Breese Central makes state semifinals

WEST FRANKFORT, ill. — The Breese Central boys basketball team used its defense and a 10-0 run midway through the second half to pull away to a 53-42 victory over Murphysboro on Tuesday night in Class 2A supersectional action at Frankfort Community High School.

With the victory, the Cougars (30-3) earn their first state semifinal berth. Central, ranked third among Post-Dispatch small schools and seventh in Class 2A, will take on Peoria Manual (23-7) in the 6:30 p.m. semifinal Friday at Carver Arena in Peoria. Manuel knocked off previously unbeaten Winnebago 63-52 in overtime Tuesday in a supersectional at Northern Illinois University.

With less than a minute to play in the third quarter in West Frankfort, Murphysboro (29-3) was up 33-32 when the Red Devils’ Orlando Jarrett was fouled while coming down with an offensive rebound. After the play, however, Jarrett shoved the player who fouled him and picked up a technical foul.

Central’s David Wiegmann made one of two free throws and the Cougars’ Keaton Scheer hit a 3-pointer with just seconds to play in the quarter, allowing Central to go up 36-33 with a quarter to play.

It was the second 3-pointer of the quarter for Scheer, a junior known more for his defense and play-making than his scoring.

“That was a turning point,” Murphysboro coach Daryl Murphy said. “I’m still not sure about the call, but we’re up one with the ball and instead they hit the free throw and then hit the 3. That was a big swing right there.”

With that momentum, the Cougars scored the first six points of the fourth quarter and were never seriously challenged from there.

Central won the game with its defense, limiting the Red Devils to eight points in the third quarter and nine in the fourth.

“At the start of the season, when we talked about question marks with this team, the big one was defense,” Cougars coach Stan Eagleson said. “It’s something we’ve worked on a lot and I was really happy with what we were able to do tonight. Even in the first half, when we were struggling a little offensively, our defense was solid.”

The Cougars, who lost in last year’s supersectional to eventual state runner-up Massac County, received 17 points from Wiegmann while fellow senior Garrett Gaffner chipped in with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Murphysboro’s Dre’Shean Payne led all scorers with 22 points.