Acree's out, but Terriers win two games over weekend
"Short-handed" was defined in two different manners this past weekend - but neither definition was enough to deter the Terriers from grabbing two more wins.
On Friday morning, Carbondale senior Kani Acree stepped off a pickup truck and into a disaster of sorts. He tore up his left knee by missing a step and so may be out most if not the whole season.
Yet the Terriers, even without Acree's 19 points per game, clamped down on the Cahokia Comanches Friday night at Bowen gym beating them 43-39. The next day another "hand" was shortened - this time at the coaching spot.
Assistant coach Mike Butler was pressed into service a few hours before the Saturday game with Carterville, when head Coach Jim Miller attended his daughter's graduation at SIU. Under Butler's direction, the Terriers beat the Lions 54-37.
"Whether it's missing players or missing coaches, it's next man up," Butler said.
Butler, who does a lot of the scouting of opponents, knows the tendencies of most other teams.
"We had great communication and aggressiveness on defense," Butler said. "That's five games in a row that we have held opponents under 40 points."
In the win against the Comanches, Carbondale jumped to a 17-7 first quarter lead, but only scored three points in the second quarter.
However, the Terrier defense held Cahokia to eight points. Carbondale still held a five-point lead (20-15) at the halftime break. But CCHS's other senior Zee Johnson (11 points) and sophomore center Jame Baltz (10 points) almost made up for the points usually put up by Acree. Miller was well pleased.
"Zee's body control on his drives was fabulous," Miller said Friday. "And Baltz is getting better and better on offense and defense.
"After we heard about Kani we were kind of on an emotional roller coaster," Miller said about the injury situation. "But Darius (Beane) came through by hitting seven of eight free throws down the stretch to seal the win."
In the Terriers' Saturday win, Carbondale again jumped out to big first quarter lead (18-9 Terrier's favor). But this time CCHS never let its opponent any closer than nine points. It was 33-15 Carbondale at halftime, with Beane leading the way with 15 points.
Sophomore Davaris Macklin helped out with seven points for the half and had 12 for the game.
Carbondale shot 77 percent (17-22) from inside the three-point line. They only hit five for 19 from three-point range but had 13 more shot attempts than the Lions nullifying its poor three-point shooting.
The Terriers crushed the Lions on the boards 23-15 and created nine turnovers to account for the differential in end of game points.
Now it's off to Murphysboro Wednesday for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff for the Terriers' final game before the Carbondale Holiday Tournament.