Friday, February 20, 2009 11:06 PM CST
Mattoon takes Bloomington to wire in loss
By RICK DAWSON, Staff Writer
rdawson@jg-tc.com
MATTOON -- Missing two of its top players, Bloomington’s offense sputtered against Mattoon’s extended pressure in the second half.
But Alex Burge never lost his hot hand and James Monroe never missed from the free-throw line, two big keys in holding on for a 55-49 victory Friday night.
When the Green Wave crept to within 32-29 early in the fourth quarter, Monroe scored inside and Burge hit back-to-back 3-pointers to push the lead back to nine. And when Mattoon came charging back to make it 42-39, Monroe sank all six of the free throws he attempted in the final 2:33. He finished 10-for-10 for the game.
“Luckily we hit a few there at the end, but luckily they were missing some,” Bloomington coach Jamie Codron said.
Mattoon (7-16) went 8-of-13 from the foul stripe in the final period but turned in a strong second-half performance to nearly pull off the upset. Trailing 27-14 at the half, it outscored the Purple Raiders 13-5 in the third quarter.
A big reason was getting Colton Pettyjohn back into the game. The 6-4 senior scored 20 of his 25 points in the second half after going to the bench in the first period with two fouls. Forcing too much on offense, the Wave made 10 first-half turnovers and shot 6-of-18 from the field.
“I think we tried to do too much in the first half rather than pass it,” Mattoon coach Brooks Inman said. “The second half we passed the ball much better. You know, Colton getting into foul trouble, he seemed like he was on his game tonight. Him getting into foul trouble hurt us a little bit.”
Monroe had 26 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks to lead Bloomington (10-13), which played without leading scorer D’Mitri Riggs (injured toe) and Darrelynn Dunn, who sat because of a violation of team rules. Burge got untracked early, though, going 3-of-6 from behind the arc in the first half, while Monroe scored 14 of his points before the break.
“We knew that Birge could shoot, that (Andy) Szabo could shoot,” Inman said. “But Burge hit some big 3s on us. Anytime we seemed like we cut into the lead it seemed like he hit a 3. That hurt.”
The Purple Raiders fell prey to turnovers of their own in the second half, making 13. They still had a 32-18 lead in the third quarter but didn’t score in the last five minutes. Meanwhile, Pettyjohn, Tyler Brandenburg (12 points) and Derrick Zavarella, who scored six in the fourth quarter, started going to work inside.
“Pettyjohn’s a ton,” Codron said. “He’s probably one of the best basketball players we’ve seen all year.”
Sixteen of the game’s final 27 possessions included trips to the foul line. After Pettyjohn took a bounce pass from Zavarella that cut the deficit to 53-49, Monroe hit his final two free throws with 12 seconds left.
Sophomore
Mattoon 62, Bloomington 61
Michael Heller scored 18 points, Skyler Hinchee 11 and Austin Ashworth 10 to lead the Green Wave (5-11).
Bloomington 17 8 23 13 – 61
Mattoon 16 12 19 15 – 62
MATTOON: Calio 0-0-0; Ashworth 3-2-10; Wolfe 4-0-9; Beason 1-0-2; Butch 1-0-2; Hinchee 3-5-11; Gates 0-0-0; Milligan 4-0-8; K. Heller 1-0-2; M. Heller 6-5-18
3-point goals: Ashworth 2, Wolfe, M. Heller
Add your comments
Not already registered?
Then click Here.
Comment policy:
JG-TC.com encourages readers to engage in civil conversation with their neighbors. Comments that are submitted are not posted to the site immediately. They go into a queue to be moderated and may take several hours to be reviewed. Comments posted on Saturday may not be reviewed until Sunday afternoon.
In order to keep the page a set width, long lines (mostly long links) will be chopped. Try putting spaces in your links or consider using tinyurl.com to make a smaller link that you can include.
We will never edit or alter your comments, but we do reserve the right to remove comments that violate our code of conduct.
No comment may contain:
* Potentially libelous statements; such as accusing somebody of a crime, defamation of character, or statements that can harm somebody's reputation.
* Obscene, explicit, or racist language.
* Personal attacks, insults, threats, harassment or inciting violence.
* Commercial product promotions.
If you have any questions, please contact our moderator.
|
|
|
|
|
