November 23, 2001 12:05 AM
Rocky needs overtime
for winning Sigel debut
By Marc Nesseler, sports editor Decades from now, Thom Sigel will be asked about his
first game as the head coach of the Rock Island boys' basketball team. He should be able
to remember that it was an overtime victory.
``That's time-and-a-half overtime, right?'' said Sigel, probably in reference to his
team needing an extra four-minute period to defeat Chicago Carver 52-48, but possibly
because it also came on Thursday's Thanksgiving Day, an extra-pay day for many employers.
The thing about holiday tournaments such as the one Rock Island is hosting is that
another playday comes right away. There is little chance for the Rocks to relish Sigel's
first Rocky win as they return tonight at 7:30 to face Chicago Bogan, a narrow 80-76 loser
to Chicago Dunbar in Thursday's opener.
On Saturday, the last day of the tourney, the Rocks take on Dunbar after a Bogan-Carver
opener.
The opener for Sigel, who replaced retired Hall of Famer Duncan Reid, the Rocks' coach
for the past 21 years, was hardly easy work. The biggest point differential vs. Carver was
five, with the Challengers holding a 32-27 lead after an eight-point run late in the
second quarter and the Rocks being up 51-46 with 36 seconds left in OT.
``I'm proud of our guys. We have opportunities to fold, and the guys who made mistakes
earlier stepped up when we needed them,'' Sigel said.
That was in reference to the end of regulation, when the Rocks wasted their last 15
seconds without a shot attempt with the score tied at 44. Cortez Hunter, in his first game
at point guard, dribbled in the backcourt, and his pass to Howard Davis with a second left
resulted in an aimlessly long, over-the-back heave.
It was Hunter and Davis, though, who keyed the OT dominance, scoring six of the Rocks'
eight points.
``I was confused,'' Hunter, a junior, said of the last-play setup. ``I'm not really a
point guard. But what helped is what the coach had put us through in practice. He preached
that when it's crunch time, we work as a team. We came back as a team.''
Hunter was filling in at the point because of a football injury to senior returner
Munchie Muskeyvalley (who may be back next week) and a five-game suspension by another
senior starting guard, Mike Brozovich.
As for Davis, he says he went into OT with the mindset of regaining momentum for the
Rocks.
``One play couldn't change that game,'' Davis, a sophomore who finished with 10 points,
said of the regulation finale. ``I wanted to turn that frustration into something good.''
To get to OT, the Rocks relied heavily of senior David Wilson, who scored 11 of his
game-high 19 points in the second quarter. Much of the game, Wilson had a supporting cast
of two sophomores (Davis and Marcus McQueen) and a freshman -- Jeff Banks, filling in when
Hunter absorbed three fouls.
Carver got 21 points from driving point guard Marcus Adams. However, he fouled out with
1:24 left in regulation. Only three other Challengers scored points.
``I've been excited to get out and play,'' Sigel said of his anticipation of his debut
with the Rocks. ``I didn't know what to expect out of my team, what with no point-guard
experience and no scouting report on Carver.''
Huge second lifts Dunbar: Chicago Dunbar outscored Bogan 31-15 in the second
quarter, and the Mightymen needed all of that to fend off the Bengals. Bogan outscored
Dunbar by eight in the other three quarters.
Bogan also had the player with the hottest hand. Sophomore Aramis Brown tallied 33
points. However, Dunbar had the better balance, with four Mightymen reaching double
figures -- Terrence Foster with 21, Tory Mahone with 19, David Tyler with 18 and the
tallest player in the tournament, 6-foot-9 Aaron Spears, with 16.
Tourney luncheon today: Charlie's Place in Rock Island will host the first Rock
Island Bankboard Club dinner at 11:45 a.m. today. The four coaches in the tournament --
RI's Sigel, Dunbar's Fate Mickel, Bogans' Ron Clark and Carver's Johnnail Evans -- will
offer insight after the luncheon portion of the gathering. The public is welcome. Cost is
$7.
Copyright 2000, Moline Dispatch
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