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Prep Hoops: Harrisburg turns up heat, whips West Frankfort

Harrisburg set the tone on the defensive end at the onset Friday night.

The result was a relentless pursuit of the basketball that led to a crisp transition game on offense and a wire-to-wire victory for the Bulldogs as they whipped West Frankfort 75-57 at Max Morris Gymnasium.

Harrisburg's full court press forced the Redbirds to cough up the rock 13 times in the first half as the Bulldogs built a 38-19 halftime lead and left with West Frankfort turning the ball over 26 times and shooting 46 percent from the field as the Redbirds went 19-for-41 from the field.

The Bulldogs, who got a game-high 26 points from Isaiah Saulsberry, went 28-for-55 from the field for 50 percent, while knocking down 5-of-12 3-pointers and went 14-for-15 from the foul stripe.

Harrisburg head coach Randy Smithpeters said afterwards he was very impressed with the effort and execution his Bulldogs displayed in dismantling a West Frankfort ball club, that just a little less than a week ago, played Herrin the championship of their own Mid-Winter Tournament.

"We had one word written on the board in the locker room. We didn't put names up, numbers up. We didn't put up plays, we put up one word and that word was compete.

"Now compete is a pretty complex word in the fact that we intend for you to compete physically, mentally, make good decisions and communicate - everything that it takes for you to be as good as you can be. These guys did that tonight."

West Frankfort remained winless in the SIRR Ohio falling to 0-6 on the season and are now 6-14 overall, got a team-high 18 points from Noah Allen and another 15 points from Keegan Easley.

Still the defensive end is where Smithpeters was most pleased as Harrisburg improved to 14-8 overall and went to 3-3 in league play.

"The defensive side of it is always the most important and these guys truly understand take pride in defense. Smithpeters didn't guard anyone tonight and those guys go out there and do their job and work together and make good decisions and that is our goal. We made West Frankfort make decisions and we didn't overcompensate anything or put too much pressure that we got beat back. I thought that worked well for us. We shot the ball well, which really helps too."

Anfernee Houston also finished in double figures for the Bulldogs, dropping in 10 points, while Jordan Bartok added eight points. Patrick Bittle scored seven, while Blake Drue, Jordan Gould and Hunter Smith all chipped in with six points.

Smithpeters said he was concerned about the time off, having not played since overcoming a 15-point deficit in the second half to beat Mt. Vernon, Ind., last Saturday at the Carmi-White County Invitational and invaded Max Morris a man short as the Bulldogs were without top reserve Noah Ferrell, who has been sick for the better part of the week.

"This week's practices, while they were good, were never really complete in the fact that we had somebody out for one reason or another and I was concerned how we would come up and gel on a night like tonight."

Another talking point for Smithpeters and company was to come out and put forth their best game of the season and the 23-year head coach wasn't sure his team didn't do that.

"We shot the ball well, we passed the ball well, we defended well. I'm just very happy and very proud."

Michael Dann covers prep and college sports for the Harrisburg Daily Register. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.

Anna-Jonesboro 75

West Frankfort 57

Score by quarters:

Harrisburg 20 18 21 16 - 75

West Frankfort 08 11 20 18 - 57

3pt

Harrisburg (14-8, 3-3) FG FG FT R PF TP

Patrick Bittle 3-5 1-3 0-0 2 4 7

Blake Drue 1-2 0-0 4-4 0 4 6

Isaiah Saulsberry 9-18 3-6 3-4 5 3 26

Jordan Gould 3-7 0-0 0-0 4 2 6

Jordan Bartok 4-4 0-0 0-0 1 1 8

Anfernee Houston 4-11 1-2 0-0 5 1 10

Hunter Smith 3-6 0-1 0-0 2 0 6

Austin Hefner 0-3 0-0 0-0 1 1 0

Total: 28-55 5-12 14-15 20 16 75

3pt

West Frankfort (6-14, 0-6) FG FG FT R PF TP

Keegan Easley 5-14 1-3 4-4 6 2 15

Austin Glodich 2-4 0-0 1-2 4 4 5

Noah Allen 5-12 4-6 4-6 1 2 18

Keegan Thrash 0-2 0-0 3-5 3 2 3

Chase McLaren 2-4 0-0 1-3 9 2 5

Lucas Wolfe 2-3 0-1 1-2 0 2 5

Jaryd Clark 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 2

Ethan Riddle 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Andrew Sturgill 2-2 0-0 0-0 1 1 4

Total: 19-41 5-11 13-20 24 15 57

Turnovers: Harrisburg 14, West Frankfort 26

Technical Fouls: None