Marshall defeats ranked Teutopolis in Capital Classic

By Tom Reck
Tribune-Star Correspondent

Lawrenceville, Ill.— Marshall rallied from a 9-0 deficit to beat the ranked Teutopolis Wooden Shoes 54-45 and advance to the Capital Classic title tilt tonight.
The Lions improved to 3-0 and will meet No. 1 seed Olney for the Classic championship tonight at Red Hill. WMMC-FM 105.9 will carry the action.
The Lions trailed 18-11 at the first stop and took their first lead at 23-22, leading 26-24 at the intermission.
Marshall still led 37-36 at the end of three periods and used a 13-5 run to assume a 52-43 advantage — scoring four points off steals — and held on for the victory.
Lucas Eitel led the Lions with 16 points and five rebounds and five assists. Logan Eitel had eight points and five blocks and Alex Bullock added six points — all in the final period.
Marshall got off to a winning start in the Capital Classic early in the day.
The Lions defeated the host Lawrenceville Indians 67-49 to earn a spot in the Lawrenceville semifinal game against Teutopolis.
The Lions are the No. 2 seed in the annual eight-team event and had numerous good runs in the first half to go to 2-0 without much difficulty.
They ran off 14 straight points in the first frame and were up 26-17 after eight minutes and used a 14-0 run to open the second stanza to take a 48-21 lead into the second half and were up 61-33 going into the final frame.
They took a 30-point lead to start the fourth quarter and the clock was not stopped the rest of the way except for timeouts with a “mercy rule” used in the tournament. The host team outscored the winners 16-6 to cut the final deficit down to 18.
Marshall coach Tom Brannan was pleased with the way his team opened the contest that began before noon. “I thought we came out with a lot of intensity. I thought we were a little sluggish Tuesday [against Robinson],” he said.
The Eitels combined for 33 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Lions. Lucas had 17 points and seven boards; Logan had 16 points and five rebounds.
Travis Johnson had nine points and Alan Wolter came of the bench to grab a game-high eight rebounds.
“Depth is one of our strong points with Alan and Kyle [Burnam] both contributing for us,” said the coach.
I I I
Sideliners -- Two veteran officials formed part of the officiating team.
Terre Haute native Bill Evans, who is the football coach and athletic director at Red Hill, and Kevin Schnitker of Robinson worked the tourney opener.
n Olney is seeded No. 1 in the event and defeated Robinson 72-49 in the first game at Red Hill. The Tigers and Teutopolis both received votes in the first Illinois Class 2A boys poll.
Martinsville is eighth in the Class A girls poll.

Teutopolis       18 6 12 9 — 45
Marshall 11 15 11 17 — 54
Next games -- Marshall (3-0) meets Olney for the Classic championship tonight at 7:30 p.m; at Red Hill. Teutopolis (1-1) plays Red Hill for third place.

MARSHALL (67) — Lucas Eitel 6-10 2-2 17, Logan Eitel 6-11 2-3 16, Johnson 3-5 2-2 9, Bullock 3-8 0-0 6, Duncan 1-5 0-0 2, Burnam 1-4 1-2 4, Wolter 3-8 0-0 6, O’Rourke 1-1 0-0 3, Morey 1-2 0-0 2, Delp 1-2 0-0 2, Totals 10-15 FG, 9-14 FT, 67 TP
LAWRENCEVILLE (49) — Sakowisc1-5 2-2 4, Reed 2-5 1-2 5, J. Potts 5-9 1-2 12, Waldrop 5-14 2-2 15, Manley 1-5 1-1 3, Shoulders 3-5 0-0 8, Kelly 0-1 0-0 0, Gerritsen 0-2 0-0 0, Leighty 0-0 0-0 0, Mitchell 0-0 0-0 0, N. Potts 1-1 0-0 2,Meyer 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-46 FG, 7-9 FT, 49 TP
Marshall 26 22 13 6 — 67
Lawrenceville 17 4 12 16 — 49
3-point goals — Marshall 8-16 (Lucas Eitel 3-4, Logan Eitel 2-4, Johnson 1-2, bullock 0-3, Burnam 1-1, O’Rourke 1-1, Wolter 0-1), Lawrenceville 6-18 (Reed 0-2, J. Potts 1-2, Waldrop 3-10, Manley 0-1, Shoulders 2-2, Gerritsen 0-1). Total fouls — M 14, L 7. Fouled out — None. Turnovers — M 14, Lawrenceville 15. Rebounds — M 37 (Wolter 8, Lucas Eitel 7, Duncan 6, Logan Eitel 5), L 25 (Sakowisc 7, Manley 3).
Next games — Marshall (2-0) met Teutopolis for the Lawrenceville Championship Friday night. Lawrenceville (0-1) played Neogoa for the Lawrenceville Consolation.

Tigers take on Robinson Maroons Friday morning at Capital Classic in Bridgeport

By Justin Hatten

After months of rigorous offseason preparation, the Olney Tigers will tip off their much-anticipated 2007-08 campaign Friday morning in Bridgeport.

The top-seeded Tigers will open Capital Classic play at 11 a.m. against an up-and-coming Robinson squad. The Maroons are blessed with one of the most talented sophomore classes in the area, a group that won the Apollo Conference Tournament as freshmen.

“Robinson's gonna be young but talented,” Olney head coach Rob Flanagan said. “They really feel they're on the upswing and their younger kids have always won. A new attitude is what they're looking at. They should be more skilled basketball-wise.”

The Maroons (0-1 overall) dropped their opener Tuesday night at Marshall 77-64. Guard Logan Brimberry (#23, 6'3”, 170 lb.) is Robinson's lone senior.

“Brimberry's a good shooter,” Flanagan said. “He's left handed and very quick off the dribble.”

Junior guards Travis Whithaus (#21, 6'2”, 190 lb.), Stephen Jones (#30, 6'2”, 150 lb.) and Zach Hodson (#33, 6-foot, 175 lb.) are three other upperclassmen who should see considerable playing time in the backcourt.

Junior forward Derek Watson (#40, 6'4”, 165 lb.) scored 12 points and ripped down seven rebounds Tuesday.

Rising star Ben Jones (#34, 6-foot, 170 lb.) and 6'9”, 200-pound center Meyers Leonard (#32) are two of the Maroons' sophomore studs.

B. Jones pumped in a game-high 22 points against Marshall on 8-of-9 shooting. He was 6-of-7 from the free-throw line.

“Ben was one of their best players last year as a freshman,” Flanagan said. “He's gonna be a very good point guard. Leonard gives them size in the middle.”

Leonard added 10 points and four rebounds. He will face the tall task of trying to stop Olney's big man, 6'11”, 255-pound senior Keane Thomann.

The Tigers will have a walk-through Thanksgiving night to burn off the turkey and make sure everyone is on the same page leading up to the season opener.

“We've never had anybody miss that practice,” Flanagan said. “That's a compliment to our players. This tournament is about finding out what you need to work on. We're working hard to try and get better right now and we're gonna be ready to play.”

Organizers changed the format of the Capital Classic this season, eliminating round-robin pool play in favor of an eight-team, winner advances bracket.

“I haven't lost any sleep over it,” Flanagan said of the format change. “Those guys at the Capital Classic have always been good to us and I respect their decision to try something different.”

The Tigers made it to the championship game in both 2005 and 2006 by winning their pool at 3-0. Teams will only have to win two games this weekend to earn a spot in Saturday night's title tilt.

“I liked the pool play and I liked that fourth game,” Flanagan said. “We wanna play games and I feel like we are possibly losing a fourth game. I like the carrot dangling out there as an incentive for a fourth game.”

Olney is ranked seventh in the illinoishighschoolsports.com Class 2A preseason hoops poll.

“We have to treat this season like a distance run,” Flanagan said. “I don't want to be responsible for coaching a team that thinks they're better than they are. Even if we're the favorite, we want to play harder than the underdog. Good college teams do that, Illinois did that a couple of years ago.”

Probable starting lineup for Olney

(stats are from last season)

PG - Tyler Miller (#4, 5'8” Sr.) - (7 ppg, 4 apg, 3 spg)

G - Charlie McDowell (#14, 6'3” Jr.) - (5 ppg, 2 rpg)

C - Keane Thomann (#54, 6'11” Sr.) - (18 ppg, 8 rpg, 4 bpg)

F - Keith Kermicle (#33, 6'5” Sr.) - (8 ppg, 2.5 rpg)

F - Kory Dunn (#52, 6'3” Sr.) - (2 ppg, 4 rpg)

G - Brandon Berry (#34, 6'4” Soph.) - (2 ppg)