Bulldogs wins CIT title for the first time in seven years

Coming off a loss to Herrin, the Harrisburg boys basketball team came to McDougal-Evers Gymnasium to play in the 45th annual Carmi-White County Invitational Tournament on a mission and succeeded with four wins and the title after beating Fairfield, 59-47, Saturday afternoon.

“Our guy played a great tournament,” said Harrisburg coach Andy Fehrenbacher. “Our guys responded when teams tried to put a run together. We didn’t panic and were able to hit some big buckets or get a stop when we really, really needed it or get to the free throw line or something.”

The title was the first solo title since 2013 for Harrisburg, the fourth title in the last 12 years and its 12th title overall with 10 coming when Randy Smithpeters was coach. The Bulldogs were co-champs with Mt. Carmel in 2018 and tri-champs with Mt. Carmel and Fairfield in 2015.

“I felt we were the favorites going in and I knew we were very capable of doing that,” Fehrenbacher said. “I was happy for our kids to reach that goal and get four wins. There’s something to be about winning a regular season tournament that can boost confidence for the stretch run, but we aren’t done yet.”

Jalon Ellis averaged 18.3 points a game and was named MVP of the tournament and to the All-Tournament team. Cayden Young was also named to All-Tournament Team with a 16.5 scoring average.

Harrisburg improved to 15-5 on the season and will return to Davenport Gym to host Hamilton County (14-4) Tuesday night before heading to Murphysboro (16-3) for a makeup game that had been postponed because of the ice storm and then will travel to Morganfield, Kentucky Saturday to play Union County (8-6).

“Both Hamilton County and Murphysboro are sub-sectional teams and Murphy is a conference team, so they are important games,” Fehrenbacher said. “Hamilton is a scrappy team that will play hard, so it’s good to play them at home. Murphysboro will be a test at their place. They have a lot of experience. I’m not super familiar with Union County. Its only 35 miles away, so it won’t be a long bus ride. It’s a big week and we are looking forward to the challenge.”

The Bulldogs and the Red Devils are tied for second in the SIRR Ohio Division with a 2-1 record behind Herrin at 4-0.

Under Fehrenbacher \at the CIT the Bulldogs finished fourth last year with a 1-3 record and third in 2023 with a 2-2 record.

Harrisburg opened the CIT with a 60-49 win over Mount Vernon from Indiana and followed with a 52-30 win over host Carmi-White County Bulldogs and a 68-38 win over Evansville Day also from Indiana.

The Bulldogs went into the final game against the Mules (10-10) guaranteed at least a share of the title with Mount Vernon, which had won its last three games, 64-62 over Fairfield in overtime, Evansville Day, 58-48, and Carmi-White County, 52-21.

Ellis opened with a layup just 20 seconds into the game and Young followed with a 3-pointer to give the Bulldogs a 5-0 lead at the 1:12 mark. After the Mules cut into the lead with a 3-pointer of their own, Harrisburg closed out the first quarter on 12-2 run to take a 17-5 lead into the second quarter.

During the run Ellis had three consecutive steals that led to two successful layups on the first two and a trip to the free throw line on his third and two successful free throw attempts.

Adrian Mann followed with a steal and a layup ahead of Ellis making a jump shot to expand the lead to 15-3. After the Mules scored to stop the 10-point rally, Mann scored again at the buzzer on a jumper from the top of the key.

Ellis opened the second with his fifth basket of the game and his12th point on a jumper and followed with his 14th steal of the tournament, but it didn’t turn into a score.

After Fairfield cut the lead to 19-7, Young stole the ball and scored to start a 15-5 run to close out the first half with a 34-12 lead. During this run Young and Braxton Murphy sank 3-point baskets and Ellis pull off his fifth steal of the game that led a basket of his own.

Young was injured with 4:48 remaining in the second quarter on a charging call and didn’t return for the rest of the game.

“There was a collision when he got called for charging and he might have bumped knees with the other guy, but I don’t think it really got twisted or anything and our trainer said the ACL was stable and secure, but since he tore his ACL two years ago I think he kind of just got scared,” Fehrenbacher said. “After the game he walked up to get All-Tournament and my son saw him at the Benton-Meridian game, so I think he’ll be all right. We’ll check him out before Tuesday’s game and go from there.”

Once again the Bulldogs scored in the last 10 seconds when Owen Rann was fouled with seven seconds left on a successful shot and finished the old fashioned three-point play with an equally successful free throw attempt.

The Mules rallied in third quarter outscoring the Bulldogs 22-7 to cut the lead to seven with a minute left. Rann stopped the bleeding on a putback with 27 seconds remaining to give Harrisburg a 43-34 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

“We were on the verge of knocking them out when Cayden went down and while we extended our lead from 14 to 22 at the half losing him disrupted us in the third quarter,” Fehrenbacher said. “In the second half Fairfield couldn’t miss. They shot an unbelievable percentage.”

Chandler Questelle sank a 3-pointer to open the final eight minutes to up the lead to 12 points and after the Mules cut the lead to seven with five minutes left Rann hit a 3-pointer, Reid Rider scored on a layup and Ellis followed with another layup with 2:40 remaining to regain the 12-point margin. The two teams traded baskets the rest of the way.

“Rann getting that putback at the end of the third and Questelle that three to open the fourth were big, big shots,” Fehrenbacher said.

Ellis finished with 20 points followed by Rann with 13, Mann and Young with eight and three points each from Murphy and Questelle.

In the tournament opener against Mount Vernon (7-7), the first quarter was a nail biter. Rann opened the game with a 3-pointer and after the Wildcats scored, Ellis split a pair of free throws to give the Bulldogs a 4-2 lead.

Then the score was tied three times before Young sank a 3-pointer to give Harrisburg an 11-8 lead 3:30 remaining. But the Wildcats tied the score on a 3-pointer and scored with 30 seconds left to take a 13-11 lead.

Rider tied the scored with a short basket to open the second quarter and Ellis followed with steal and a layup to give the Bulldogs the lead, but the Wildcats went on a 13-6 run to take a 26-21 lead. Ellis scored late to cut the lead to 26-23 at the half.

After scoring just three points in the first quarter, Ellis scored 10 of his team-high 18 points in the second quarter to keep Harrisburg in the game.

The Wildcats extended their lead to four points to open the third quarter, but Rider was sent to the line and made two free throws and after an offensive foul on Mount Vernon Rider scored from under the basket to tie the score for the seventh time, 31-31.

Mann then scored on a layup to give the Bulldogs their first lead since 15-13 at the beginning of the second quarter. The senior followed with a steal and trip to the line where he missed his first attempt, but made his second to up the lead to 34-31.

“There has been many times during the season when we needed a big shot or a momentum shift and Adrian is the one who has stepped up and made that shot or made the play,” Fehrenbacher said.

After the Wildcats cut the lead to two, Rann scored on a putback and Murphy was fouled on a 3-point attempt and made two of his three free throws to give Harrisburg a six-point lead with a minute and a half left.

After the Wildcats cut the lead on two free throws, Young drove the lane and scored with four seconds left to regain the six-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.

“We switched defenses in the second half and got them to turn it over on key possessions,” Fehrenbacher said.

Rann opened the fourth quarter with a reverse layup to extend the lead to eight, but the Wildcats rallied again cutting the lead to four with 4:30 left. Rann stopped the rally with a 3-pointer and Young followed with a layup off an assist from Ellis and another layup off a steal to up the lead to 11 points with three minutes remaining.

After the Wildcats cut the lead to nine, the Bulldogs went on a 7-2 run to put the game away. Ellis led the team with 18 points followed by Young with 13 points, Rann 12, Rider eight, Mann five and Murphy four.

In the second game against the host Carmi-White County (7-10), the other Bulldogs scored the first basket, but it Harrisburg all the way after that starting 14-0 run that started with a Mann 3-pointer and continued with a three-point play by Ellis on a jumper and a free throw and ended with a fast break layup by Ellis with 1:50 left in the quarter.

The hometown Bulldogs cut the lead to nine on a three-point play of their own, but Young scored on a jumper to give Harrisburg a 16-5 lead heading into the second quarter. Carmi cut the lead to four to open the second quarter on two layups and a 3-pointer and after Harrisburg upped its lead back to eight cut it to two with 1:28 remaining.

Mann canned a 3-pointer with 35 seconds left to give the visiting Bulldogs a 23-18 lead at the half. Harrisburg put the game away in the third quarter outscoring Carmi 16-5 and finishing up holding the hometown Bulldogs to seven points in the fourth for the 22-point win.

“Adrian hit that three to put up by five and we just slammed them in the third quarter,” Fehrenbacher said. “Again we switched some defenses up guarding Mitchell Edwards with Reed and Cayden and then we switched some zones and we had them flustered. They did not have a field goal in the third quarter and in the fourth quarter they had two two’s and a kid off the bench hit a three with like 30 seconds left.”

Young and Ellis led Harrisburg with 15 points each with Mann scoring eight, Rann six, three points each from Murphy and Brenden Davis and two points from Rider.

In the third game against Evansville Day (2-12), Mann started the game with a reverse layup. After the Eagles tied the game on a jumper, the Bulldogs went on a 15-0 run that included a Young 3-pointer and another basket and two free throws. Evansville scored twice in the final 30 seconds to cut the lead to 17-7.

“We came out and defended them really hard and shut down their one scorer,” Fehrenbacher said. “We turned them over a whole bunch of times and they had a hard time guarding us.”

Rann opened the second quarter with a layup followed by a jumper by Young and two free throws by Mann to up the lead to 16 points. The Eagles cut the lead back to 10 with a minute left, but Ellis sank two free throws followed by a layup while being fouled, but he missed the free throw and Young scored with nine seconds left to up the lead back to 16 at the half.

Harrisburg exploded in the third quarter extending the lead to 34 points with four minutes left in the quarter and maintained that lead with a Murphy 3-point basket with less that a minute left.

With the running clock rule for the fourth quarter and the reserves in, the Bulldogs extended the lead to 39 points on a 3-pointer by Questelle and two baskets by Davis before the Eagles closed out the game scoring the last nine points.

Ellis led the game with 20 points with Young finishing with 19. Mann added eight followed by Rann with seven, Rider four, Davis four and three each from Murphy and Questelle.