Centralia eliminates Jerseyville boys
CENTRALIA, ILL. — A turnover-plagued first half and a nearly scoreless third quarter proved to be Jerseyville’s undoing Wednesday night.
The Panthers committed 12 turnovers in 16 minutes (20 for the game), including eight in the first quarter, and they scored only four points in the third quarter as host Centralia thumped them 58-41 in the semifinals of the Illinois Class 3A Centralia Sectional.
The Orphans improved to 25-6 and will face Cahokia (23-9) for the sectional championship Friday at 7:30 p.m. Centralia is 2-1 against the Comanches this season.
The Panthers, losing for a third straight time to the Orphans this season, ended at 15-18 as senior Sam Ficker and sophomore Matt Murphy each netted 12 points. Junior Kevin Fuller added 11.
“I just got done telling the kids, you can’t kid yourself, you lost this game in the first half,” said Jerseyville coach Stote Reeder, whose team never led in the game. “The third quarter did kill us. But, they hit a 60-foot bomb (to end the first quarter). We turned it over 12 times. We didn’t do very much right at all and it’s still a five-point game (at halftime).”
Centralia jumped on the Panthers quickly, scoring the first five points of the game — all by Brandon Buchanan. He and Hiram Muhammad each poured in 22 points in the contest.
The Orphans led 14-6 after one quarter and were in front 22-20 with time expiring in the first half when Muhammad unloaded a long bomb from the other side of the halfcourt line that swished as time expired. That put Centralia up 25-20 at halftime.
The Orphans, who now have outscored their opponents in the third quarter in the last two games 36-11, then used a 12-0 run in the third and fourth quarters to put the contest away. Buchanan scored seven points in that binge and Muhammad added five.
“In the first half, I thought maybe we had a chance to maybe make a bigger margin,” Centralia coach Lee Bennett said. “We just missed some high-percentage shots. I do think we were more aggressive and we are more athletic than them.”
Ficker said the Orphans’ unexpected press in the first half was the key factor.
“They had never done that,” he said. “They practiced that and we didn’t too much and it showed. We got our butts kicked.”
