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BASKETBALL: Emotional victory sends Harrisburg to SIU

Posted March 05, 2012 10:00 pm

Doug Daniels

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[In the midst of clean-up efforts in Harrisburg, there were still enough folks wanting to see basketball that Duff-Kingston Gymnasium in Eldorado was near capacity for Saturday afternoon's rescheduled 2A Sectional Final.

While the fans in purple were provided with an emotional break from all that came with Wednesday's EF4 tornado that swept through the southern end of Harrisburg, those in blue were left feeling just that - blue.

The Bulldogs blitzed the Panthers for a 19-3 opening quarter in a game in which they trailed just once, 1-0, eventually punching their ticket for Tuesday's Super-Sectional at SIU Arena with a 54-47 triumph.

"Defensively we seemed a little bit off, we weren't really up guarding them, and they got to the rim a little bit on us," said Panthers' head coach Bob Waggoner. "I don't know if it's the extra day, or if it's the trip, but I thought we were ready. We had a great walk-through today."

"You have to give Harrisburg some credit, I think their kids have risen up during this trying time and have really played well."

Despite the circumstances, the Bulldog fans showed up in full force. Also on hand was Illinois governor Pat Quinn, who took in the game alongside Harrisburg mayor Eric Gregg.

Following the victory, Bulldogs head coach Randy Smithpeters reflected on what basketball has meant to the Harrisburg community during a tragic week.

"We talked about the fact that, although there's a lot of things going on in Harrisburg, a lot of really bad things, how much the people really support and really enjoy (basketball)," said R. Smithpeters. "What we said three days ago was that we wanted to be a bright spot in a very dark time in Harrisburg. We were able to do that."

"I know it's a basketball game, and in the priorities of life, maybe it's not that important. But when people whose homes are gone stop you uptown and say 'are we playing tonight?' or 'the boys played really well last night' then it's pretty important. We're happy that we could make some people happy and provide a bit of a get-away here for a couple hours."

Capel Henshaw led the way for Harrisburg with 22 points, 17 of them coming in the second half as the Bulldogs fought off a late charge by the Panthers.

Tyler Smithpeters joined Henshaw in double figures with 16 points, 8 of those coming in the big first quarter when the Bulldogs built their lead. Meanwhile, the Panthers managed just one field goal in the opening frame, a bucket from Payton Nippe at the 2:22 mark.

"We watched enough film on them, they usually come out the first four minutes and really get after you," Waggoner said. "We were caught in a bit of a catch-twenty-two, if you use all your timeouts there, you know that you can't come back towards the end when you need them."

But after Eli Taborn-Scott gave Harrisburg a 21-6 lead early in the second quarter, the Bulldogs went ice cold from the floor. Chris Priebe hit consecutive turnaround jumpers for Pinckneyville to spark an 8-0 run to close out the second quarter as the Panthers began to force some turnovers on defense.

"Our game plan worked out pretty well," said Waggoner. "I told the kids before half to get it to eight, and they did. We had it where we needed it a couple times, but we had some costly turnovers."

T. Smithpeters and Henshaw buried threes in the third, but a baseline drive by Dylan Hardin brought the Panthers to within six with 3:47 left on the clock.

That was as close as the SIRR Mississippi Division champs would get. The Bulldogs scored eight straight points, six at the free throw line, and led 41-32 after three despite Nippe's buzzer-beater in the lane.

Harrisburg then started to struggle at the charity stripe, missing nine consecutive free throws but playing well enough at the defensive end and killing enough clock on offense to prevent Pinckneyville from closing the gap.

"They missed some to give us a chance, but again, we had too many costly turnovers," Waggoner said. "Our margin of error with our team is very minimal, and we really played over that today against a very good ball club."

Preibe led Pinckneyville with 12 points, Nippe had 8, Bryant Shute and Hunter Queen each finished with 7, Hardin 5, Keegan Kellerman 4 and Justin Bumann and Devan Downard 2 apiece.

Taborn-Scott added 8 points for the Bulldogs, Ryne Roper 5 and Kashmere Barners 3.

"I thought at times we weren't as aggressive as we needed to be," said Waggoner. "There were shots to be taken. I've said this all along, I think the more aggressive team wins and today (Harrisburg) was more aggressive."

"We didn't attack, we didn't finish around the goal. We missed a lot of easy shots today, it's uncharacteristic of us, and it came back to get us."

Harrisburg (28-5) and Breese Central will tipoff around 8 p.m. Tuesday night at the SIU Arena in a Class 2A super-sectional. The Cougars (31-1) won the Vandalia Sectional and defeated Harrisburg, 62-49, in Carbondale in December.

The Panthers wrapped up their 2011-12 season at 26-5 and champions of the Pinckneyville Regional.

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