Red Devils pull away from Warriors in Murphy tournament

Posted February 27, 2016 10:00 pm

By Pete Spitler Staff Writer

MURPHYSBORO -- Tyler Winchester led three players in double figures with 12 points, and Sesser-Valier pulled away from Steeleville in the fourth quarter of a 58-41 win in the first round of the Murphysboro Sophomore Boys Basketball Tournament on Saturday.

Steeleville's Nick Ebers gave the Warriors a 33-32 lead on a 3-pointer midway through the third quarter, but S-V responded with a 15-2 run that bridged the third and fourth quarters.

"I think their defensive guard play really attacked us," said Steeleville coach Andy Gerlach on the key differences between the two teams. "Mostly our guard play. We couldn't even get our bigs into the game with how pressured the guards were.

"(S-V) really ran the ball well up and down the floor."

In a battle of two traditional basketball schools, Steeleville scored the first four points of the game, but found itself down 15-11 at the end of the first quarter.

A 3-pointer from Kaleb Diercks brought the Warriors within a point, 17-16, with 5:16 left in the second quarter, but S-V responded with a 3-pointer of its own from Winchester at the other end.

The Red Devils then kept Steeleville at arm's length for the remainder of the first half, taking a 28-23 advantage into the locker room at halftime.

Ebers led all scorers with 13 points for the Warriors, while Diercks added 10. Eli Wittenborn also chipped in seven for Steeleville.

Lukas Gunter and Preston Launius each added 10 points for S-V.

"Kaleb gives you everything he has," Gerlach said. "He hustles and does everything right. There was a couple times he did knock down a couple threes."

S-V's Josh Gunter gave the Red Devils a 49-36 lead on two free throws with 6:49 remaining, and the 6-foot sophomore extended his team's lead to 16, 54-38, on two more free throws with 2:58 to go.

Steeleville moves on to play Trico - which fell to tournament host Murphysboro, 63-24, on Saturday - at 8:45 p.m. Monday in the last game of the night.

The winner will play in the consolation bracket semifinals on Saturday against the winner of Carterville and Thompsonville, while the loser is eliminated.

"We've got to play our game," Gerlach said. "We have to focus on trying to get the two big guys that we have...we have some length on some people.

"We have a 6-4 and a 6-6 kid and we've got to focus on getting the ball inside and if it's not there, passing it back outside for a shot. We need an inside-outside game."

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