St. A opens season with 59-30 win over Vandalia

Dustin White

St. Anthony High School scored 31 points off Vandalia turnovers and held the Vandals scoreless in the third quarter Tuesday evening, opening its boys basketball season with a 59-30 victory at the St. Anthony Thanksgiving Tournament.

Coming off a 25-turnover performance in Monday's 60-35 loss to Effingham at The Enlow Center, Vandalia gave it away 23 more times as it suffered its second pool play defeat in as many nights.

The Bulldogs limited Vandalia to 4-for-21 (19 percent) shooting in the first three quarters, although the Vandals tripled their tally in a 20-point final period and didn't commit a fourth-quarter turnover.

"It's good to get that first win under your belt," said third-year St. Anthony coach Matt Britton, whose club has battled the flu throughout the early-season practice schedule.

"Defensively, the kids did some good things. I was pleased with our communication and rotation. We were able to take away some holes and prevented (Vandalia) from getting many good looks."

Vandalia's scoreless third quarter allowed a 34-10 halftime deficit to become a 48-10 margin, and St. Anthony's biggest lead was 39 points with just over a minute of fourth-quarter action expired.

While St. Anthony's defense was holding Vandalia to 10 points through three quarters , its offense was performing efficiently over that same stretch

The Bulldogs hit 20 of 34 field goals (59 percent) in the first 24 minutes of action, although a somewhat cooler fourth quarter dropped St. Anthony's overall percentage to 51 percent.

Taylor Worman scored 10 of his game-high 15 points before halftime, while Myles Baker scored 13 on 6-for-9 shooting and also contributed four steals, two blocks and two assists.

Marty Jansen also contributed eight points on 3-for-3 field goal shooting and a couple free throws, while Ryan Schmitt hit all four of his field goal attempts for eight more.

"Marty is an aggressive kid that takes what defense gives him, and Taylor was opportunistic as well," said Britton.

"Having big guys like Myles and Ryan who can step away from the basket and knock down jump shots pretty efficiently is effective in stretching out a defense."

Schmitt, a junior reserve standing 6-foot-7, hit was lights out in a series of 10- to 15-foot jumpers, while Baker knocked down a three-pointer and scored in a variety of ways.

With all that said, Britton still feels his offense has plenty of room for improvement.

"We're going to get better offensively as we get more floor time, but we've also got to get better at the basic things we work on every day," said Britton. "Cutting, screening, spacing and those kinds of things.

"I think we know who we are. We're not going to beat teams with a lot of quickness and full-court pressure. The strength of our team is our strength, length and ability to defend in half court. That's going to have to be the backbone of our team going forward; we're going to have to do the things we did for the first 2 1/2 or three quarters of this game."

Vandalia's leading scorer for the second straight night was Marty Johnson, who knocked down a trio of three-pointers and ended up with 13 for the Vandals' only double-figure performance.

If the Vandals want to avoid being relegated to Saturday's seventh-place game, they'll need a Friday victory over Taylorville.

Meanwhile, St. Anthony takes on Taylorville tonight at 8 p.m. If it takes care of business against the Tornadoes, Friday nights matchup with Effingham will determine who gets a spot in Saturday's championship.

"It's early," cautioned Britton. "Very good opponents loom on the horizon."

Breese Central 72, Mattoon 51

Heavily favored to win Pool B, the Central Cougars fought the turnover bug at times and weren't able to put the Green Wave away until midway through the third quarter of both teams' season opener.

Paced by 6-7 senior forward David Wiegmann's 30 points — which included his 1000th career tally — Central led by as many as 11 on two different first-half occasions, but allowed Mattoon all the way back within a 34-30 margin in the early stages of the third quarter.

Unfortunately for Mattoon's scrappy bunch, Central coach Stan Eagleson took a quick time out and had a few words for his Cougars. What followed was an 11-0 Cougar run, and the margin never dwindled to any fewer than 11.

Central committed nine of its 22 turnovers in the second quarter, allowing Mattoon within a 27-22 margin with just under three minutes remaining before halftime.

A third straight giveaway at one point had the Green Wave poised to get within three, but junior guard Micah Wolfe was whistled for a charge on his ensuing drive to the rack — inspiring a vehement protest from Mattoon's third-year coach, Brooks Inman, as Central reserve Blake Norrenberns was congratulated by teammates for holding his ground under the hoop.

Wiegmann, who tied 2007 Vandalia graduate Eric Hobbie for seventh on the tournament's all-time individual scoring list and reached the 1,000-point plateau during the second quarter, scored 14 in the first quarter and also blocked four shots, while 6-5 senior teammate Garrett Gaffner scored 14, grabbed 13 rebounds and blocked three shots.

Brandon Book, a 6-6 sophomore, added 10 for the Cougars, while Keaton Scheer scored eight, pulled in six rebounds and dished three assists. Central hit six of its first seven shots, starting the game on a 7-0 run and leading 22-12 after one quarter of play.

For Mattoon, senior Derrick Zavarella scored 19 to lead his squad, while senior Dillan Miller added 14 and four rebounds. Mattoon was outrebounded 41-22, which included several offensive team rebounds recorded when it had shots blocked out of bounds.

Dustin White can be reached at 217-347-7151 ext. 123 or dustin.white@effinghamdailynews.com.

7th Annual St. Anthony Thanksgiving Tournament

At The Enlow Center

Game Three

BREESE CENTRAL (72)

Rakers 0-1 0-0 0, Grapperhaus 2-2 0-1 4, Timmerman 0-2 0-2 0, Wiegmann 11-13 6-7 30, Norrenberns 0-1 3-4 3, Finan 1-1 0-0 3, Scheer 3-3 2-3 8, Book 4-12 2-2 10, Gaffner 5-9 4-9 14. TOTALS 26-44 FG (59.1) 17-28 FT (60.7).

MATTOON (52)

Carlen 1-4 0-0 3, Zavarella 7-20 3-3 19, McDonald 0-3 0-0 0, M. Heller 2-10 4-7 8, Wolfe 1-3 0-0 3, K. Heller 0-1 2-2 2, Miller 6-10 0-0 14, Arthur 0-0 0-0 0, Butch 0-3 0-0 0, Milligan 1-3 0-0 2, Daily 0-2 0-0 0. TOTALS 18-59 FG (30.5) 9-12 FT (75.0).

Central----22---12---17---21---—---72

Mattoon---12---14---10---15---—---51

3-point FG — Central 3-8 (Wiegmann 2-2, Norrenberns 0-1, Finan 1-1, Book 0-4), Mattoon 6-18 (Carlen 1-3, Zavarella 2-5, McDonald 0-1, M. Heller 0-1, Wolfe 1-2, K. Heller 0-1, Miller 2-4, Daily 0-1). Total Rebounds — Central 41 (Gaffner 13, Norrenberns 7), Mattoon 22 (Miller 4, Milligan 3). Offensive Rebounds — Central 11 (Norrenberns 4, Gaffner 3), Mattoon 10 (Team 5, Miller 2). Assists — Central 12 (Grapperhaus 3, Scheer 3), Mattoon 8 (M. Heller 4). Turnovers — Central 22, Mattoon 14. Steals — Central 9 (Book 2, Grapperhaus 2), Mattoon 15 (M. Heller 4). Blocked Shots — Central 10 (Wiegmann 4, Gaffner 3), Mattoon 0. Total Fouls — Central 11, Mattoon 25. Fouled Out — Central 0, Mattoon 1 (Butch).

Game Five

VANDALIA (30)

Hoffman 0-0 0-0 0, Bell 0-3 0-0 0, Ritchey 1-2 2-2 4, Rubin 1-1 0-0 2, Norris 0-0 0-0 0, Osorio 0-1 0-0 0, Hosick 2-4 0-0 4, Johnson 4-13 2-2 13, Cowger 1-6 3-5 5, Austin 1-3 0-1 2. TOTALS 10-33 FG (30.3) 7-10 FT (70.0).

ST. ANTHONY (59)

Ragland 0-0 1-2 1, M. Jansen 3-3 2-3 8, Koerner 1-3 0-2 2, J. Jansen 2-8 0-0 4, Rohlfing 0-2 2-2 2, Worman 6-10 1-1 15, Dial 0-2 1-2 1, Willenborg 1-2 0-0 2, Baker 6-9 0-0 13, Sudkamp 1-3 1-2 3, Lustig 0-1 0-0 0, Schmitt 4-4 0-0 8. TOTALS 24-47 FG (51.1) 8-14 FT (57.1).

Vandalia--------5-----5----0---20---—---30

St. Anthony---19---15---14---11---—---59

3-point FG — Vandalia 3-10 (Bell 0-1, Johnson 3-9), St. Anthony 3-11 (Koerner 0-1, J. Jansen 0-2, Worman 2-4, Dial 0-2, Willenborg 0-1, Baker 1-1). Total Rebounds — Vandalia 25 (Team 6, Austin 4), St. Anthony 23 (Sudkamp 6, Willenborg 3, Worman 3). Offensive Rebounds — Vandalia 6 (Team 2, Hosick 2), St. Anthony 7 (Baker 2, Sudkamp 2). Assists — Vandalia 6 (Ritchey 2, Johnson 2), St. Anthony 11 (M. Jansen 3, Worman 2, Baker 2). Turnovers — Vandalia 23, St. Anthony 8. Steals — Vandalia 4 (Ritchey 2), St. Anthony 15 (Baker 4, Koerner 3). Blocked Shots — Vandalia 0, St. Anthony 3 (Baker 2, Lustig). Total Fouls — Vandalia 10, St. Anthony 15. Fouled Out — None.

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