank his first shot. At this point Benton called timeout, and Oxford intentionally missed the final free throw to kill off the clock and not allow the Indians time to pull off another comeback……..“They got off to a good start, and we had kind of an uphill fight to get back in the game,” said Benton Coach Ron Winemiller. “The bottom line is our guys kept fighting and kept plugging away and whittled it down, and did what they do. Derek made a play at the end and we were able to come out victorious.”

Filed Under: Benton High School Sports, High School Sports, Sesser-Valier High School Sports, Sports

Bearcats have a good second half against Eldroado on Tuesday

January 19, 2017 By Leave a Comment

WEST FRANKFORT -(Steve Dunford-franklincounty-news.com)  There is not a good way to put it but the Bearcats came out cold against the 6th. ranked team in class 2A the Eldorado Eagles.

The Bearcats were down 32-9.  Eldorado was pounding the ball inside and dominated Christopher on the boards 15-6 in the first half.  Eldorado coach Josh Bradley threw a variety of zones against the Bearcats and they were all successful.

Pedigo waiting for a pass on the wing Tuesday night in the Bearcat's 60-41 loss

Pedigo waiting for a pass on the wing Tuesday night in the Bearcat’s 60-41 loss

The second half was a different story.  For the second night in a row Kaeleb Pedgio was held scoreless in the first half.  He was on fire in the second half, connecting on five threes, four in the first quarter.

The turning point of the game was when Pedigo about hit his fifth three of the quarter, which would have brought the Bearcats within some six with about four and some change on the clock.

Christopher, being a class 1A team, just ran out of gas to stage the comeback against one of the top 2A teams in the state, as they fell 60-41.  There is nothing flashy about this Eldorado team, they just take care of business.  It would not surprise me to see them playing in Peoria.

The Bearcats fall to 11-6 on the season and 0-2 in the tournament.  If they beat Carterville tomorrow night they will play at 5:00 p.m. against the winner of Cairo and Anna-Jonesboro’s game tonight.   If they lose to Carterville they will play the loser of Cairo/A-J at 3:30p.m..

The Eagles improved to 20-1, with their only loss being to Fairfield on December 9th.

BOX SCORE:

ELDORADO (60) Attebury 7 1 2-2 19;  Partridge 4 0 3-4 11; May 4 0 2-4 10;  Meridith 1 2 0-0 8; Traxler 3 0 1-3 7; Kaiser 1 0 1-2 3; Oglesby 1 0 0-2

CHRISTOPHER (41)  Pedigo 0 5 2-2 17; Young 3 0 2-7 8; Pratt 3 0 2-2 8; Schimpf 1 1 0-0 5; Curry 1 0 0-0 2; Snell 0 0 1-2 1

SCORE BY QUARTERS:  

ELDORADO           14   18    13    15  – 60

CHRISTOPHER      4     5    14    18  – 41

 

 

 

Filed Under: Christopher High School Sports, High School Sports, Sports, West Frankfort High School Sports

Redbirds face Carterville at 8:30

January 18, 2017 By Leave a Comment

wf-redbirdsThe West Frankfort Redbirds try to improve to 2-0 and get to the .500 mark against the Carterville Lions tonight.

Coach Shane Hawkins gave me the points for game of his six man rotation:

  • Senior guard Brendan Beasley leads the way at 12.6 ppg.
  • His running mate in the back court 5′ 10″ senior Blake Jackson averages 6.9 ppg
  • Post player Luke Ford (Sr.) averages 7.6 ppg and is 6’6″
  • Taylor Heil is 6′ 5″ and seen some time as a freshman, and his four years on the floor provides senior leadership.
  • Dylan Moore a 6’1″ sophomore averages 6.1 per game.
  • Justin Johnson a 6′ 2″ junior averages 4.9 ppg.

Here is what coach West Frankfort coach Kevin Toney has to say about the Lions:

“Carterville is a well disciplined, well coached team whose players have an excellent balance of skills. They have a true point guard, their wings can each handle it and shoot it, their bigs complement each other very well, also. They just don’t have glaring weaknesses of which teams can easily take advantage of”

The Lions gave Eldorado everything they wanted.  I see them playing in the third place game on Saturday against Marion or Herrin.  I am going with the Lions by six.

I loved the intensity Shane Hawkins played with as a Panther first and a Saluki.  He has taken that intensity to the sidelines. wf-redbirds

Filed Under: High School Sports, Sports, West Frankfort High School Sports

Rangers will face Carlyle at 8:30 in the BIT

January 18, 2017 By Leave a Comment

by Steve Dunford

benton-rangersYou might have watched Carlyle play on Monday, but Carlyle coach Andy Palmer shared a little with me about his Indians.  Here is something about them:

Here is a link to their stats:

http://stats.stlhighschoolsports.com/sports/basketballboys/stats/teamstatoverall.php?t=35&s=693

Here is some information I grabbed from the St Lous Post Dispatch website.

In the paint is 6’5″ Conner Tonnies averaging 10.9 ppg. and 9.2 rebounds.  Tyler Sever is 6′ 3″ and  averages 12.9 ppg; 6′ 2″ Eli Cox averages 11.3 ppg; 5′ 11′ Dru Johnson averages 8 ppg and leads the team in assists at 2.29; 6′ 1″ Nick Becker averages 2.4 ppg.  That rounds out the starting five.

Off the bench is 6′ 1″  Alex Hules at 1.7 ppg; 6′ 3″ Dawson Reinacher at 2.0 ppg; and Shatzat .7

Here is what Benton Coach Ron Winemiller. “The two bigs will give us trouble. We have to make them run and play a full court game.”

The Rangers survived going against Darius Roundtree down as Massac.  I don’t know with their size if Carlyle plays a zone but if they do, the Rangers have too many zone busters.

I am going with Benton by six.

Filed Under: Benton High School Sports, High School Sports, Sports

Sesser-Valier and Pinckneyville plays at 7:00 at the BIT

January 18, 2017 By Leave a Comment

pitchforkSesser-Valier will tip it up with the Pinckneyville Panthers at 7:00 pm at the Benton Invitational Tournament.

I am just going to be honest.  The Devils will be over matched.  I am going with the Panthers by 20.

From scores of recent games S-V is playing well.  Beating Meridian was big.  This game is like Christopher playing Eldorado last night.  It is a game that will help them in February.

Full coverage will be on this game.

Filed Under: Sesser-Valier High School Sports, Sports

Meridian/Hamilton County tips it up in a few minutes

January 18, 2017 By Leave a Comment

mcleansboroThe Hamilton County Foxes tips it up with Meridan at 5:30 p.m.

Hamco will have trouble matching up inside with Lowe and Nesby.  Oakley Dial and Jake Whipple has been playing so well.

I see Meridian beating the Foxes by eight.

A full story will be written on this game.  I will be watching the feed on FoxesFans.net.

Filed Under: High School Sports, Sports

Rangers beat the Foxes on Monday Night in the BIT

January 18, 2017 By Leave a Comment

by Steve Dunford

Action from Monday night's game. (Taken from Foxes-Fans.net video)

Action from Monday night’s game. (Taken from Foxes-Fans.net video)

I included this in my preview Monday night but I am going to cover the Foxes from now on.  Hamco is well covered with Danny Anslement of FoxesFans.net, and Tom Mauding on WMCL.

I found out the Foxes have little print coverage.  With Danny broadcasting every game on video. I can watch them in the archives and make a full story.  This story is coming from the video.

I have a good friend that has covered the Foxes for years, Charlie Pendell (Super Fox).  I know his health is failing and he is continually in my prayers.  I hope I can even come close to his excellent coverage.

Now on to the game.  The Foxes came out and was very patient.  They hung around with the Rangers for twelve minutes.  At the end of the first quarter they were only down 14-11  They were playing well on both ends of the floor.

Austin Wills was unreal in the closing minutes of the second quarter, hitting four threes.  Gehrig Wynn and Derek Oxford had one each as the Rangers outscored the Foxes 25-9 to take a 39-20 lead.

Both coaches subbed freely in the second half as they have four more games ahead of them as the Rangers won 68-39.

The Rangers improve to 14-1 on the season and 1-0 in the BIT.  The Foxes fall to 4-13 and 0-1 in the tournament.

Hamco has the opener against the Meridan Bobcats at 5:30.  Benton plays Carlyle at 8:30.

Austin Wills led the Rangers on the night with 18 points.  Derek Oxford added 17.

Oakley Dial led the Foxes with 15 points. Jake Whipple added 11.

BOX SCORE:

Benton (68)  Wills 3 4 0-0 18; Oxford 3 3 2-2 17; Willams 4 0 1-2 9; Henson 3 0 1-1 7; Wynn 2 1 0-0 7; Thomas 1 1 0-0 5; Page 0 1 0-0 3; Pankey 1 0 0-0 2; Tillman 0 0 0-0 0; Morris 0 0 0-0 0; Mosley 0 0 0-0 0; Mosley 0 0 0-0 0; Lutz 0 0 0-0 0;  Avery 0 0 0-0 0

Hamilton County (39)  Dial 4 1 4-5 15; Whipple 1 0 1-2 11; N. Rapp 1 0 3-3 5 E. Rapp 2 0 0-0 4; Rubenacker 2 0 0-0 4; Potter 0 0 0-0 0 Pike 0 0 0-0 0; VanAbba 0 0 0-0 0; Neal 0 0 0-0 0; Miller 0 0 0-0 0; Gray 0 0 0-0 0; Downen 0 0 0-0 0

SCORE BY QUARTERS:

Benton                       14   25    21    8  –  68

Hamilton County     11     9     12    7  –  39

 

 

Filed Under: Benton High School Sports, High School Sports, Sports, Uncategorized

Scott Mees’ story in the Southern on last night’s S-V-W, WF game

January 18, 2017 By Leave a Comment
WF's Megan Beery inbounds the ball against Jaylin Haley of S-V_w

WF’s Megan Beery inbounds the ball against Jaylin Haley of S-V_w

WEST FRANKFORT- I am going to post some thoughts from last night. After suffering its first loss of the season on Saturday, the Sesser-Valier/Waltonville girls basketball team rebounded with a 62-50 win over West Frankfort on Tuesday at the Mid-Winter Classic. The Red Devils (19-1) trailed by three points at halftime, but outscored West Frankfort 21-10 in the third quarter……“When the freshman, Carlie Page, came in I thought (Morgan) Griffith had some problems as far as shooting over her,” said SVW coach Rick Metcalf. “For a freshman to play some big minutes and do a good job, the girls gave her the MVP of the game.”……. “We rushed some shots, but we also got to the rim and missed some easy shots,” said West Frankfort coach Matt Hampleman. “It was just an uphill battle. We did everything we could to keep it close, and it was probably more of a five-point game than a 12-point game. But give them credit because they were able to run the floor, and we didn’t do a very good job in transition defense.”……

Filed Under: High School Sports, Sesser-Valier High School Sports, Sports, West Frankfort High School Sports

Christopher has a big task in front of them tonight

January 17, 2017 By Leave a Comment

by Steve Dunford

Coach Eric Stallman will have Bradley Young who is averaging 15 a game, and Gabe Schimpf has been shooting the lights out and been in double figures the last few games.  He has signed a letter of intent to play baseball for SEMO.midwinterclassic

Last night was the first time I watched the Eldorado Eagles play live last night.  I watched them on video from the Eldorado Holiday Tournament.

Instead of writing a preview, I am going to share what coach Josh Bradley shared about his team:

“We pretty much play a 7 man rotation. Our back court is John Meredith at the point, and Kale Ogelsby is the other guard.  Braden Attebury.  Eathan Partrige is averaging 13 ppg., and 11 rebounds.  Jake Traxler 10 ppg and 11 rebounds.  Braden Attebury is averaging 16 ppg. and nine rebounds.”
For those who saw the Bearcats for the first time last night, they are a special group in full force.  It would have been a good ball game with West Frankfort last night.
Both teams will go far in the post season.  I would not be surprised to see the Eagles in Peoria. They cleared a big hurdle by beating Mt. Carmel.   T-town is standing in the way.
Christopher is a different team this year but they have the potential to play in the sectional finals like last year.  I will rank all the 1A and 2A teams in each regional or sectional complex.  I will either have the Bearcats or Wayne City one or two.
I said earlier the Bearcats will have a big hill to climb tonight.  They are facing the number six team in the state in 2A.  They can lose by 20 and come up a winner tonight.  This game is to help them in February.  I am going with the Eagles by 10.  If their shooters are hot they can play with them.  If cold Eldorado is going to kill them on the boards.
Filed Under: Christopher High School Sports, High School Sports, Sesser-Valier High School Sports, Sports, West Frankfort High School Sports
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