Terriers boys basketball Terriers take fifth at holiday tournament Carbondale to face South Seven rival Marion tonight
The split personality of last week's Carbondale Holiday Tournament often leads to rather low finishes (in contrast to win-loss records). For example, Carbondale finished fifth in the total tournament, beating Murphysboro 43-37 last Saturday night.
But that win was their third in four games played. (The Terriers are now 13-3 overall.) But the Terriers were beaten 59-45 in last Friday night's game against Mundelein in the semifinals of the big school bracket, thus shifting them from a direct line to last Saturday's championship game to having to win two more games just to finish fifth.
Against Mundelein, the Terriers actually led for more minutes than they trailed, but a flurry of turnovers by the Terriers and three-pointers by Mundelein reversed both teams' fortunes. Carbondale had 15 turnovers, many of which happened when Carbondale had the lead. In the fourth, the Terriers went down court with the lead and turned the ball over, leading to no shot attempt by the Terriers and two straight threes by the Mustangs.
"At that point we had one of our players going 'rogue' and not slow the ball down and run the offense," noted Carbondale head coach Jim Miller. "Otherwise we had a great effort. But we must have the discipline to close out games against good teams."
Mundelein went on to win the tournament, so one game's lack of discipline down the stretch was the difference between the Terriers playing for the championship or fifth place.
Actually, the Dawgs played rather well in the three wins they had in last week's tourney. Besides their win over Jackson County rival Murphysboro (the second win over them this season), CCHS beat Southland College Prep High 72-33 in their first game of the Tournament a week ago last Thursday (Dec. 27).
The Terriers also beat New Madrid County Central in a close game, 52-46, to get into the fifth-place game with old foe Murphy. The Terrierss led the Mustangs 28-17 at half time after leading them by 13 (26-13) earlier. But, unlike the Mundelein game, the Terriers refused to let the Eagles ever get the lead.
Carbondale experienced a bit of a let-down again in Saturday's fifth-place win over the Red Devils. The Terriers jumped out to a 14-4 first quarter lead but could never expand that lead and make the game a rout, as they did in a Dec. 17 crushing of the Devils (62-39 Carbondale win).
In last Saturday's contest, after leading 22-12 at the halftime break, the Terriers actually trailed by as many as three points in the fourth quarter. However, two Terrier steals in a row leading to Carbondale baskets reversed the Terriers' fortunes for the narrow, six-point win (43-37).
"Well, in some parts of the third period we played ugly ball like we did at times against Mundelein," Miller said. "But this time we found a way to win the game against Murphysboro - that's a plus we can take out of the win."
Tonight's away game against South Seven foe Marion will be another tough game.
The Wildcats finished above the Terriers in last week's Carbondale Tournament. (The Cats finished in third place.) The game starts at 7:30 p.m., and broadcast of the contest is on 91.1 FM.