Green Wave press Wolves into season opening loss
By Keith Gibson
Freshman Paul Knapp led the Wolves in scoring in his first varsity game of his career. Knapp scored 20 points on four three-pointers and went six of eight from the free throw line.
The Clay County Advocate-Press
Tue Dec 02, 2008, 10:52 AM CST
Effingham, Ill. -
It’s another season for the Flora Wolves as they began their annual trek north to Effingham for the St. Anthony Thanksgiving Tournament.
Flora opened the Thanksgiving Tournament Monday night against the Mattoon Green Wave.
The Wolves were pressured into 27 turnovers in the game by the Green Waves full court press, but managed to keep the game close for three quarters before running out of gas in the final frame.
Mattoon took advantage of their size and forced turnovers to hand the Wolves their first loss of the season, 61-42.
The Green Wave controlled the opening tip of the ballgame and went inside to their senior guard Colten Pettyjohn for the game and tournament’s first bucket.
A Wolves turnover gave the basketball back to Mattoon, but Flora forced one of their own to get the ball back in their possession quickly.
An errant pass down into the post gave the Green Wave possession of the basketball and they converted on the offensive end with a three-pointer to take a 5-0 lead.
Flora broke through the Matton press and found an open Bryton Krutsinger for three, but his shot was off and rebounded by Logan Hertenstein.
Hertenstein took the offensive rebound back up and was fouled, sending him to the free throw line for a pair.
He converted both free throws and the Wolves trailed by three with 5:53 to go in the first quarter.
Mattoon grew their lead to seven, 9-2, before the Wolves were able to connect for their first field goal of the season.
Senior Jeremy Edwards hit a jumper at the 3:04 mark and Flora trailed by five.
A three-pointer and an old-fashioned three-point play by the Green Wave forced Wolves Coach Phil Leib to take a time-out with 2:11 to play in the opening quarter.
The Wolves came out of the time-out and turned the basketball back over to Mattoon on a traveling violation and allowed the Green Wave to increase their lead to 13, 17-4.
Freshman Paul Knapp hit his first bucket of his varsity career with just under a minute left when he drilled a three-pointer from the top of the key.
Hertenstein hit a jumper at the buzzer to pull the Wolves within eight points at the end of the first quarter.
The Green Waves full court press gave the smaller and inexperienced Wolves trouble in the first quarter.
Flora came out to start the second quarter much more aggressive and took the basketball right at the Green Wave.
Senior Dakota Orel as the first to take draw a Green Wave foul and go to the free throw line.
Orel sank both free throws and after a good defensive stop by the Wolves, Hertenstein went after hours to the bank for a three-pointer to pull Flora within three, 17-14.
The Wolves early second quarter run forced Mattoon Head Coach Brooks Inman to take his first time-out of the game.
Matton came out of the time-out and worked the ball inside to their big men for an easy score to extend their lead back to five, but it was quickly cut to two when Krutsinger drained his first three-pointer of the season from the corner and the Wolves trailed 19-17 with just over five minutes to play in the first half.
The Green Wave answered with a bucket to extend their lead back to four.
On the Wolves next possession Orel drew a foul and went to the free throw line where he drained a pair to trim the Wolves deficit back to two with 4:55 to go in the half.
Mattoon then went on a seven point run and led by 11 when Knapp hit his second three-pointer of the game.
The Green Wave answered again with a deuce and led 32-22 with just under two minutes to play in the first half.
It was the Wolves ability to shoot the three ball that kept them in the game in the first half.
Knapp hit his second three with 32.6 seconds to go in the half and cut the Wolves deficit to seven by the break.
Mattoon’s full court press caused the Wolves to turnover the basketball numerous times in the first half and resulted in the Green Wave getting easy buckets.
The second half began with the Wolves trailing 32-25, but they had control of the basketball and much like the first half, they turned the basketball over on their first possession.
A spin move by Mattoon’s Pettyjohn resulted in an easy deuce and put the Green Wave up nine.
Flora quickly answered by finding Krutsinger open for a three-pointer and a empty possession by Mattoon allowed the Wolves to cut into their deficit even more.
Knapp spotted up for a three-pointer and was fouled sending him to the free throw line for three shots.
The freshman converted all three free throws and the Wolves found themselves trailing 34-31.
Flora’s defense took another giant step to getting a lead as they held the Green Wave empty on their next possession.
Mattoon looked to committ their second big foul of the third quarter when they fouled Edwards behind the three-point line, but the official sent him to the free throw line for two shots.
Edwards connected on the back end of the two free throws and the Wolves trailed by two, 34-32, at the 4:58 mark.
The Green Wave continued to answer the Wolves every time they made a run and hit a deuce with 4:46 to go.
Flora would go scoreless for the next four and a half minutes and allowed Mattoon to increase their lead back to 11, 43-32.
Mattoon called a time-out with 8.9 seconds left in the third quarter to set up a final shot, but it backfired as Knapp stole the ball and went coast to coast for a layup as the buzzer sounded to end the third quarter.
Turnovers continued to be a problem and connected with foul trouble put the Wolves in a tight spot entering the fourth quarter trailing 43-34.
Knapp continued to show poise and wasn’t afraid against the older stronger guards of Mattoon as he raced to the hoop to start the fourth quarter, drawing a foul and went to the free throw line to drop in a pair.
The Green Wave started to pull away early in the fourth quarter with a three-pointer and a deuce and went back up by double digits.
Knapp answered the call again as he drained his fourth three-pointer of the game and pulled Flora back within nine.
Two free throws from Krutsinger and a single free throw from Knapp was all the scoring the Wolves would get the rest of the fourth quarter as they were oversized and overmatched in their opening game of the 2008-2009 season.
“We have to get over the learning curve. Once that happens, we’ll see good things happen. At the same time it’s awful frustrating to know that the learning curve has to take place before we can progress,” Wolves Coach Phil Leib said.
Leib stated he hopes this tournament will help in the long run, especially coming into the Little Illini Conference schedule.
“This tournament will help us in the long run. I think when these kids get to conference play, not taking anything away from our conference, but these kids won’t see the caliber of athlete or competition we are in this tournament,” Leib stated.
Flora doesn’t have much time to worry about Monday night’s loss as they turned around Tuesday night to play the Freshman Phenom T.J. Bell and the Charleston Trojans.
Bell is a 6’7” guard and is highly regarded 2012 prospect by many NCAA schools.
The Wolves then are off on Wednesday and Thanksgiving only to come back to play another tough and talented team in Breese Central on Friday.
Run Down
2’s-3’s-Free Throw Attempts-Free Throws Made-
Total Points
FLORA-Taylor-0-0-0-0-0; Durre-0-0-1-0-0; Henson-0-0-0-0-0; Earleywine-0-0-2-0-0; Orel-0-0-4-4-4; Edwards-1-0-2-1-3; Greenwood-0-0-1-0-0; Hertenstein-1-1-2-2-7; Knapp-1-4-8-6-20; Nick Painter-0-0-0-0-0; Lewis-0-0-0-0-0; Krutsinger-0-2-2-2-8; Totals-3-7-22-15-42.
MATTOON-Louthan-2-0-0-0-4; Zavarella-2-1-6-6-13; Miller-0-0-0-0-0; Heller-1-1-0-0-5; Coleman-1-2-1-1-9; Covington-0-0-0-0-0; Stremming-0-0-0-0-0; Phillips-0-0-0-0-0; Brandenburg-1-0-2-0-2; Zimmer-0-1-0-0-3; Pettyjohn-10-0-5-3-23; Karpus-0-0-0-0-0; McDevitt-0-0-0-0-0; Kroenig-1-0-0-0-2; Totals-18-5-14-10-61.
Scoring by Quarter
Flora 7 18 9 8 26
Mattoon 17 15 11 18 35
Tournament Notes
The Flora Wolves are a combined 2-7 since 2006
Loading commenting interface...
Flora, IL Yellow Pages
Find whatever you're looking for
with the Totally Local Yellow Pages:
with the Totally Local Yellow Pages:
Search provided by Premier Guide
Top Ads
Original content available for non-commercial use
under a Creative Commons license,
except where noted.
under a Creative Commons license,
except where noted.
Copyright © 2006–2009 GateHouse Media, Inc. Some Rights Reserved.
