Revenge at Regionals
Red Devils Shock Gray Ghosts!!!!!
by Chris Yucus - BCR
February 25, 2010
HALL VS KEWANEE IN REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP FRIDAY NIGHT IN CHILLICOTHE
Revenge at regionals
By Chris Yucus - cyucus@bcrnews.com
CHILLICOTHE – The third time was the charm.
After twice being blown out by the Grey Ghosts of Illinois Valley Central during the regular season, the Red Devils of Hall came up big when it mattered the most, using a slowed down, ball control spread offense over four solid quarters of basketball to top the top-seeded Ghosts 49-42 at the IVC 2A Regional Wednesday night.
“This has to be the biggest upset tonight in the state,” said Hall coach Mike Filippini. “These are the same kids that got beat by 42 points, the same kids that got beat by 29 points (by IVC).
“There wasn’t one person in this gym who thought we would (win). You’ve got to give credit to the kids. They’re the same kids who got embarrassed the first two times and they played their butts off tonight.They deserved to win this game."
“I don’t think anybody here thought we were going to win tonight,” said Hall senior forward Billy Gaull, who led all scorers with 18 points. “That made the whole season right there, beating the No. 1 seed.”
Hall (9-20) set the tone for the night on the first possession of the game, holding the ball for two and half minutes on offense to start the contest.
“We’ve practiced that stall, we’ve had it in for two weeks, ever since we knew we were going to play Chili… we knew we couldn’t beat them if we played a full game, they’re just that good,” Filippini said. “Our plan was to hold the ball as long as humanly possible.”
The Red Devils led 10-7 after the first frame, and fell behind one, 18-17, just before intermission when IVC’s Trever Black hit a reverse layup in the paint just prior to the buzzer.
Hall started off after the break with an 8-0 run, courtesy of a pair of free throws from junior forward Tyler Thompson followed by back to back putback buckets from junior center Austin Helm, and a third basket from Helm cutting through the lane to stake a 25-18 advantage.
IVC (17-10) matched the Red Devil rally with an 8-1 run to close out the third, making it a 26-26 tie heading into the fourth.
The fourth quarter belonged to Hall, with the Red Devils squeezing layups out of flashes through the lane in their spread offense, and knocking down 11-14 free throws down the stretch to pull away from the host Ghosts.
Back to back layups from Thompson and Matt Orlandi put Hall in front 33-29 with 3:45 to play, and after a steal from Anthony Urbanski on the defensive end, senior forward Gaull added a third straight layup to put the Devils up six, 35-29 with 3:10 to go.
Another pair of layups out of the offense from Thompson, who notched eight points in the fourth, put Hall up 34-42 with 1:25 to play, and forced IVC to foul. The Red Devils knocked down 7-8 free throws in the final minute and a half to hold on for the upset win.
Hall was led by Gaull, who notched 18 points and was clutch down the stretch, shooting 6-7 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter. Thompson, a junior forward, added 12, and junior center Austin Helm finished with 11 points. Orlandi and Urbanski each tallied four to round out Hall’s scoring.
For IVC, 6-5 junior forward Alex Koch was the lone player in double digits with 10 points. Senior guard Keegan Horack added eight, and senior center Chris Martin finished with seven.
Notes: Next up for Hall will be the championship tilt against Kewanee at 7:30 p.m. Friday... Hall did not attempt a three-point shot in the contest ... Helm was the lone Red Devil to advance in the pre-game 3-Point Showdown, making 9-15 to finish first. Joining him in advancing from IVC were Sherrar Tate (8), Jared Johnson (8) and Koch (7).
