BOYS BASKETBALL: Panthers beat Gibault to win Regional
In each of the past two seasons, Pinckneyville had their varsity boys basketball postseason cut short in Regional championship games. But on Friday night in Chester, a mostly-veteran group of Panthers added to the trophy collection at Thomas Gymnasium with a 53-39 victory over Gibault High School (Waterloo), earning a spot in this week's IHSA Class 2A Wood River (East Alton) Sectional.
Its' the first Regional crown for the Panthers since 2012, and the fourth for PCHS under current head coach Bob Waggoner, who also picked up the 350th victory of his career with the win over Gibault.
The Panthers held the Hawks to just a three-pointer from Jacob Bircher and a two by Brian Deterding in the first period and led 11-5 at the quarter break thanks to three triples by Tristan Fisher in the opening eight minutes. Fisher ended up with eighteen points in the game to lead all scorers.
"(Fisher) hit some big shots, some early threes that really set the tone for us," said Waggoner. "Overall just a very good team ball game. There are lots of different people that made plays. You have to have that to get success against a team like Gibault."
Gibault trailed by three after a Trevor Davis three and a layup from Jacob Rueter that prompted a timeout from Waggoner and the PCHS bench with 3:20 to go in the half.
Brian Taylor answered for Pinckneyville with a three, then Clayton Houghland upped the lead to ten with an inside bucket for his only points of the night. The Hawks closed back to within five with 28 seconds on the clock, but Luke buried a three six seconds before the horn to give the Panthers a 28-20 edge at halftime.
The Hawks would make a couple pushes in the third quarter, but each time they'd draw closer, Pinckneyville would respond and extend the lead once again.
It was 30-24 Panthers when Luke converted a conventional three-point play to stretch Pinckneyville's advantage back to nine.
A quick 6-0 spurt by Gibault late in the third period cut the lead to three, but Luke drove the baseline for a layup with 1:24 left and Tyler Rulevish brought the blue side of the crowd to its feet when he beat the third quarter buzzer with a three to put PCHS up 42-34 heading to the fourth. Fisher made a nice drive and kick-out pass to Rulevish for the assist on the big bucket.
"Big three at the half by Luke, big three by Rulevish (at the end of the third), then we turn around and score again to start the fourth to push it to double figures," Waggoner said. "From that point on it was kind of academic. Overall just a great team effort defensively tonight, and I think offensively it was pretty good too. Inside-out action, it's nice to see the ball go in and come back out, playing through the big guy, just playing solid basketball."
Gibault got no closer than eight in the fourth quarter and will end their season with a record of 20-10. Davis led the Hawks with 16 points. Jacob Rueter added ten, but was 0-for-4 on three-point attempts after hitting five of them in his 20-point effort in a win over Chester in the semifinals. Deterding finished with eight points. The Hawks cooled down from their 26-for-52 (50%) shooting performance against the Yellow Jackets, managing just 13-for-36 (36%) against the Panthers.
"I just thought overall our defense tonight on their key players was fantastic," Waggoner said. "I thought (Sam) Simpson, (Adam) Banach and Houghland did an unbelievable job on Deterding. Fisher of course, we put (Jacob) Rueter on 'Fisher Island,' and it was pretty tough on him. (Davis) is a whale of a player, I can't believe he's a sophomore. He made some nice plays."
Luke joined Fisher in double figures for PCHS with fourteen points. Taylor added nine points, Simpson four, Rulevish and Banach each had three, and Houghland had two.
Waggoner's 350 victories have come at Pinckneyville, Oblong, Lawrenceville, Lebanon and Columbia. He improved to 183-62 overall in his eight seasons in command at PCHS and is the third winningest coach in Panther basketball history behind Dick Corn (682-255) and Duster Thomas (460-128).
"That's a milestone with a lot of good memories and a lot of good people, a lot of quality families, and a lot of time and energy from a lot of different people," Waggoner said. "It shows I'm getting older, but at the same time it means a lot."
The Panthers (24-6) will take on Roxana (16-15) at East Alton-Wood River High School on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. in the Sectional semifinals. On the other side of the bracket, Greenville and Breese (Mater Dei) will face off on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. The winners of each semifinal will match up on Friday at 7:00 p.m. for the championship and a trip to the Carbondale Super-Sectional on March 10.