Journal Gazette from Mattoon, Illinois • Page 13

I Area boys' basketball action continues TUESDAY INSIDE More hardware for (JSC's Reggie Bush Bush runs away with AP Player of the Year PAGE C6 I MATTOON (ILL.) JOURNAL GAZETTE WWW.JG TC.COM SECTION lad Itetefta P'1 D) TT(Q' (x1 A aV'Xx1 Up I a. Vi iu) D)AVli ds ti wprth staiptE RICHMOND, Ky. How did Eastern Illinois let another second-half lead turn into a seventh straight loss in this winless basketball season? "We played some bad basketball," coach Mike Miller said. "We need to be direct about how we played." Eastern Kentucky took advantage, rallying from a nine-point ond half deficit to beat the Panthers 57-50 Monday night in an Ohio Valley Conference game at the Colonels' McBrayer Arena. The defending OVC champion Eastern Kentucky snapped a three-game losing streak to raise its record to 3-6 overall and 1-2 in the league while the Panthers fell to 0-7 and 0-3 in Miller's first season as coach.

For the fourth time in these seven losses, EIU had a second-half lead. "The second half we went out and we got tentative," Miller said. "We kind of went out on our own and did some things we didn't do before We had no thrust. You can't play that way." Look at the numbers: lllini living up to expectations Bobby Catchings scored 17 points while hitting four of six 3-pointers to lead EIU. The sophomore also had two steals and six rebounds.

Freshman guard Mike Robinson added 12 points and a game-high four assists but also had a game-high six turnovers while George Tandy added 11 points and nine rebounds. But senior guard Josh Gomes, who brought a 13.5-point average into the game, managed just five points making one of five shots in 29 minutes. The Panthers had a 36-27 lead with nine minutes remaining. After one of EIU's 15 turnovers Jason McLeish, who finished with a game-high 20 points, made two free throws to put Eastern Kentucky ahead 40-39. Tandy regained EIU's lead momentarily with a short jumper before McLeish tied it with a free throw and then after one of his four steals hit two more foul shots.

Matt Witt followed with a 3-point-er and McLeish then drove for a PANTHERSC4 A I Number of games Bruce I OaWeber has won over the last four seasons, more than any Division coach in the country. 74-9: Illinois' overall record under Weber, a winning percent- age of .892 Illinois' record at the Assembly Hall under Weber, a win ning percentage of .971 50-1: i Illinois' record in its last 51 regular-season games under Weber, a winning percentage of 1 a Illinois' record last I "which tied the record for the winningest season in NCAA history 44 Illinois' record so far this I I "Uiseason, the most victories by any team in the nation Afl A a Illinois' record in Big Ten play CUBunder Weber, which includes consecutive outright conference championships, a winning percentage of .875 SPORTS NETWORK NCAA DIV. I-AA POLL 'taiUii! ffs $1.1133111 HIM, ip.Jl. ijmi 1)! lit l1t '1lj- 1 Inside play helps Ncoga past Vim w-rm Martinsville "We wanted to pound the ball inside," said Mayhue "Breanna Fear-day came in and played well for us when Kayci Will was in foul trouble When we got the lead we wanted to run the clock and use it to our advantage" Neoga shot 43 percent from the field and won the rebounding battle 45-31, while Martinsville was 30 percent from the field. Neoga led the entire first half, scoring nine of the first 11 points as the Indians established their inside game Both teams are to compete in holiday tournaments.

Neoga, 9-2, is to travel to Monticello and opens play at 2 p.m. Dec. 27 against Tuscola, while Martinsville, 12-2, is to travel to Charleston and opens action at 12:30 p.m. Dec 28 against Class AA Edwardsville Martinsville 11 10 17 -iT Neoga 15 13 13 11 -52 MARTINSVILLE: Higginbotham 3-3 A. Turner 2-0-4; Dahnke 7-6-21; B.

Wolfe 2-0-4; Hackney 3-1-7; Elliott 1-0-2; TotaH 16-10-47 NEOGA: K. McClellan 5-2-12 Deters 64-12; W. McClellan 3-0-7; Will 3-0 Kramp 3-1-7; Ke. Schumacher 0-0-0; Fearday 3-2-8; Evans 0-0-0; Totals 23-5-52 3-polnt goals: Martinsville 1 (Dahnke); Neoga 1 (W. McClellan).

Rebounds: Martinsville 31 (Dahnke 10); Neoga 45 (K. McClellan 11). Turnovers: Martinsville 11; Neoga 17 JV: Martinsville 38, Neoga 37 By MARK TUPPER Staff Writer CHAMPAIGN They say time flies when you're having fun, and if you're a University of Illinois basketball fan, you've been having a whole lot of it lately. That must be why even though Bruce Weber has been Illinois' head basketball coach for a rela- tively short period of time, the numbers already are starting to pile up. And they're piling up in some very impressive ways.

The cover of this season's lllini media guide shows seniors Dee Brown and James Augustine stand-ing among a gaudy collection of hardware, towering pillars of gold that commemorate some of the -v program's recent achievements. Four of the last five and five of the last eight Big Ten Conference championships have a home in Champaign, so what we refer to as "recent" success actually stretches back to the 1997-98 Big Ten title won in Lon Kruger's second season as head coach. It includes a pair of Big Ten PANTHERSC4 Panthers move up in l-AA poll PHILADELPHIA Eastern Illinois finished 16th, its highest spot of the year, in the Sports Network's final NCAA Division I-AA football rankings of the season. The Panthers moved up three spots from their No. 19 ranking at the end of the regular season despite a 21-6 loss to Southern Illinois in the first round of the I-AA playoffs.

Southern, which lost to eventual national champion Appalachian State in the second round, finished No. 7 in the final poll announced Monday. Appalachian State moved up from its No. 5 regular season ranking to No. 1 after beating Northern Iowa in Friday's national championship game Appalachian State garnered all 78 first-place votes and is No.

1 for the first time in school history. Team (First-place votes) 2005 Points Pvt. Rec Rank 1. Appalachian State (7B) 12-3 1,950 5 Northern Iowa 11-4 1,871 7 3. Furman 11-3 1,741 3 I Texas Stole 11? 1.734 5.

New Hampshire 1) 2 1,637 1 6. Cal Poly 94 1,306 10. 7. Southern Illinois 9-4 1,442 8 Richmond 9 4 1,370 12 9. Georgia Southern 8 4 1,118 6 W.

Hampton 11 1 ,1,113 II. Grambling State 11-1 1,097 11 12. Montana 8-4 1,093 9 13. Eastern Washington 7-5 967 15 14. Youngstown State 8 3 845 13, 15.

Brown 9 1 746 16 16. Eastern Illinois 9-3 433 19 17. Nicholls State 6-4 607 21 18. Montana State 7 4 602 17 19. Massachusetts 7-4 494 1 8 20.

South Carolina State 9 2 468 14 21. Lafayette 8 4 446 25 22. Illinois State 7-4 380 23 23. Colgate 8 4 340 24 24. Coastal Carolina 9-2 328 20 25.

James Madison 7 4 220 NR basket Neoga took the lead for good on a basket by Mallory Deters with three minutes reniaining. Deters scored again with 1:32 after a Martinsville turnover. After a missed free throw by Neoga, the Lady Bluestreaks had three 3-point attempts in the final 20 seconds, but couldn't get any of them to go and Kaycie McClellan pulled down one of her team-high 11 rebounds and made two free throws to account for the final margin. "You hate to lose, but I can't be disappointed with our play," said Martinsville assistant coach Barry Wolfe, who has been filling in for the ill Doug Dahnke. "We talked about rebounding at the half (26-6 Neoga) and did a much better job in the second half.

We came out and played well in the third quarter with a 7-0 run. We missed a few free throws I didn't think we would miss (ll-of-16 from the line). We knew coming in that Neoga is a good team. Amanda Turner came in and did a real good job on one of their big girls in the second half. Heidi Dahnke played a great game." Martinsville didn't lead until two minutes, 41 seconds remained in the third quarter as they battled back -from what at one time was a nine-point defecit in the first half.

By Mike Monahan Staff Writer NEOGA -In a non-conference game involving two teams that combined for a 20-3 record before the game, it was the inside play and rebounding ability by Neoga that helped to a 5247 victory over Martinsville Monday. "For us to come out and play well was one of the keys," said Neoga coach Darleta Mayhue "Sometimes we come out and are sluggish. Tonight we were not. We knew we had to get the ball inside" Neoga, a team which starters two sisters Kaycie and Whitney McClellan in the backcourt and has two six-foot post players in Mallory Deters and Kayci Will, scored the last eight points of the game for the victory. "I was pleased with our patience in the final minutes," said Mayhue.

"We didn't throw up anything crazy. This was a good win for us heading into the Christmas tournament. Martinsville is a very good team." The Lady Bluestreaks took its largest lead of the game after Amanda Turner sank an eight-footer and Heidi Dahnke drove the baseline for two of her game-high 21 points for a 47-44 lead with 4:14 remaining. After Kaycie McClellan's rebound Others receiving votes (In order of points, minimum of five required): Lehigh 194, North Dakota State ill, Hofstra 104, San Diego 39, Western Kentucky 28, Portland State 20, Alabama A (. 14, UC Davis Delaware 6, Harvard 6..