Herrin downs Marion at Mid-Winter Classic

WEST FRANKFORT -- With no disrespect to the other teams involved in the West Frankfort Mid-Winter Classic, it seemed like the tournament's true championship game was played late Friday night.
That's when Williamson County rivals Marion and Herrin battled in front of a packed Max Morris Gymnasium for the right to advance to the official title game the next day. And in the semifinal battle, it was the Herrin Tigers coming out on top 60-53 in a rugged affair before waltzing to the championship a few hours later.
Herrin rolled to a 76-62 win over West Frankfort as a blizzard fell outside Saturday afternoon in the final game. Before that, Marion rallied for a 59-46 win over Carterville to secure third place.
In the Friday night warfare, Herrin threw the first punches and led 21-9 in the first quarter after layups by Drew Ringel, Tate Johnson and Brandon Anthony.
But in the second quarter, Marion fought back and tied the game at 25-25 on a putback from Boston Ziegler. Two free throws from Hunter Campbell gave the Wildcats their first lead at 29-27 and layups from Rayzhaun Bardo and Korey Houston completed an 18-point swing.
An entanglement in the third quarter produced no actual fouls but seemed to spark the Tigers back to life. Marion led 43-36 after two free throws by Houston, then Herrin went on a run to tie it but didn't pull in front until Luke LeQuatte's basket early in the fourth made it 47-46 for the Tigers.
Herrin didn't trail again and led 54-47 on a layup by Anthony, who was named the tournament's MVP the next day. Anthony finished with a game-high 17 points in the rivalry contest, while LeQuatte had 16 and Ringel tallied 13.
Campbell led Marion with 16 points and Ziegler had 13. Houston, playing for the first time in the tournament after battling an eye infection, added eight and Bardo had seven.
Marion junior Jackson Connor battled foul trouble the entire game and had five points before picking up his fifth foul. Brett Lewis chipped in four points.
The Wildcats missed nine free throws, including a bonus opportunity, in the seven-point loss.
On Saturday, Connor not only led Marion to a win over Carterville but pumped in 28 points and reached the 1,000-point mark for his prep career when he put in his 14th point in the third quarter. Connor finished in style with 12 in the fourth.
Marion trailed 10-9 after one period and 24-22 at halftime before taking control in the third. Bardo added 10 points, Ziegler had seven and Lewis put in six.
Marion is now 12-9 this season.
Eli Downen led Carterville (10-12) with 13 points. Austin Garbe scored 12 and Dylan Moore had nine.
As the Marion bus raced home to beat the snow, Herrin battled conference foe West Frankfort for the third time this season. Five technicals were called in the title tilt. Ringel and Johnson both finished with 19 points and Hayden Holloway had 17.
Herrin, which went 32 of 42 from the foul line, is now 16-4.
The all-tournament team included Connor and Ziegler from Marion, Carterville's Downen and LeQuatte and Ringel from Herrin in addition to Anthony. The rest of the honorees included Blake Pena (Anna-Jonesboro), Daurice Morse (Cairo), Joe Mayberry (Eldorado), Gabriel Motsinger (Christopher), Kyle Hammers (West Frankfort) and C.J. Johnson (West Frankfort).