Carrollton victorious over South County during Waverly Holiday Tournament
WAVERLY, ILL. - Most kids don’t have to wake up at six or seven o’clock the day after Christmas and when they eventually do, they usually enjoy their day off from school.
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Nevertheless, the 16 teams in the Waverly Holiday Tournament will be occupied for the next several days and that includes the Carrollton Hawks.
Their team had to get up bright and early on a chilly and rainy Saturday morning to take on the hosts, the South County Vipers.
Not only did the Hawks have to play the hosts but also they’re the one seed, which comes with expectations and they came through with a 54-48 victory over the Vipers.
Luke Gillingham and Jeremy Watson led the way for Carrollton (5-1) with 16 points each.
However, none of that ever came easy.
“We knew we were in a tough spot from the time we got the one [seed] and had to play the hosts’ at nine and on a floor that we’ve not been on before,” Carrollton head coach Jeff Krumwiede said.
“It was an uphill climb.”
The Hawks hadn’t played in eight days, which piled onto their difficulties.
Center, Lewis Wallbaum led the South County (7-5) with 15 points and nailed three three-pointers. Ryan Couturiaux chipped in 12 points.
South County High School, comprised of the Franklin and Waverly school districts, is in its first year in existence.
The two schools coop-ed in every other sport, except basketball for a period of time until two years ago when the decision was made to co-op for basketball.
Today the Vipers had no pressure on them what so ever being the hosts and the nine seed playing top seeded Hawks in front of a home crowd that filled up their side of the gym.
“I want to give a lot of credit to coach [Dave] Suits and South County for the things that they did,” Krumwiede said.
Carrollton used to be in the tournament in the 50s and actually won the whole thing in 1957 by beating Virden (now North Mac) 50-44.
That turned out to be the last time the Hawks were in the tournament as they moved onto to take part in the Western Illinois Valley Holiday Tournament.
So officially the Hawks extended their win streak to five games spanning 59 years.
The Hawks got out to a 13-3 run to start the game and led 20-12 at the start of the second quarter, however Gillingham was saddled with two early fouls and didn’t see the floor for most of the first half.
“It was tough,” Krumwiede said. “With having him on the bench we’re not as good. Offensively we miss his leadership, steadiness, and ball handling.”
The Hawks depth had to step their game up later on in the second quarter when point guard, Cole Brannan and forward, Levi Hinderhan each committed two fouls.
South County narrowed the lead down to four, but Watson and Jerrett Smith revived Carrollton time and time again with crucial baskets as they pushed the lead back up and led 31-25 at the break.
“The fact that we were able to maintain that six point lead during that entire hurdle stretch, I thought we came out very well up six.
With Gillingham, Brannan, and Hinderhan back in, the Hawks took an 11-point lead in the third quarter thanks to two triples from Gillingham and a couple fast break layups from Brannan.
Carrollton led South County 43-35 going into the fourth quarter, but the Vipers would bite back.
The Hawks instilled ball control tactics midway through the fourth quarter, a handful of forced and un-forced turnovers gave South County opportunities to chip into Carrollton’s lead and got it down to four.
Krumwiede was not overall pleased with the defensive output.
“I thought we gave up a lot of easy shots that kept them in the game. We can play better defense, but again give credit to them.”
However Gillingham, Smith, Watson, and Tyler Frye road to the rescue for the Hawks as they knocked down nine out of ten free throws down the stretch to give them some breathing room.
“We certainly didn’t look like a number one seed until we shot the free throws down the stretch,” Krumwiede said. “I’m really proud of them for that.”
Carrollton will face the number five seed Pawnee Indians this coming Monday at 10:30 a.m.
The Indians defeated Routt Catholic 64-42 earlier today.
“My first reaction is their length is gonna automatically concern me, they’re gonna be two, three, four, six inches taller in every spot,” Krumwiede said. “They’re gonna match up with us in physicality very well.”
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