CARLYLE • Breese Central won its fourth straight Cahokia Conference championship Tuesday night with a 63-54 triumph over host Carlyle at Smith Gymnasium.
But the outcome wasn't indicative of the entire game because the Cougars had to rally from a 13-point second-quarter deficit in a game where the Indians made 12 of 16 first-half field goals, including seven of nine from the 3-point line.
"First of all, let's give the Carlyle kids and coaching staff a lot of credit," said Central coach Stan Eagleson, whose team improved to 23-1 overall and 8-0 in the conference. "They really played well. Shot the heck out of the ball. Any time we tried to punch the post in the first half and help off on the weak side, they found the man who was helping and inside out for a three. It didn't seem like they missed any of them."
The Indians (17-7, 4-3) held a 31-18 lead after Karnealus Walker drained a 3 from the left wing with 4 minutes, 27 seconds to go in the first half. But the Cougars started to ratchet up the defense and they got hot on offense using a 15-3 run to end the first half trailing just 34-33.
A big part of the offense was the play of sophomore forward Kyler Scheer, who had been out six weeks with shin splints (left leg). He contributed nine points off the bench in the first half and had two offensive rebounds that turned into conventional 3-point plays.
"He got some big boards and stickbacks," Eagleson said. "It sure is nice to see him out there. It gives us the opportunity to rest Brandon (Book)."
Despite Carlyle's huge second-quarter advantage, Eagleson wasn't too concerned about his team.
"I didn't think we'd be going away," he said. "I thought we'd be in the game. Our defense got better and we started making some shots and taking some better shots."
It was the third quarter when Central, which now has won 34 in a row in the conference, started to take control, although the lead changed hands six times in the quarter and the Indians actually led 47-44 with eight minutes left.
But the Cougars, ranked No. 2 in the STLhighschoolsports.com small-schools rankings and No. 2 in the Illinois Associated Press Class 2A poll, outscored Carlyle 12-2 to start the quarter for a 56-49 lead after Nick Grapperhaus had a steal and a layup with 4:53 remaining.
Grapperhaus ended with nine points. Book led all scorers with 22 points and eight rebounds and Jacob Timmermann finished with 16 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter.
"If they were going to keep hitting shots, it wasn't going to be too good," said Book, who needs six points to break the school record of 1,643 set by David Wiegmann in 2010. "We played better defense as the game went on, so it turned out pretty good for us. These kind of games we need to win."
Indians coach Andy Palmer thought his team got tired early in the fourth quarter.
"Sometimes you just lose your focus when you get tired," he said. "I could just see us getting tired there late. Their pressure just wears on you and they stay after you. You've got to give them credit. They're not No. 2 in the state for nothing."
Jordan Smith paced Carlyle with 15 points and Matt Hilmes added 13.
