By Tom Wheeler

Monday night I took my wife Lynda and daughter Dhana to the best show I have seen in a long time. We traveled to downtown Ina and made a stop a Jim “Hummer” Waugh gymnasium to see Rend Lake College take on John A Logan College in a great college basketball contest.

Two of my favorite southern Illinois athletes were coaching the two teams. Benton native Randy House took time off from his insurance business to coach the Warriors to a 87-64 win as the Warriors raised their record to 13-2 (6-2 in the conference) and maintained their ranking as the number 8 team in the nation in their division. This was also the first victory for House over arch rival Logan in his three years of coaching, losing four games, two by one point and another by 2 points.

Logan’s coach in his first year as the “main man” Kyle Smithpeters led Harrisburg to an undefeated football state championship as a quarterback, (and SIU legend Carl Mauck still tells him he played the wrong sport in college), played basketball at Harrisburg JC (SE Illinois College) where he led his team to a final four berth and a two year record of 55-6. Kyle then played two years at SIU (like House) as his team won two Missouri Valley Championships.

He returned to Logan after a year with Paul Lusk at Missouri State and felt very comfortable with the move in following Mark Imhoff who he had served under for four years.
Logan came into the Monday night game after a tough loss to Vincennes on Saturday afternoon while the Warriors had defeated Wabash Valley on the same day. Rend Lake roared out to a ten point half time lead and never looked back behind double figure scoring of Noel Allen 15, (Guttenburg, NJ), Cortez Macklin 14, (Louisville, KY) and Woodlawns Dawson Verhines with 12.

Logan was led in scoring by Marion’s Aaron Adeoye, 15 as the only player in double figures while our nephew Connor wheeler was close with 9 points. The Vols weren’t bad from the field shooting42% but were killed on the boards 41-33 (RLC’s Bronson Verhines, had 14) and Logan had an uncharacteristic 16 turnovers.

There are many reasons this was such a great game:  Very well played, very well officiated and a very enthusiastic crowd. Both teams played hard, it wasn’t a game for the weak but it also wasn’t a game full of cheap shots and whining to the officials, (again this is a compliment to the two coaching staffs).

As Mitch Haskin’s assistant for six years at RLC, I watched a lot of games in Hummer Gym but not sure I ever saw two teams as unselfish as these two Monday night. I also loved how Randy and Kyle were involved in a chess match, changing defenses, changing match-ups, changing the tempo of the game. Midway in the first half I started thinking, who was the starters in this game, usually a team falls back a little when starters are out, but both teams have great benches and neither has a “five” best, again compliments to both staff for convincing guys to play their roles.

Another major reason I will take my family back to see these two squads play is because of the local players we were all familiar with. Playing for Logan was DuQuoin’s Connor Wheeler, Marion’s Aaron Adeoye, Herrin’s Jamie Jones (who hit a couple 3’s),Murpysboro’s Pierre House and Carterville’s Drew Bonner.

Coach House played the Verhines brothers of Woodlawn, Coery Ayala of Massac County and the Trico duo of Jesse Smith (whose father Jackie played at RLC) and Dennis Froemling (who brought the crowd to their feet with a long three).

Yes, it was a great show and we plan to be back to another one, in fact Benton basketball authority Kenny Irvin was there, doesn’t that tell you something??

BY JOHN D. HOMAN

Logan Media Services

CARTERVILLE – John A. Logan College men’s basketball coach Kyle Smithpeters may have found a new weapon Wednesday night as the Volunteers crushed Lewis & Clark College on “Carterville Night” in a Region 24 match, 95-53.

In his first college start, sophomore forward Jamie Jones of Herrin unloaded for 33 points and tied a school record for most 3-pointers made in a game with nine. He now shares the record with Russell Jupiter first set in 1991. Jones did manage to set the record for consecutive triples with eight.

“I guess the extra shots in the gym are paying off,” said Jones, who was unable to suppress a smile. “On a couple of them I heard the crowd yell…I didn’t even know I made them.”

JALC sophomore forward Jamie Jones goes up for a 3-pointer Wednesday against Lewis & Clark College. Jones cut loose with nine bombs that reached their destination, tying a 21-year-old school record. (Photo courtesy Jonathan LeBlond)

Jones said it felt like anything he shot was going to go in the basket. On one occasion, one of his long-range bombs was even tipped, but still found the mark.

“It’s a great feeling to have. I guess I made Coach look good for starting me tonight,” he joked. “The only thing better is if this had happened on Herrin Night. I guess I’ll have to make 10 threes next week.”

Smithpeters had only praise for Jones.

“Jamie’s done everything we’ve asked him to do since Day One,” he said. “He has struggled at times just because of his size and the physicality of the game, but he can shoot the basketball. We had one of our best practices of the year Tuesday and I told everybody that whoever plays well and competes hard is going to play a lot.

“And Jamie’s had a great month of January, both in practice and in the games. Tonight, everything fell into place for him and I’m very happy for him. He’s a great weapon. It’s good to have somebody on the floor who can hit shots and force the other team to guard you. When that happens, things open up inside.”

While it was Jones’ night to shine, his supporting cast was none too shabby. Freshman center Kaylen Shane scored a season-high 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field and yanked down seven rebounds. Freshman forward Sondale Conner followed with 14 points, including two ferocious windmill slams and a pair of triples.

“I felt really comfortable out there tonight. We needed this one. We needed to come out and play hard and get a win,” Conner said. “Now, it’s a matter of staying focused and carrying this momentum over to the next game.”

Jamie Jones (middle) gets congratulated by Carterville native Drew Bonner (left) and Du Quoin grad Connor Wheeler after Jones knocked down his eighth-straight 3-pointer. (Photo courtesy Jonathan LeBlond)

Freshman forward Jay Johnson was also in double figures with 11. Aaron Adeoye chipped in eight points. Julian Hernandez knocked down a trey and finished with five points.

Freshman point guard Connor Wheeler didn’t shoot once, but had a whopping nine assists with no turnovers. Stephen McCarty’s 16 points led the Trailblazers.

The Vols led 40-27 at the half and never looked back.

Smithpeters said it was important to get back on the winning track after dropping consecutive road games at Vincennes and Rend Lake.

“I’m very happy for the guys. They did this for themselves and showed what kind of team they can be,” he said. “But we have to be consistent. It can’t be one game and then take another one off.”

The Vols, now 11-6 overall, travel to Mattoon Saturday night to take on Lake Land.

“They have big guys to match us inside and quick guards. We’re going to have to come out and compete hard and keep them off the glass,” Smithpeters said. “It will be a very tough game for us, but hopefully, we’ll be ready to go.”

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – Northern Iowa used suffocating defense and timely 3-point shooting to coast past Southern Illinois, 58-45, on Wednesday night.

The Salukis (8-11, 1-7) were held below 50 points for the first time this season and the 45-point total was the lowest for SIU in the 51-game history of the series between the schools.

“The thing they do defensively is they make you shoot jump shots,” SIU head coach Barry Hinson said. “They’re absolutely the best. They play man-zone and they back off, make you hit jump shots, and when you don’t have a guy who can score inside, it makes you a jump-shooting team.”

Dantiel Daniels led SIU with 11 points.

Trailing by six points at halftime, Southern went more than four minutes to start the second half without scoring. That allowed the Panthers (11-9, 4-4) to run off 10 unanswered points. The final six came on 3-pointers by Marc Sonnen, who converted 5-of-8 shots from downtown and led all scorers with 15 points.

“He’s put in a ton of time for the past 18 months — a minimum 500 shots a day in the off-season,” said UNI head coach Ben Jacobson. “The confidence he’s playing with is a result of working hard.”

Northern made 8-of-15 shots from 3-point as a team, and Hinson said Sonnen’s hot shooting was no surprise.

“He just sits over there in that corner and waits,” Hinson said. “Seventy-two percent of his shots have been threes on the year. We knew it, we expected it. I’ll give up a wide-open three before I give up a dunk or a layup.”

As it has all year, Southern played small-ball, always using a lineup with four or five guards. Jacobson said it was difficult, at times, for his team to run offense against such an unusual alignment.

“You don’t practice against five guards and you don’t play against five guards except in this game,” he said. “When they have four or five guards on the floor, it changes the way you can run your offense. We were able to get a few more touches (inside) in the second half and that jump-started us.”

The Panthers led by as many as 19 points in second half, and the closest the Salukis came was 13. SIU attempted a season-low 41 shots, but that was partially by design, Hinson said.

“The pace was exactly what we wanted,” he explained. “The last two teams to come in here got beat 31 and 13. We knew that we would have to literally grind it a little bit. Mr. (Henry) Iba would have been proud of me tonight.”

Dantiel Daniels was SIU’s only double-figure scorer with 11 points. Hinson pointed out that the team’s primary big man only had one rebound, however, and Southern lost the battle of the boards, 29-22.

“Dantiel has to play a lot better for us, and I think he can,” Hinson said. “When you’re that size and you get one rebound, I think that speaks volumes with what’s going on with energy and effort. Offensively, it’s not an issue, but he’s got to come out of a game with more than one rebound.”

Midway through the second half, the officials stopped play, reviewed the in-house video and ejected SIU forward Jeff Early for committing a Flagrant 2 foul. Hinson said he didn’t see the play, but acknowledged that his senior leader may have to serve a one-game suspension after the league reviews the incident that occurred between Early and Jake Koch.

“I think there were two culprits, but the second guy gets caught,” Hinson said.

After losing its first two conference games, Northern Iowa is starting to get hot, having won four of its last six. The Panthers are certainly in contention for one of the coveted top six seeds at the conference tournament.

“We bounced back and forth for so long and our guys deserve credit for not allowing that early part of the season to distract from our preparation,” Jacobson said.

The last time SIU won at Northern Iowa was 10 years ago, nearly to the day, when Bruce Weber guided the Salukis to an overtime victory.

The Salukis have lost 12-straight MVC road games dating back to last season. It is the second-longest streak in school history behind a 15-game road losing streak in conference games from 1982-84 under head coach Allen Van Winkle.