Vandals take second place at Morrisonville Tourney

By Editor | January 18, 2018 |

One night after a bucket by Nathan Casey with 1.5 seconds on the clock gave them a win over Raymond-Lincolnwood, Vandalia breezed past Edinburg on Saturday to take second place in the Morrisonville Mohawk Tournament.

The Vandals finished the tournament with a 3-1 record, with the only loss coming for Nokomis, the tournament champion, on Thursday night.
In that Thursday game, Nokomis jumped out to a 16-7 lead after one quarter, then extended the spread by a point, 30-20, at halftime.
A 20-point third quarter put the Redskins up by 17 going into the fourth quarter, and the Vandals narrowed the gap by only three in the fourth quarter.
Blake Morrison led the Vandals in scoring with 18 points, and Garrett Austin and Nathan Casey each had nine.
Against Raymond-Lincolnwood, the Vandals were behind for much of the first quarter. They were down by four, 15-11, when Nathan Casey nailed a three-pointer at the end of the quarter to narrow the lead to one.
Garett McNary again got the Vandals within one, 18-17, then tied the score at 19 with two free throws with 3:24 left in the half.
Another McNary basket knotted the score again at 21, then Blake Morrison gave the Vandals their first lead since the beginning of the game with a layup at the 2:04 mark.
After the Lancers dropped two free throws, Morrison dropped in a layup after getting a feed from Casey to give the Vandals a 25-23 lead at halftime.
The Vandals led by eight at the 4:30 mark of the third quarter and again at the four-minute mark, but the Lancers crept back. The lead was six with just over a minute left in the quarter when Casey was called for two fouls in a matter of seconds.
The Vandals led 41-36 at the start of the fourth quarter, then Casey was relegated to extended time on the bench after picking up his fourth foul with 7:21 left.
Vandalia led by nine early in the final quarter, but Raymond-Lincolnwood kept narrowing the gap. Casey extended the lead back to six at the 3:10 mark with a turnaround three-pointer from the corner.
Vandalia led 54-49 with 41.1 seconds left in the game after Morrison made two free throws, but a Lancer three-pointer followed by a two-point basket knotted the score at 54 with 16 seconds left.
A free throw gave Raymond-Lincolnwood a one-point lead, but Casey worked inside to put the Vandals on top, 56-55, with 1.5 seconds left, with the ball bouncing on the rim several times before falling through.
Raymond-Lincolnwood then tried a long pass, but Casey intercepted it and was immediately fouled. His two free throws set the final margin at three points.
Despite spending considerable time on the bench in foul trouble, Casey led the Vandals with 21 points. McNary and Morrison added 14 and 11, respectively.
In their final game of the tournament, everyone on the Vandals’ tournament roster got considerable playing time in the 76-38 win.
Matthew Wells scored nine of his 11 points in the first quarter as the Vandals built up a 24-10 lead after one quarter.
They outscored Edinburg 26-13 in the second quarter as most of the Vandals’ bench saw action.
With coach Brian Buscher regularly moving all of his players in and out of the game in the second half, Vandalia outscored Edinburg 14-5 in the third quarter and 12-10 in the fourth.
Morrison led all scorers with 15, and Casey, Markus Isaiah, Wells and Scott Shulman also scoring in double figures.
It was a good tournament for the Vandals, Buscher said.
“You play five games in a short amount of time,” he said.
“Mulberry Grove is a tough game for us, because we don’t match up well with them, and Carlinville was a tough game. Raymond-Lincolnwood was a heck of a game for us.
“Four out of five games were tough for us,” he said. “I like the round-robin style, I like this tournament – it’s a good match for us, good competition.”
Buscher said the Vandals needed another game with Mulberry Grove after the Aces won in a matchup during the St. Elmo Tournament last month.
“We know that the week of the St. Elmo Tournament that we didn’t play very good basketball, for a four to five game stretch.”
Even though the Edinburg game was never close, the Vandals were able to get something out of it.
“We talked about doing some things that we’ve been working on – our passing, our pass trap, our dribble trap.
“It’s good experience – I don’t care who’s on the floor, when you’re doing something defensively, whether it’s to pick up the tempo or maybe just get a turnover.
“It’s good for those kids to be in different spots in a game situation, with their adrenaline pumping, to see how they can get in there and rotate, and I thought we did that tremendously well in the first half,” Buscher said.
“We’re after Christmas now, we’re over halfway done with our season, and we’ve probably played more games than anybody,” he said.
“We want those younger kids to get more time, even if it’s just a couple of minutes a game or here and there. They’ve earned it,” he said.
“They’ve built up some trust, and we trust them to execute what we’re trying to do.
It’s nice to get some significant playing time for those guys,” Buscher said.
Vandalia vs. Nokomis
Vandalia – Austin 4 1-1 9, Wallis 1 0-2 2, N. Casey 4 0-0 9, M. Casey 0 0-0 0, Dunn 0 0-0 0, Wells 1 1-2 4, Morrison 7 1-2 18, McNary 0 0-0 0, Shulman 0 0-0 0, Isaiah 2 0-0 5, Ferguson 0 0-0 0.
Nokomis – Marley 0 0-0 0, Engelman 0 0-0 0, Chasse 0 0-0 0, Ransdell 7 2-3 16, Tosetti 0 0-0 0, McDowell 1 5-6 7, C. Sabol 6 2-5 14, Barnes 5 0-0 10, B. Sabol 7 0-0 14.
Three-pointers – Vandalia-Casey 1, Morrison 3, Isaiah 1, Wells 1; Nokomis-0.
Vandalia vs. Raymond-Lincolnwood
Vandalia – Austin 0 0-0 0, N. Casey 6 2-2 21, Wells 0 2-3 2, Morrison 4 3-4 11, McNary 2 10-13 14, Shulman 0 0-0 0, Isaiah 3 0-0 8, Ferguson 1 0-0 2.
Raymond-Lincolnwood – Millburg 2 0-0 5, Deal 4 1-2 11, Goebal 4 0-0 12, Poggenpohl 4 2-3 10, Hopper 2 0-0 4, Pitchford 0 0-0 0, Krager 0 0-0 0, Mizera 3 7-9 13.
Three-pointers – Vandalia-Casey 4, Isaiah 2; R-L-Millburg 1, Deal 2.
Vandalia vs. Edinburg
Vandalia – Austin 2 0-0 5, N. Casey 6 2-2 14, M. Casey 2 0-0 5, Dunn 1 0-0 3, Wells 4 3-4 11, Morrison 5 1-2 15, McNary 0 0-0 0, Shulman 4 0-0 11, Isaiah 5 0-0 12, Ferguson 0 0-0 0.
Edinburg – Barton 2 1-3 5, Williams 5 0-0 10, Sidwell 1 1-1 3, Simon 3 0-0 7, Smock 0 1-2 1, Blivens 3 0-0 6, Fever 0 0-0 0, Smith 0 0-0 0, Brander 1 0-0 2.
Three-pointers – Vandalia-Austin 1, M. Casey 1, Dunn 1, Morrison 2, Shulman 3, Isaiah 2.