Chester wins first Trico tournament title

Posted December 05, 2015 10:00 pm

By Pete Spitler Staff Writer

CAMPBELL HILL -- This time, overtime was not needed.

Jack Weir scored 21 points and Jake Golding added 13, leading Chester to a 57-47 win over host Trico to win its first Trico Pioneer Invitational Tournament title on Saturday.

It was also the first tournament title for Chester in 22 years, when the Yellow Jackets won the Metro East Lutheran Thanksgiving Holiday Tournament in 1992 and 93.

Last year's battle between the two teams took four overtimes to decide in a game that set a tournament record for most combined points (177).

"I don't know if it is describable," said Chester coach Brad Norman, when asked to describe the feeling of winning the tournament. "We've never had it happen. It's similar to the regional championship from 2012.

"It's a feeling like that, it's not the same, but the energy and the excitement on the boys' faces is indescribable."

After a close first quarter, Chester put together an 11-point run in the second to open up a 21-13 lead.

The Yellow Jackets (4-1) extended their lead to 13, 31-18, on a steal and breakaway layup from Golding with 4:47 left in the third. Chester took a 38-27 advantage into the fourth.

"We were just a little flat," said Trico coach Andrew Wilson. "We just came out flat offensively. We didn't have a lot of movement. We weren't setting good screens, we weren't cutting hard or hard enough."

But Trico, which entered the game 4-0 in the tournament and 63-9 in the 15-year history of its own showcase, had some fight left.

The Pioneers closed to within a bucket, 38-35, by slapping on a full-court press against the Yellow Jackets and scoring six points in 18 seconds to open the final quarter.

But, and perhaps most critically, Chester did not give up the lead. Savion Smith - who had eight points for the Yellow Jackets - converted a conventional 3-point play to give Chester a 41-35 lead with 6:25 to go.

A 3-pointer by Trico's Josh Compton brought the Pioneers back within three points, but the Yellow Jackets scored the next seven points to push the lead back to double digits.

"They got some runouts and some layouts, which is what I was worried about, but we got some turnovers," Wilson said. "There's some adjustments to be made the next time we see them and we'll see them at least two times if not three or four times."

The Yellow Jackets and Pioneers, both members of the Black Diamond Conference West Division, are scheduled to play each other Dec. 18 (at Trico) and Feb. 13 (at Chester). A third meeting is a possibility as Trico joined the Duster Thomas Hoops Classic (Dec. 28-29) at Pinckneyville this year.

"We rebounded really well," Norman said. "We were on help-side defense because we stressed that so much since Wednesday. We did such a bad job of it Wednesday (against Red Bud) that that has been our main focus.

"We've got to be there for our teammates. It's a very cliche thing to say, but it's what it comes down to defensively."

Weir and Jason Schwartz, who had eight points against Trico, were named to the All-Tournament team. Schwartz was named MVP.

"I'm all-around happy for the team and happy for everybody who came out and supported us," Schwartz said.

A full video interview with Schwartz is available on the Herald Tribune's Facebook page and website at www.randolphcountyheraldtribune.com.

Other All-Tournament team selections included Steeleville's Nic Hagel and Dusty Sutton; Trico's Trent Koch and Josh Compton; Red Bud's Frederick Grohmann and Jack Richards and Sparta's Devin Brown and Alzye Nesbitt.

Steeleville (3-2) finished third in the tournament, defeating Red Bud (2-3) 56-54 thanks to 37 points from Hagel. Trey Lazenby scored eight points and Owen Gross added six.

In Saturday's early game, Sparta (2-3) defeated Shawnee (0-5) 50-20.

Up next for Chester is the Yellow Jackets' home opener on Tuesday against Zeigler-Royalton, with the varsity contest scheduled to tip around 7:45 p.m. The Yellow Jackets will continue BDC play on Friday at Sesser-Valier before traveling to face Sparta on Saturday.

Steeleville is off until Friday when it hosts Marissa-Coulterville in its home opener.

- Yellow Jacket Radio contributed to this report.

Wednesday's Games:

Red Bud 63, Chester 46

Jason Schwartz scored 18 points, Jack Weir added 13 and Jake Golding chipped in 10, but it wasn't enough as Chester suffered its first tournament loss.

Red Bud outscored the Yellow Jackets 22-9 in the second quarter and held a 42-20 lead at halftime.

Steeleville 62, Shawnee 38

Nic Hagel led all scorers with 22 points, while Dusty Sutton and Owen Gross each contributed six in Steeleville's victory.

The Warriors led 19-11 after the first quarter and 33-20 at halftime.

Friday's Games:

Chester 52, Sparta 33

Jack Weir scored a game-high 17 points, while Jason Schwartz added 15 and Jake Golding contributed 12 for Chester, which led 22-12 at halftime.

The Yellow Jackets outscored Sparta 16-9 in the third to take a 38-21 lead into the fourth. The Bulldogs also lost Drew Kordys to an ankle injury in the quarter.

Trico 59, Steeleville 49

Trico improved to 4-0 with a win over Steeleville, which dropped to 2-2 in the tournament.

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