MASCOUTAH -- In what sometimes resembled a nasty, no-holds-barred street fight more so than a basketball game, the Herrin Tigers dropped a heartbreaker to top-seeded East St. Louis Tuesday evening, 61-52, in the opening round of the Class 3A Mascoutah Sectional. And although the final spread was nine points, the outcome was up for grabs up until the final minute or so.
With the loss, Herrin finishes 26-5 overall, the most wins at the school since the 2002 season.
"We knew they were a good ballclub, but we came out right from the beginning and set the tone. Our guys were not intimidated," said second-year Tigers head coach Sayler Shurtz. "I thought we came out and threw the first punch and we played (hard) all the way to the end."
Shurtz wasn't speaking literally when he said "threw the first punch," but the physicality of the game nearly brought players to blows.
Herrin held a 21-20 advantage after one period thanks in large part to talented junior center Luke LeQuatte, who hit his first five shots. A pair of 3-pointers from Hayden Holloway and another from Drew Ringel were also key. The Tigers led by as many as seven points (21-14) and it would have been nine had the officials called an obvious goaltending against the Flyers on a runout layup from Brandon Anthony that had already struck the glass.
Shurtz protested the no-call and received a technical foul for his complaint.
"It was goaltending. The ball was on the backboard and he smacked it. I was about two or three steps outside the (coach's) box. He came right to me, no warning or anything in an intense game like this, and told me he was giving me a technical for being outside the box."
The Flyers took the lead in the second period and marched into the locker room at halftime up five at 34-29.
East St. Louis's strategy was to get up in the face of Anthony, Herrin's point guard, and harass him as long as he was on the floor. On multiple occasions, Flyer guards Jashawn Anderson and Travion Jones bumped and even shoved Anthony, rarely drawing foul calls.
To illustrate the absurdity of the intimidation tactic, Jones followed Anthony to the Herrin bench during a time out and stood between him and the Tigers coach.
Anthony, who maintained his composure throughout the contest, scored eight points in the first half and finished with 10 despite sitting out several minutes in the first half with two fouls.
In the second half, the Tigers quickly erased the Flyers' lead and twice took the lead at 43-42 and finally at 47-46 before East St. Louis rallied to go up three at the end of the period at 50-47.
The Tigers, however, would get no closer. They remained 3-to-5 points behind pretty much the rest of the way as they could only manage five points over the final eight minutes.
"It's hard to guard those guys, and with the size advantage they had on us, not give them second opportunities," Shurtz said. "That's what got us in the end -- their second opportunities to score."
The game got so chippy in the second half that when Herrin committed an obvious foul, East St. Louis's bench spilled out onto the floor, which could have resulted in a technical foul or ejections of those players. There were indeed two technicals called -- one on a Herrin player and one on an East St. Louis player for verbal comments made -- but none on the Flyers for leaving their bench.
LeQuatte paced the Herrin offense with 16 points. Ringel, a senior, finished with 13, finishing his career nine points shy of the 1,000-point club at 991. Two games (Harrisburg and Mount Vernon) lost to weather undoubtedly cost him that accolade.
Anthony had 10. Holloway followed with nine, all on 3-pointers. Senior Tate Johnson added four points. Garrett Venegoni, Jackson Yates and Jake Baumgarte all played, but did not score.
All-State forward Terrance Hargrove and Jones, a reserve guard, each tallied 15 points to lead the Flyers, who improved to 27-6 and advanced to tonight's sectional final at Mascoutah.
Shurtz said this season is not one that will be easily forgotten. He pointed to his seniors as providing the leadership necessary to be successful.
"We will miss them. They were such an important part of what we did this year. As we have time to sit back and reflect on things that we did well, we will realize that this was one of the most exciting teams to ever play at Herrin. They have made their mark on the history of Herrin basketball. When these kids look back five or 10 years from now, they will be very proud of what they accomplished."
