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Vandalia shootout season underway

 

The Vandalia Community High School boys basketball team opened up summer basketball action last Thursday and Friday in the first of four home shootouts, finishing second in Friday’s tournament portion of the shootout.
Vandalia was able to bounce back after a trio of losses to Benton, Raymond/Lincolnwood and Murphysboro on Thursday with a pair of wins Friday, closing out the tournament with an improved effort against  Benton in a 31-20 loss.
“We did (pick up the intensity today). We started out bad Thursday. The kids were tired, kids were a little bit crabby because they had been in the weight room and doing other stuff,” Vandalia head coach Brian Buscher said. “We didn’t come out with energy and we didn’t play very good all day yesterday.”
Vandalia opened Friday’s play against Patoka, a team that had defeated the Vandals during the regular season.  The Warriors, coming off a sectional title, were able to jump out to an early 14-4 lead with baskets from Garrett Belcher and Jered Cain.
Cain found Cobb down low for an easy post bucket, followed by a three of his own to extend the lead to 27-14 late in the first half. The Vandals answered with an 11-3 run to close out the first half.
Trailing 30-25 to open the second half, Vandalia was able to carry the momentum over as Well knocked down a three-pointer from the baseline to tie the game, 35-35. Cain fought back, scoring on a pair of layups and a drive inside the paint to give Patoka a five-point lead, but it was not enough.
A pair of threes from Nathan Casey highlighted a 13-2 run as Vandalia pulled ahead, 53-47. A late three from Cain brought the Warriors within three, but the Vandals were able to hang on from there and win 65-60.
“We played really well early (against Vandalia) and then halfway through the second quarter, we couldn’t get to the shooters. Well and Casey just lit us up from outside. Then, we ran into this Benton team who is really a good team,” Patoka assistant coach Scott Cain said. “We are playing about eight kids and we brought some freshman along, so we are playing against Benton, who is bringing five in and five out. We just kind of ran into a good shooting team and couldn’t get things going.”
Cain commented on the struggle of replacing two starters from last season (Shane Cain and Dylan Back), to go along with the pressure of living up to last season’s performance, finishing in the Sweet 16 and capturing its first ever sectional championship.
“We are missing Shane’s energy and Back, who was a shooter for us. That’s going to be one of the (issues). We have some new kids coming in who haven’t much varsity, but hopefully it will go along with the nucleus we have and we will be all right,” Cain said. “We are going to have to come up with some way to top that (last season’s performance).  Hopefully, we don’t put too much pressure on ourselves, too.”
Both Patoka and Vandalia were able to secure wins in the first round of the shootout’s tournament action, with Vandalia defeating Raymond/Lincolnwood and Patoka defeating East Alton/Wood River.
Despite losing to Raymond/Lincolnwood, 42-34, the day before, Vandalia was able to bounce back in the rematch with a dominant 35-17 win, earning a spot in the shootout championship against Benton, who had advanced with a 35-22 win over Patoka.
While Benton had defeated Vandalia by 40 points the day before, Vandalia was able to remain competitive throughout the shootout championship. Benton jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead, but Vandalia was able to bounce back, cutting the lead to just one with a Kelly Jones layup.
However, Benton pulled away from there, closing out the game on a 10-2 run to win, 31-20, earning the shootout championship.
Buscher was happy to see the improved effort from his team, citing a couple of late mistakes as the difference-makers in 11-point loss.
“We were tired and we made a couple of mistakes toward the end and they got some layups. Other than that, I thought we played pretty well. We missed a couple of rebounds early and at that point, it was the difference in the game,” Buscher said. “But, we hit some shots, we broke their (Benton’s) press and they had been turning people over all of the past two days, so I was pretty happy with how we played.”
While Vandalia had no seniors on last season’s team, they will have the benefit of some new faces to help round out the roster, with one of the key additions being junior Ethan Bales, an all-conference offensive lineman on the football team.
“We have Ethan Bales coming back (this season). Blake Morrison, Blake Barth, Scott Shulman and Ethan Ferguson are (also) getting some time in there,” Buscher said.

Richie Well drives toward the hoop past a Raymond/Lincolnwood defender Friday afternoon.

Nathan Casey drives down the court past a Benton defender Friday afternoon in the first shootout of the season.

Garrett Belcher shoots over Vandal defender Scott Shulman (23) during a morning game Friday. Vandalia went on to defeat Patoka, 53-47.

Garret McNary (40) and Nathan Casey contest an Auburn shooter Friday afternoon.

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