Eagles come from behind to beat West Frankfort

Posted February 20, 2017 10:00 pm

By Michael Dann mdann@dailyregister.com

Beating a team three times is no easy task. Eldorado was presented with that conundrum Tuesday night, taking on West Frankfort in the IHSA Class 2A Regional at Duff-Kingston Gymnasium, on the campus of Eldorado High School. In two previous meetings, the Eagles won 60-48 on December 6 and were victorious 48-44 on January 20 at the West Frankfort Mid-Winter Tournament. Tuesday, a healthy dose of EHS senior Ethan Partridge in the fourth quarter, helped propel Eldorado to a 42-40 win, putting Eldorado in the regional championship Friday night. The win for Eldorado (27-3) is the fifth most in school history Eldorado head coach Josh Bradley is no stranger to having to play a team three times already this season. In order to win the Black Diamond Conference regular season championship, the Eagles had to turn the trick three times against Edwards County. "(Kevin" Toney has probably seen us play more than half of our fans have," Bradley said of West Frankfort and their head coach. "They know us very well and they are a well coached team, so you knew it wasn't going to be easy. Don't be fooled, that West Frankfort team has some talent. "We may get that same opportunity Friday night with a Carmi team that we have already played twice. We had to win the Black Diamond Conference by beating an Edwards County team that we beat twice and had to win for a third time. It's never an easy task, but this time of the year, you have to play 32 minutes and find a way to do it." The Eagles came out of Tuesday night's clash after being tied at 29 at three quarters with an emphasis to go to its 6-foot-5 senior forward in Partridge. The decision paid off for Bradley. Partridge had a game-high 18 points, 10 of which came in the all-important fourth quarter as he went 7-of-10 from the field and 3-of-7 from the foul line. "Ethan had the mismatch on him," Bradley explained. "West Frankfort put the (C.J.) Johnson kid on him, who is a tall, lanky kid, but is just a sophomore and not quite as strong as Ethan. Plus, Ethan is our senior and has the experience and he took advantage of his opportunities there in the fourth quarter." The game featured nine lead changed and four ties as Partridge put the Eagles up for good with a bucket at 3:38 in the fourth to give EHS a 37-35 lead. After Andrew Sturghill missed a bunny on West Frankfort's end that would have tied the game, Partridge picked off Braden Attebury's free throw miss for a cutback and gave Eldorado a 39-35 lead with 2:26 to play. Austin Glodich then answered for West Frankfort with a bucket, cutting the lead back to two, 39-37, but Partridge was there again for the hoop-and-harm to increase the Eagles' lead by four, 41-37. With under a minute to play, West Frankfort's Noah Allen got the shooters roll on his 3-point attempt to pull the Redbirds to within one, 41-40 with 50 seconds to play and Allen then fouled Attebury with 25.3 to play, where the sophomore went to the line and knocked down 1-of-2 free throws for the 42-40 advantage. West Frankfort had one last crack with 6.2 to go, but the final play never really developed for the Redbirds. "Even though our defense wasn't great, we still only gave up 40 points and the opportunities when we needed to, got the stops and our hands on some balls," Bradley said. I thought when we went to the trap in the fourth quarter, it changed the ballgame." Eldorado forced West Frankfort into 13 turnovers in the ballgame, while the Eagles held West Frankfort to 47 percent shooting from the floor as the Redbirds went 17-for-36 and 6-for-13 from 3-point range. On the flip side, Eldorado shot 15-of-34 from the field, 2-of-9 from beyond the arc and 10-of-20 from the foul line. Partridge was the only player to score in double figures for Eldorado. Braden Attebury netted nine points for the Eagles, while John Meredith scored seven points. Jacob Traxler finished with five points and Max Kasiar came off the bench to give Bradley three points. Allen led the Redbirds with 15 points and was their only player to reach double figures. Glodich and Sturghill each scored six points, while Johnson finished with five points. Keegan Thrash tossed in four points, while Kyle Hammers and Lucas Wolfe both had two points. "It doesn't matter this time of the year if you win pretty or if you win ugly, it doesn't matter," Bradley noted. "All you have to do is win and advance. Even though we didn't have our best game and we didn't play that well, we stayed gritty, worked hard and one thing this team has done all season is find a way to win in the end." Eldorado will now await the winner of tonight's contest featuring Harrisburg and Carmi-White County, slated for 7 p.m. at Duff-Kingston Gymnasium. The championship will be held Friday at 7 p.m. Michael Dann covers prep and college sports for the Harrisburg Daily Register and Eldorado Daily Journal. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.

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