From the jump, John A. Logan brought the energy against Wabash Valley in the semifinals of Wednesday's Region 24 Tournament, as the No. 1 seeded Vols finished with three players in double figures and dominated the No. 5 Warriors in an 83-43 victory.
John A. Logan College head coach Kyle Smithpeters said he doesn't remember the last time he's seen that kind of domination in a game that means so much.
"I was extremely proud of our guys showing they had the ability to put their foot on someone's throat and keep it there."
The Vols jumped out to a 7-0 lead and led 16-4 at the 15:40 mark. From there, JALC went on a 18-1 run, taking a 42-5 lead with 7:35 left and took a 48-21 lead into the locker room at halftime.
"Honestly, it wasn't great offensively," Smithpeters said of Wednesday night's win. "It's one of those things when you're up by that much and it's something you don't really work on a whole lot. We didn't do a great job of scoring, but our defense wasn't terrible. We were getting stops, we just weren't getting great offensive possessions. We did a really really good job of keeping our composure."
Romon Douglas-Watkins had a team-high 13 points, while Cam Alford and Xavier Ball both scored 12 points.
Kentucky products Jamarion Sharp and Dre Boyd each netted nine points, while Marion's Jackson Connor came off the bench to score six points. Pinckneyville's Dawson Yates, along with, Isaiah Ervin both finished with five points, while Carterville's Justin Johnson and Sydney Curry each had four points. Teon Nesbitt and Carterville's Austin Garbe tacked on two points for the Vols.
John A. Logan will now take on Vincennes in Friday night's title game in Carterville, set for 6 p.m.
The Vols swept the season series against the Trailblazers, winning 53-41 back on February 11th and then won 72-58 on March 17th.
Spyder Dann covers prep and college sports for the Southern Illinois LOCAL Media Group. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.
