Boys Basketball: Bulldogs go 2-2 at tough Waterloo tourney
The Highland High School boys basketball team finished a respectable 2-2 at the ultra-tough Battling Bulldogs Thanksgiving Tournament, a round-robin event held last week at Waterloo High School.
First on Monday of last week, Highland (2-2) opened with a 62-46 loss to Edwardsville.
The next night, the Bulldogs handed a shorthanded Althoff squad a 66-51 setback.
Then on Friday, Highland fell to eventual tournament champion Carbondale, 64-51.
Finally on Saturday, the Bulldogs battled back from a 13-point halftime deficit to derail O’Fallon 60-59 in overtime.
Carbondale went a perfect 4-0 to win the round-robin tournament.
Althoff got its players back on Saturday which was just in time to beat Edwarsdville 67-59 and finish with a 3-1 mark. The Crusader players competed in the state title football game on Friday night in DeKalb.
Edwardsville and Highland both went 2-2 while O’Fallon was 1-3 and host Waterloo rounded out the tourney at 0-4.
Highland senior Austin Elledge was named to the all-tournament second team.
Highland 60, O’Fallon 59, OT
Senior Luke Thies spun in the lane and banked in a shot with two seconds to play in overtime as the Bulldogs, who trailed 33-20 at halftime, rallied past O’Fallon.
“I knew that if I wanted to get to the basket, they were going to cut me off, and I was going to spin and do whatever I could to make a shot,” said Thies, who finished with 17 points on 6-for-11 shooting from the field. “I went up and shot it and it went in. I’ve had shots to tie games, but I’ve never won a game.”
Thies also hit a 3-pointer with 13 seconds in regulation that tied the game at 53.
“We kept pushing,” said Thies. who also added three rebounds and two assists. “We hate losing, so we do whatever we can to win a game. It was a very fun game. We stayed mentally into it and didn’t give up.”
After Thies’ basket in overtime, O’Fallon called timeout with seven-tenths of a second to play. Junior Alex Orr’s long attempt hit off the front iron and bounced away at the horn.
O’Fallon led 59-56 in overtime, but Orr missed two free throws, and the Bulldogs cut their deficit to 59-58 on two free throws by Thies.
After a Panthers turnover, Highland also appeared to lose possession on a pass from Thies to senior Austin Elledge in front of the Bulldogs bench. Elledge scurried for the ball and briefly gained possession before flipping it over his head.
O’Fallon recovered the loose ball, but officials ruled that Highland had called a timeout before Elledge tossed the ball back onto the court.
“As we were getting helter-skelter, I was starting to call a timeout,” Bulldogs coach Matt Elledge said. “Then when the ball slipped through (Austin Elledge’s) hands, I yelled for the timeout. He had control and just threw it in the air. I’ll take the call. Whether it was right or wrong, I’ll take the call. It obviously gave us one more possession.”
Thies made it count.
“They told me (Austin Elledge) had the ball when they called timeout,” Gibson said. “To me, the ball was in the air and everyone was yelling timeout. So to me, nobody’s got possession there. It was a bad call, but we gave it away there at the end. We choked it away.”
Joining Thies in double figures for the Bulldogs were Elledge (14), senior Justin Twyford (11) and senior Brode Portell (10). Twyford also topped Highland with five rebounds and three steals while Elledge added four boards, three assists and one blocked shot, and Portell had four rebounds, one assist and one steal.
Highland won despite being out-rebounded by a 35-23 margin. O’Fallon lost despite connecting on 56 percent (23-for-41) of its field goals.
Also giving production for the Bulldogs were senior Will Greenwald with a game-high four assists to go with three points and three rebounds, sophomore Stephen Schniers with three points, three boards and one assist, and senior Will Michael with two points and one rebound.
Sophomore Tabari Dunlap scored a game-high 20 points, grabbed six rebounds and handed out three assists for O’Fallon and junior Ryan Fulton had 15 points, three boards and two assists for the Panthers.
Carbondale 64, Highland 51
Shahere Lark scored 22 points and Kani Acree had 19 to help power Carbondale to a comfortable win over the Bulldogs.
The Terriers came out running and gunning and en route to building their lead throughout the first three quarters.
Carbondale held a seven-point advantage at the end of the first quarter before pushing it up to 38-20 at halftime.
The Terriers then carried a commanding 23-point bulge (53-30) after three quarters. The Bulldogs outscored Carbondale by 10 in the final stanza but it was not enough as the Terriers cruised in with the 13-point triumph.
Highland lost despite shooting 50 percent (22-for-44) from the floor.
Portell paced the Bulldogs with 20 points on 9-for-15 shooting from the field while also dishing out a team-best three steals. Portell also shared top team honors with four rebounds to go with one assist.
Also jotting down stats for Highland were senior Chris Dickman with nine points and four rebounds, Thies with eight points, two assists and one rebound, Twyford with eight points, four boards, three assists and one steal, freshman Sam LaPorta with two points and one rebound, and Schniers and sophomore Elliott Prott with two points apiece.
Elledge was held scoreless after missing all four of his field-goal attempts.
Highland 65, Althoff 51
Five key Althoff players, including four projected starters, were bystanders who watched the game from the stands. Those Althoff “fans” were Edwyn Brown and starters CJ Coldon, Tarkus Ferguson, Jordan Goodwin and Keenen Young, who were preparing for Friday night’s state championship game in DeKalb.
Highland, which bounced back from Monday’s 62-46, season-opening loss against Edwardsville, broke down Althoff’s defense with good ball movement and shot the ball sharply from the outside. The Bulldogs made six 3-point goals, four coming from Austin Elledge, and ended up shooting a splendid 58 percent (26-for-45) overall.
Elledge scored a career-high 29 points and scored 11 in the second quarter to help the Bulldogs race out to a 33-20 halftime lead. Elledge drilled 12-of-15 field goals, including going 4-for-5 from beyond the arc, while yanking down a team-best six rebounds to with three assists and two steals.
Thies helped thwart the Crusaders’ chances for a comeback by scoring 13 of his 15 points in the second half.
“We hung with them for three quarters last year, so this year it was a good one,” Austin Elledge said. “A win’s a win for us right now.”
Marvin Bateman, who is 6-foot-5 and was Althoff’s first player off the bench last year, made his second consecutive start to start the season and scored 16 points while draining a trio of 3-point goals. Senior Brendon Gooch, the Crusaders’ only regular starter who played and a Southern Illinois University Carbondale signee, also scored 16 points.
Junior Dante Ray chipped in 12 points for Althoff but it wasn’t nearly enough to keep them from losing its first game of the season a year after the Crusaders finished as the state runner-up in Class 3A a year ago.
“We still expect to win, and it sucks, but we know that we’re missing four of our starters,” Gooch said. “So I wasn’t too upset, but I think we can still play harder on defense. That could have helped us a lot in that game.”
The Crusaders at least got some game experience for players who might not have gotten much playing time had the football players suited up instead of sitting behind the bench in street clothes. Althoff coach Greg Leib used all nine players who were available, and all but Gooch, Jake Frazier, Scott Semko and Ryder Goodwin are all underclassmen who Leib said could play bigger roles on next year’s squad.
“Kids grow, kids get better, and it’s just a great experience for them,” Leib said. “It’s always a process, and sure you hate losing. But Highland’s a good team.”
Edwardsville 62, Highland 46
Both teams’ coaches cited match-up problems, but in the end, Edwardsville’s size beat Highland’s quickness.
Four Edwardsville players reached double figures including 6-foot-5, 260-pound center A.J. Epenesa, who commanded the lane.
“Obviously the big kid is hard to handle,” said Highland coach Matt Elledge. “They have the inside-out game that causes some problems for us. We don’t go to a zone because they shoot the ball. We doubled down and they shoot the ball. Pick your poison.”
Epenesa, a defensive end for the Edwarsdville football team and one of the nation’s top college recruits, scored 14 points to go with nine rebounds. Junior Oliver Stephen, meanwhile, had four 3-pointers as part of his game-high 19 points.
Stephen averaged more than 10 points a game last season as a sophomore. Tigers’ head coach Mike Waldo says his 6-foot-5 guard has improved his game in the off-season.
“Obviously, it’s always good to have guys who have been with you before and have some experience,” said Edwardsville coach Mike Waldo, who is in his 27th year at Edwardsville. “Oliver is a more complete player and much better overall this year.”
Highland cut a nine-point Edwardsville lead to five at the end of the first quarter with the help of two 3-pointers each by Portell and Greenwald.
Led by guard Chrys Colley, Epenesa and Stephen, the Tigers surged ahead on a 17-4, third-quarter run to open their biggest lead of the game, 50-33.
Highland cut the lead back to nine when Justin Twyford threw in four points in a 10-2 run at the start of the fourth quarter. But the Tigers took care of business at the free-throw line and scored three more times from the field to seal the win.
“Highland is a good team and they are hard for us to guard,” Waldo said. “We have bigger guys than they have, but we had a hard time matching their quickness.”
In addition to Epenesa and Stephen, Edwardsville got 14 points from Mark Smith and 11 from Colley.
The Bulldogs struggled shooting the ball, hitting on just 35 percent (19-for-54) of its shots from the field.
Highland was led by Portell’s 13 points while Twyford chipped in eight points for the Bulldogs.
Thies had seven points, four points, two steals and one rebound but he only made 3-of-11 shots.
Schniers scored six points to go with four rebounds and one steal but he missed five of seven field goals.
Greenwald pulled down a team-high six rebounds, dished out a team-best four assists and shared tops on the team with two steals
Austin Elledge ended up with five points on 2-for-10 shooting. He also had three boards, one block and one assist.
Dickman finished with two points.
This story was originally published November 30, 2015 at 7:15 AM with the headline "Boys Basketball: Bulldogs go 2-2 at tough Waterloo tourney."