BASKETBALL: #204 Tigers add to trophy case with 3rd Place in Class S

INA, IL - It wasn't the game Pinckneyville District #204 wanted to be playing in on Saturday afternoon, but the Tigers made the best of it, holding off New Hebron 52-40 to win Third Place in Class S at the 2012-13 State Championships held at Rend Lake College in Ina.

Alex Howard capped off a tremendous four-game stretch at the tournament with 22 points to lead the Tigers, Corey Dahn joined him in double figures with 10. Howard finished the week with 71 points (17.8 ppg) in #204's four contests at RLC.

Howard had all eight of the Tigers' points in the opening quarter, enough to account for an 8-7 advantage after seven minutes of play. New Hebron led 7-6 with 14.8 seconds to go before Howard got deep into the post and banked one home with time ticking down. The brief edge for the Eagles was their only lead of the ball game.

Kyle Kreger got in on the action in the second quarter, scoring on two fast breaks just twelve seconds apart to make it 14-9 for the Tigers, who led 19-13 at halftime.

New Hebron stuck around, however, cutting the lead to three near the midway point of the third quarter, but back-to-back layups from Kreger and Dahn settled things down for #204. J.C. Moll and Kreger provided assists on the two buckets.

The Eagles tried to stay in it in the fourth, but Howard and the Tigers proved to be too much to handle. Howard found Dahn for a layup to start the final frame, then a minute later put in a pair of close-range shots himself to stretch Pinckneyville's lead to a dozen at 42-30.

Behind Howard and Dahn, six other Tigers got into the scoring column on Saturday. Kreger had 6 points, Moll, Grayson Buza and Caleb Logan each had 4, and Dustin Engelhardt and Luke Zelasko finished with 1.

Noah Conner, Draeden Kreger, Jarek Speith, T.J. Borque, Caleb Conway, Jeremy Opp and Grant Murphy round out the roster for the third place Tigers from #204, who are coach by Dennis Ginn, assisted by Josh Plumlee, Scott Kreger and Josh Searby.

In the Champoinship game for Class S, Woodlawn knocked off Rome 39-28.