Flora Wolves winless at Turkey Tournament
By Keith Gibson
Senior Dakota Orel goes up hard for a bucket against Charleston last Tuesday night. The Wolves finished 0-4 in the St. Anthony Thanksgiving Tournament.
The Clay County Advocate-Press
Tue Dec 02, 2008, 11:00 AM CST
Effingham, Ill. -
It may have been a great weekend for most of Clay County, but the Flora Wolves struggled at the St. Anthony Thanksgiving Tournament in Effingham.
Flora struggled against Charleston last Tuesday night and were defeated 71-41.
The Wolves were off Wednesday and Thanksgiving Day before returning to St. Anthony on Friday to play a very talented Breese Central team.
Breese Central used their size and athletic ability to roll over the Wolves 62-34.
On Saturday, the Wolves tried to pick up their first win of the season against a winless Vandalia Vandals team, but to no avail as the Vandals handing the Wolves their fourth loss of the young season.
The winless tournament marks the second time in three years the Wolves have come home after the Thanksgiving holiday without a win.
Since 2006, Flora is 2-11 in the annual Thanksgiving Tournament.
Tuesday’s game against Charleston was close early, but just like the Wolves opener Monday night against Mattoon, turnovers hurt the Wolves.
Charleston jumped out to a five point lead, but Flora quickly was right back in the game when Freshman Paul Knapp drained a three-pointer and was fouled sending him to the line for a possible four point play.
Knapp drained the free throw and put the Wolves down one.
Charleston went on to outscore the Wolves 18-8 in the rest of the first quarter and led 23-12 after one quarter of play.
Defensively, Charleston used their size advantage and quickness to beat the Wolves up and down the floor and created turnovers using a full court press.
The second quarter was much of the same as the Trojans of Charleston continued to keep their lead and led 38-22 at the break.
Charleston kept their full court press defense on the Wolves to begin the second half and were able to force turnovers and keep their lead in double digits.
Flora was able to score nine points in the third quarter with Knapp dropping in five.
The Wolves went into the final quarter of Tuesday’s game trailing 52-31.
Despite a better offensive quarter from the Wolves, Charleston put the game out of reach and eventually walked away with a 30 point victory over Flora.
Flora sat with an 0-2 mark in the Turkey Tournament after Tuesday, but hadWednesday and Thanksgiving Day off to try and regroup.
The Wolves came back to Effingham on Friday to face the Breese Central Cougars.
Breese Central beat Charleston by 18 on Wednesday night and jumped out to an 8-0 lead over the Wolves in the first quarter.
The early lead forced Wolves Head Coach Phil Leib to take a time-out a minute and a half into the game.
Flora responded with a three-pointer from Junior Bryton Krutsinger, but the length of Breese Central allowed the Cougars to increase their lead to 11, 14-3 before Logan Hertenstein hit a jumper and Kole Greenwood hit a bucket inside to cut the Flora deficit to seven.
The Cougars and Wolves exchanged buckets the rest of the way through the first quarter and it ended with a Krutsinger turn around jump shot in the paint at the buzzer.
Breese Central really started turning on the press in the second quarter and started pulling away from the Wolves.
Flora managed just four points in the second quarter and trailed by 23 at halftime, 38-15.
The Cougars took off the full court press in the second half, but still managed to make the Wolves work for shots.
Breese Central handed the Wolves their third straight loss to start the season, 62-34, and put themselves in a position to play in the championship game on Saturday night.
The Wolves loss put them in the seventh place game against the winner of the St. Anthony/Vandalia game from late Friday night.
St. Anthony handily beat Vandalia and in turn set up a matchup of winless teams in the tournament.
It was another struggle for the Wolves in their final game of the 2008 St. Anthony Tournament.
The Vandals took care of business and handed the Wolves their fourth loss of the tournament, 58-47.
It was the second St. Anthony Thanksgiving Tournament in three years the Wolves have went winless.
Flora is 2-11 in the past three years over the Thanksgiving Holiday.
The Wolves did have bright spots in the tournament and are still learning to play together.
They don’t have much time to regroup before heading to Mt. Carmel on Tuesday night to play the Aces.
Mt. Carmel handed the Wolves a 69-48 a year ago.
Flora had one player named to the All-Tournament team last week and it was Freshman Paul Knapp.
In the championship game, Saturday night, Breese Central defeated St. Anthony, 58-44 to win the tourney. 3rd place went to Mattoon who defeated Effingham 50-43; and, in the 5th place game, Charleston beat Taylorville 50 to 40.
In other boy's tournaments, at the Capitol Classic in Lawrence County, Marshall defeated Teutopolis in the Championship Game, 63-54. In the 3rd place game, Robinson defeated Olney, 72-45; Lawrenceville defeated Fairfield in the 5th place game, 59-53; and in the 7th place game, Red Hill over Neoga 51-48.
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