December 1, 2001 12:21 AM
Rock Island slips past Alleman in Big 6 opener
By Marc Nesseler, sports editor Maybe the shot was too easy. Maybe the shooter, Lance
Young, was too young.
Whatever the case, Young, an Alleman 6-foot-7 freshman center playing in his first
Western Big 6 boys' basketball game, wishes he could have a do-over on a shot he says he's
converted hundreds of times, a 5-foot, baseline jumper.
With just six seconds left, Young's soft touch over Rock Island defender Brandin Smith
bounced off the rim. Smith grabbed the rebound and secured the Rocks' 53-52 victory at
Rock Island Fieldhouse Friday night.
``He was really down after the game,'' Alleman coach Larry Schulte said of his
precocious Pioneer, ``but I told him we wouldn't have been sitting with an opportunity to
win if he hadn't played as well as he did.
``He has a very bright future.''
Young finished with team-highs of 13 points and eight rebounds.
Smith, a junior who drew the assignment of stopping Young, said he changed his
defensive strategy when Young received the pass from Ryan Trimble.
``I had tried to be in his face all night, but it wasn't working,'' Smith said. ``Now
that he missed it, I'm glad I backed off a bit so I was able to get the rebound.''
That rebound was Smith's whopping 15th of the game.
``He brings a lot of energy to our team,'' Rock Island coach Thom Sigel said of Smith,
a defensive force at one end and a board hog on the other.
``Their scoring,'' Schulte said of the Rocks, ``was dribble penetration, an off-balance
shot and get the rebound.'' It worked enough to put the Rocks in a situation to pull out
the win. The Rocks won the board battle, 42-26. They shot just 32 percent from the field
but had 30 more shots (66-36) than the Pioneers.
Howard Davis put in what wound up as the Rocks' game-winner with such an off-balance
shot that didn't need a rebound with about 10 seconds left.
Less than a minute earlier, it was the Rocks who had their heads down, trailing 52-48
after the Pioneers hit 4-of-9 free throws to break a tie score. Still, the heads of the
Pioneers had to have been shaking then -- they had converted 14-of-16 from the line
through three quarters.
``All we had to do was make our foul shots,'' Schulte lamented.
The Rocks, though, were wondering if they had another comeback in them. After leading
6-0 at the outset, the Pioneers outscored them 17-2 to take control of the first half.
``I saw some heads hanging with 50-some seconds to go in the game,'' Sigel said of his
3-1 Rocks. ``But you play until the game's over. A lot can happen.''
And it did. RI's Grant Snyder buried a 3-pointer with 47 seconds left to pull the Rocks
within one, regaining their spark.
``I'm not into moral victories,'' Schulte said. ``But what I am into with this team is
it making progress day-to-day, and that's what it has done. From the first game of the
Orion Tournament to now, this is a different team.''
Ryan McCracken and Trimble each had 11 points for the 2-3 Pioneers. Tops for the Rocks
in scoring was Snyder, with 13.
Young and Trimble accounted for all but two of the Pioneers' fourth-quarter points.
Young missed only two shots the entire game, but there's one he's anxious to try again.
``I just didn't convert,'' he said of the game-ender. ``I wanted to make it so bad.''
RI sophs romp: Rock Island's undefeated (4-0) sophomores made it look easy in
the preliminary game with an 89-48 win over Alleman. They were up 32-17 at halftime.
RI had three in double figures -- Dail Rice with 15, Richard Whitley with 13 and Sam
Johnson with 10. For Alleman, Corey Prince, who teammed with Young on Edison Junior High's
8th-grade team a year ago, was tops with 14 points, bouyed by 9-of-15 from the line.
Copyright 2000, Moline Dispatch
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