EHT: Contributing To The Cause
Contributions. They came in all shapes and sizes for Harrisburg in their 70-45 route of Carrier Mills Saturday night in the opening round of the 51st Eldorado Holiday Tournament.
Whether it came in the form of the much-needed scoring from the hot hand of Patrick Bittle, who always seems to play well at the EHT, or the rebounding production from 6-foot junior Jordan Gould, or Blake Drue fighting through foul trouble or Isaiah Saulsberry fighting through an injury to have co-game-high scoring honors with Bittle or the bench production of Noah Ferrell and Hunter Smith, they all played in big part in a game that Harrisburg head coach Randy Smithpeters had his concerns about coming in.
"I always think its hard to come back after Christmas, you have that time off and you're in the Christmas mood and you get away from basketball a little bit and then you have to jump right back in and be prepared to play a very, very important game. I was happy with the way we came with some energy and I think as the game went on we got a little bit better, which is what I would expect also."
Both Bittle and Saulsberry had a pair of 16-point performances against their cross town rival in Carrier Mills, while Ferrell came off the bench to finish with 14 points, eight of which came in the first half, that included three ties and four lead changes as Harrisburg took an 34-16 lead into the locker room.
Saulsberry suffered an injury in the opening possession of the Massac County game and was absent from the Du Quoin game prior to the EHT, but looked to be back in form as he had 11 of his 16 points in the second quarter.
"Sauls has been out for a little more than a week or so and I think that affected him and I thought it would as well," Smithpeters said. "But, I was really glad to see him fight through that. I thought as a team we played well on offense, doing the offensive things that we want to do. Defensively, we did fine. We would have liked to have done a little better, but we'd always like to do better on that end."
On the flip side, Carrier Mills-Stonefort first year head coach Keil Peebles, who made his first return to the EHT since he was a player at Johnston City High School in the early's 1970's was anything but pleased.
"I'm really disappointed," Peebles said. "We worked hard all week on finding the people we need to find and cutting off the penetration and we just didn't do a very good job of it (tonight). I told the kids, I thought they looked a little bit intimidated, but I don't know if that's true or not. I just think when you're Carrier Mills and you're seven miles away from Harrisburg and you're playing a rival team that is close, you have to come ready to play. I thought Harrisburg did a great job of spreading the floor and using their quickness to get to the hole."
Rahman Fann had a team-high 12 points for the Wildcats, while Micah Childers netted nine points and Justice Hill added eight points. Brody Walker scored seven points, while Billy Lewis tacked on three. Justin Austin, Christian Fuller and Dylan Schwartz all had two points.
After Bittle, Saulsberry and Ferrell, Gould scored seven points for the Bulldogs, while Jordan Bartok chipped in with six. Austin Hefner finished with five points, while Smith tacked on three points. Drue had two points and William Sanders had a free throw.
With the win, Harrisburg gets a cross county rivalry game to cap off Monday night's EHT festivities with Eldorado, while the Saline County battle rages on between Carrier Mills and Galatia in the consolation bracket.
Michael Dann covers prep and college sports for the Harrisburg Daily Register. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.
Carrier Mills 06 10 16 13 - 45
Harrisburg 12 22 19 17 - 70
Carrier Mills: Childers 3 0-0 9, Fann 5 1-2 12, Austin 1 0-0 2, Fuller 1 0-1 2, Hill 4 0-0 8, Schwartz 1 0-0 2, Walker 2 3-3 7, Lewis 1 1-1 3. Totals 22 5-7 45.
Harrisburg: Bittle 6 2-2 16, Drue 1 0-0 2, Gould 3 1-4 7, Smith 1 1-2 3, Hefner 2 0-0 5, Saulsberry 7 0-0 16, Sanders 0 1-2 1, Bartok 2 2-3 6, Ferrell 5 2-4 14. Totals: 27 9-17 70.
3-point FG: CMSF 4 (Childers 3, Fann), HBG 7 (Ferrell 2, Saulsberry 2, Bittle 2, Hefner). Fouls: CMSF 10, HBG 11.