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Thursday, November 26, 2009 10:23 PM CST
After clash of rivals, big games are left at St. Anthony tourney
By BRIAN NIELSEN, Sports Editor
bnielsen@jg-tc.com
No one stormed the court in celebration.
In fact, some stranger just wandering into Effingham St. Anthony’s Enlow Center on Wednesday probably could not have sensed that Charleston and Mattoon are neighboring rivals.
Fans don’t scream on every basket and every whistle until the Coles County clash in February on the home court of one of those teams.
“We definitely get pumped up for it but it doesn’t have the same effect as a home game,” Charleston senior forward Taylor Nead said.
No, Charleston’s 69-55 win over Mattoon on Wednesday was just another part of this St. Anthony Thanksgiving boys’ basketball tournament.
Really, the court-storming possibilities and intensity should increase in today’s 3 p.m. game when Charleston plays the less familiar foe Breese Central for first place in Pool B and a spot in Saturday’s 7:30 p.m. championship game.
This is a pool-play round-robin tournament but it really has provided winners’ and losers’ bracket-like semifinals today.
Charleston and Breese Central both are 2-0 going into the first of today’s games, which are to close with intracity rivals Effingham and Effingham St. Anthony clashing with 2-0 marks in the last of the four games.
Between those semifinals you have two games between 0-2 teams – Mattoon against Flora in Pool B at 4:30 p.m. and Taylorville against Vandalia at 6.
In today’s first game we see if Charleston with five new starters really is in the same league as Breese Central with its main guys back from a 30-3 team that beat last year’s Trojans on the way to this tournament championship.
Comparing earlier rounds, Charleston and Breese Central both beat Flora by 11 points – Breese needing to come back from a 17-4 deficit and Charleston holding off a Flora comeback.
Breese’s 72-51 win over Mattoon and Charleston’s 14-point victory on paper look similar although Mattoon once had a lead over the Trojans in the third quarter.
Charleston coach Trevor Doughty remains leery about Breese’s Cougars.
“They definitely haven’t hit their stride yet,” Doughty said. “When they’ve had to turn it on, they did. It’s going to take a good effort by our guys.”
Mattoon cannot be too discouraged by this 0-2 start.
Remember, the Green Wave won the early-season meeting against Charleston at this tourney and also a Salem Invitational Tournament game but the Trojans were the ones who got to celebrate not only a late-season win on Mattoon’s home floor but also a Class 3A regional title there the next week.
Mattoon coach Brooks Inman just regretted having to take a day off for Thanksgiving.
“I’d love to have a practice,” he said. “I told our guys the positive is we still have a chance to get two wins this week.”
Yeah, just as leftover turkey is getting cold today, the basketball could be getting hot.
Brian Nielsen is sports editor of the Journal Gazette/Times-Courier. Contact him at bnielsen@jg-tc.com or 238-6856.
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