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February 27, 2008

CLASS A: Freels runs wild in 60-55 Mustang setback

By JON REITER

BORDEN — South Central withstood a heroic effort from New Washington freshman Devin Freels, but emerged from the opening round of the Class A Borden Sectional boys’ with a 60-55 win Tuesday night.

Freels, a 5-foot-9 guard, poured in 32 points, including 23 halftime. Freels set a New Wash school record as he nailed 8-of-10 attempts from beyond 3-point range, including 4-of-4 during a two-minute span in the fourth quarter as the game remained tight down the stretch.

“Those rims had to have looked about that big to him,” said South Central coach Rob Murawski, making a motion with his outstretched arms with roughly the circumference of a hula hoop. “We threw all kinds of different gimmick defenses at him, and he kept making them. He played like a senior, I’ll tell you that.”

“You hear a lot of talk around town about how good a certain player is,” said first-year Mustang coach Jonathan May. “He’s taken every bit of that in stride. It’s a huge jump going from being an 8th grader to being a freshman, and he’s accepted that.”

The matchup between the Mustangs, who finished with a 4-17 record, and the Rebels (8-14) was close the entire way, with neither team gaining more than a seven-point advantage throughout. The score was 19-19 at the half, but New Washington jumped ahead by a 28-23 margin following a feed from Freels to Vincent Minton that the junior forward converted inside with 5:16 left in the third quarter.

It was 31-25 following a trey from Freels, but after that point, South Central’s 6-6 junior center Randle Hertle, took over the contest.

Hertle scored nine unanswered points to close out the third quarter and give the Rebels a 37-33 lead. Hertle finished with 20 points and six rebounds, and his dominant play was crucial to keeping the upstart Mustangs at bay.

“In the first half his catches were all coming at the elbow and below,” May said of Hertle, who notched 16 points in the second half. “We did a good job denying him and used some good footwork underneath, and he just started getting some more opportunities further underneath the basket.”

A trey by South Central guard Travis Higdon opened up the third quarter for the Rebels, who led 40-33, with seven minutes left in the contest. However, Freels went bezerk over the next 3:39, scoring 13 points, including three 3-pointers, two-free throw and a long two-point attempt that was barely inside the arc. Minton, who finished with 12 points, nailed a 3 of his own with 2:42 left and the Mustangs led 55-49 going into a timeout called by Murawski.

Unfortunately for New Wash, it went cold over the remaining minutes and missed their last four shots. On offense, the Mustangs committed three turnovers in the final minute, and South Central scored the final 11 points of the contest.

“It was a game of runs,” Murawski said. “Our kids played hard. We’re going to have to get some rest for Randal. He’s going to have to be ready to go Friday night (against Rock Creek).”

May said his squad, who showed so much mettle throughout the matchup, simply wasn’t patient enough with the basketball in the waning moments.

“We rushed on offense,” he said. “You can’t do that when you get down below 2 minutes during the sectional. We didn’t get good enough looks, and it cost us.”



NEW WASHINGTON 14 5 14 22 — 55

SOUTH CENTRAL 8 11 18 27 — 60

New Washington (4-17) — Freels 32, Minton 12, Rager 6, Hobbs 3, Bower 2, Jones 0, Leezer 0, Radford 0.

South Central (8-14) — Hertle 20, Hockenbury 8, Jobe 7, Keys 7, Higdon 15, Vierling 2, Lopp 1.

Three point field goals — New Washington 10 (Freels 8, Minton 2) South Central 5 (Higdon 3, Jobe, Keys)

Rebounds — New Washington 20 (Minton 6), South Central 21 (Hertle 6)

Turnovers — New Washington 16, South Central 15.

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