Prep Hoops: Harrisburg routs Roosevelt for first win
After an 0-2 start to open up the season, Harrisburg righted its ship with a victory, knocking off Roosevelt, Missouri, 53-47 to close out the Ernie Bozarth Memorial Tournament Saturday at Murphysboro High School.
The Bulldogs (1-2) got a game-high 21 points from junior guard Isaiah Saulsberry, who finished up a week being named to the Ernie Bozarth All-Tournament Team.
Saulsberry was Harrisburg's only player to finish in double figures and for head coach Randy Smithpeters, his main objective was to come out of the tournament with a victory.
"We came out tonight and did things better and that's our goal - to get better," he said. "I think we ran our offense better, we had a different type of defense that we were going up against, so we saw something new that we've not done before, which is a bit of a challenge and I thought they did a good job.
"We defended better. We kept people off the boards and we contained the outside shooters and those are things that we have to do to win any game from here on out."
Harrisburg led wire-to-wire, closing out the first quarter with a 17-15 lead over the Rough Riders and were up 33-30 at halftime. Roosevelt closed both first quarters on four-point runs to keep the game in check.
Harrisburg got some much needed contribution from its bench in the first half as Carson Burtis checked in and followed to knock down three 3-pointers in the second quarter.
However, in the third quarter, Harrisburg outscored the opposition 8-4 and took a 41-34 lead into the game's final eight minutes, where Saulsberry helped seal the deal with eight of his 21 points.
Noah Ferrell also had nine points for the Bulldogs, while Jordan Gould scored six and Hunter Smith finished with four.
Murphysboro 76, Harrisburg 57
Saulsberry once again led all scorers with 27 points, but it wasn't enough as Harrisburg dropped its second straight game at the Ernie Bozarth Memorial Tournament.
The Bulldogs played Murphysboro to a 14-14 tie after the first quarter of play, but were outscored 19-6 in the second quarter, a trend that Smithpeters saw happen one too many times over the course of three games.
"That's how we have been and that's been my biggest frustration with this group in all the games we have played, is we play a stretch of four or five minutes and in Saturday night's case maybe even eight minutes of pretty good basketball and then we combine it with a minute and a half of just bone head stuff that hurts us," Smithpeters said.
Michael Dann covers prep and college sports for the Harrisburg Daily Register and Eldorado Daily Journal. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.
Harrisburg 14 06 17 20 - 57
Murphysboro 14 19 21 22 - 76
Harrisburg: Gould 1 1-3 3, Smith 3 2-2 10, Saulsberry 8 9-11 27, Bartok 1 1-3 3, Ferrell 2 0-0 5, Burtis 2 0-0 5, Hefner 0 2-4 2, Sander 0 2-2 2. Totals: 17 17-25 57.
Murphysboro: Carowell 0 2-2 2, Gibs 6 0-2 16, Greenwood 4 0-0 8, J. Gaston, 4 0-1 9, Mardson 7 4-6 19, House 9 2-3 22. Totals: 30 8-14 76
3-point FG: Harrisburg 6 (Smith 2, Saulsberry 2, Ferrell, Burtis), Murphysboro 8 (Gibbs 4, House 2, J. Gaston , Mardson . Fouls: Harrisburg 14, Murphysboro 19.
Harrisburg 53
Roosevelt, Mo. 47
Harrisburg (1-2)
Name FG 3-pt FT Reb PF TP
Gould 3-8 0-0 0-0 6 1 6
Smith 1-5 0-2 2-4 4 0 4
Saulsberry 9-15 2-5 2-3 8 3 21
Bartok 2-5 0-0 0-0 4 3 4
Ferrell 3-9 1-4 2-4 4 0 9
Burtis 3-6 3-5 0-0 1 0 9
Hefner 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 1 0
Totals 21-49 5-17 6-11 28 8 53
Roosevelt (0-2)
Name FG 3-pt FT Reb PF TP
Sims 4-11 0-3 0-0 2 1 8
Jus. Woods 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 3 0
Cannamore 9-16 1-3 1-1 6 2 20
Ja. Woods 2-3 0-1 0-0 1 1 4
Robinson 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 2
Jones 4-9 1-2 0-0 0 2 9
Boyd 1-3 0-2 0-0 0 2 2
Browning 1-2 0-0 0-0 4 2 2
Leggette 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 22-47 2-12 1-1 21 11 47
Turnovers: Harrisburg 12, Roosevelt, Mo. 17
Score By Quarters
Roosevelt 15 15 04 13 - 47
Harrisburg 17 16 08 12 - 53