Friday, February 9, 2007 11:21 PM CST
Red Hill holds off Casey-Westfield
By Mike Monahan Staff Writer
mmonahan@jg-tc.com
CASEY —- The first time Casey-Westfield and Red Hill met the Warriors rallied from a 23-point first-half deficit to win 81-76 in overtime in the Little Illini Conference tournament quarterfinals.
On Friday, the two teams met again in a LIC contest between two 5-2 conference squads. Casey again almost pulled off a come-from-behind victory, trailing by 13 with three minutes left in the third quarter. This time the Warriors, who pulled to within one point with 19 seconds left, came up short, falling 67-63.
The Salukis appeared to have the game in control, leading 59-50 with 3:32 remaining as every time Casey got to within five to seven points, Red Hill answered. The Warriors began a 9-2 run with a basket by Brennan Ragon, one of three seniors playing in their final home game.
Lydon Burson, another senior, sank a three-pointer from the right baseline and after a basket by Red Hill’s 6-foot-6 Robert Petty, Mitch Snyder hit a pair of free throws and Ian Littlejohn, a senior, sank two after a Red Hill turnover, making it a 61-59 game.
The Salukis led 64-61 and missed two free throws when Littlejohn was fouled. He made two of three free throws and the Warriors were within one. Red Hill’s Lenny Diggs got the rebound and was fouled. He made one of two free throws with 16 seconds left. After a Warrior turnover, Blake Potts sank a pair of free throws to seal the win for the Salukis.
“They kind of let us back in the game a little bit,” said Casey coach Brandon Miller. “We fought back and had an opportunity to win, but a few turnovers and bad decisions hurt us. I am proud of the kids for fighting back, like we always do. We can’t leave ourselves a hole and Red Hill is playing good basketball right now (seven straight wins). We knew what we needed to do and we didn’t do enough of it. (Robert) Petty hurt us on the boards. He was alone inside and we couldn’t stop their penetration at times.”
Casey nearly won despite going nine minutes and 28 seconds shooting 3-of-21 (14 percent) from late in the second to late in the third quarter.
Ragon finished with a double-double for the Warriors, scoring a team-high 16 points and pulling down 15 rebounds. Littlejohn had 13 points, while Burson and Snyder finished with 14.
“He played a good game,” said Miller of Ragon. “He did a good job in there against Petty, who was four inches taller than him. He battled inside and he went out the right way in his last game on the home floor. I was glad to see Lydon Burson come out of his slump a little bit also.”
The Warriors were 14-of-52 (27 percent) in the first 24:96 of the game, before making 9-of-13 over a four minute stretch in the fourth.
“We really struggled from the floor,” said Miller. “We don’t have a huge inside game to start with and with Petty inside it takes away even more. We probably took a few more three-pointers than we wanted to. Petty is intimidating. We finally got hot in the fourth, but it was too much of a deficit tonight.”
Red Hill was 9-of-14 in the fourth from the free throw line, but it was enough for the win. Petty had 18 points and 13 rebounds for a double-double to lead the Salukis.
Casey took their only lead of the first half on the first basket of the game, a basket by Ragon. Red Hill reeled off eight straight points against the Warriors 2-3 zone defense. Diggs scored on a pass from Petty. Diggs scored again and Potts followed with a basket before Diggs’ basket forced Miller to call a time out. Red Hill led by as much as 10 in the first half on a basket by Brad Padgett off one of 11 first half Warrior turnovers.
Casey battled back to within two, 21-19 after a basket by Snyder with 3:20 left in the half. The Warriors were 10-of-31 in the first half and trailed 30-21 at the break.
Casey, 13-10 overall and 5-3 in the LIC, is to travel to Albion to face Edwards County Tuesday in the final LIC game of the season for the Warriors.
RED HILL (16-8, 6-2)FG FT Reb F TP
Diggs 5-14 2-3 8 1 12
Potts 2-10 4-4 6 1 8
Wampler 5-8 3-7 4 2 15
Petty 7-9 4-6 13 4 18
Padgett 4-9 0-0 6 1 8
Hawkins 3-6 0-0 1 1 6
Adams 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Team 5
Totals 26-56 13-20 44 9 67
CASEY-W (13-10, 5-3) FG FT Reb F TP
Lo. Boyd 1-6 1-2 0 4 3
Littlejohn 3-13 6-7 5 5 13
Burson 5-12 2-2 4 4 14
Ragon 8-17 0-1 15 3 16
Snyder 5-17 3-3 3 3 14
Finney 1-2 1-2 6 0 3
Yates 0-1 0-0 2 0 0
Shawver 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Kusterman 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Barnhaart 0-2 0-0 0 0 0
Team 2
Totals 23-72 13-17 41 19 63
Red Hill 16 14 16 21—67
Casey-Westfield 9 12 15 27 —63
3-point goals: Red Hill 2-11 (Wampler 2-4; Potts 0-5; Padgett 0-1; Hawkins 0-1, Casey-Westfield 4-18 (Littlejohn 1-6; Burson 2-6; Snyder 1-5; Lo. Boyd 0-1); Shooting percentages: Red Hill .464, Casey-Westfield .319; Turnovers: Red Hill 22, Casey-Westfield 17; JV: Red Hill 53, Casey-Westfield 43.
Contact Mike Monahan at mmonahan@jg-tc.com or 238-6854.
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CLICK TO ENLARGE
 Ken Trevarthan (JG/T-C)
Casey-Westfield forward Brennan Ragon takes a shot under pressure from Red Hill center Robert Petty Friday night.
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