Balanced offensive attack, stout defensive effort contribute to Titans blowing out Eagles

LIBERTY, Ill. — Balanced and connected.

When the West Hancock boys basketball team is both of those things — like it was on Monday — Titans senior guard Lewis Siegfried would hate to play against them.

“It’s scary just thinking about it,” Siegfried said.

The Titans put four players in double figures and clamped down on Liberty defensively to run away with a 64-35 West Central Conference victory at the Liberty High School gym.

“Just to put them away early was the goal,” Titans senior Nolan Gooding said. “If teams stay in the game, they play better, and they have more momentum at home and all that. We didn’t want to get caught up in that.”

West Hancock allowed the Eagles to hang around for the first six minutes before rattling off a 14-1 run to open up a 27-11 lead midway throught the second quarter.

“I kind of knew we had it there in the second quarter,” Siegfried said. “We started getting steals and fastbreaks. That just set the tone going into the second half, and we kept it rolling.”

By the 5:50 mark of the third quarter, the Titans stretched their 16-point halftime lead to 20, and four minutes later, it ballooned to 31 when Gooding converted a layup to reach double digits in scoring.

“There are so many different scoring options,” Gooding said. “It’s easy to get going and hard to mess up when you have so many scoring options.”

Cooper Knowles was the only Titans starter to not score 10 points — he had eight — but his intimidating stature at 6-foot-9 — five inches taller than Reed and Jack Sparrow, Liberty’s tallest players — rendered the Eagles’ inside game virtually nonexistent.

The Eagles made just three two-point field goals, and after Vince Cramsey made a floater in the lane to give the Eagles a 2-0 lead 30 seconds into the game, they did not make another shot inside the arc until Jack Sparrow put in a layup with 1:07 left in the third quarter and Knowles out of the game.

“We knew that if we guarded around the perimeter and made them come inside and shoot over Cooper, we were going to be in a good spot,” Titans senior guard Gavin Grothaus said.

When the Eagles did try to attack Knowles, Titans coach Jeff Dahl reminded the junior big man to stay composed.

“They tried to charge into him,” Dahl said. “I told Coop, ‘You just have to be patient. When they charge into you, what are they going to try to do? Shoot over you? Just stay there.’”

That strategy worked, and while Knowles only blocked three shots — half of his average — Gooding said Knowles’ mere presence can rattle other teams, especially those smaller in stature like Liberty.

“I think a lot of teams are intimidated by Cooper being so tall,” Gooding said. “It’s really scary because they have to adjust their shot selection. Even the shots that he’s not blocking, they have to adjust so much that they’re not making them.”

The Eagles made six 3-pointers, including three in the second quarter, and Liberty coach Dan Sparrow said the Eagles (16-11, 6-1 WCC) had plenty of chances to stay within striking distance, but their impatience at times led to poor shot selection.

“We knew that they had the size inside, and we didn’t do a very good job of executing, taking our time,” Sparrow said. “Part of that was the defensive pressure they put on us. We had some stops early on. We just couldn’t capitalize. We wanted to try to stay in the game as long as we could, hopefully shorten the game, but when you go down 16 at half, that makes it very difficult.”

Grothaus said the Titans (23-4, 7-0 WCC) played one of their most connected, in-sync defensive games of the year, a good sign with just two regular season games left — against Augusta Southeastern on Friday and at The Pit against Quincy Notre Dame on Feb. 18 — before regional play begins Feb. 24.

“Our defense is getting better and better, especially on the perimeter,” Grothaus said. “It’s been great on the interior the whole season because we have Cooper, but it’s getting better on the exterior. That’s going to help us in the postseason for sure becasue teams are going to have good guards, and we’re going to need to step it up.

“They’re a pretty solid team, so I think it showed that we’re getting better.”

Siegfried paced the Titans with 19 points, 11 of which came in the first quarter after making his first three attempts from beyond the arc.

Siegfried said that hot start freed up himself and his teammates.

“It just takes the nerves away basically,” Siegfried said.

Gooding had eight of his 10 points in the first half. He and Siegfried combined for 19 of the Titans’ first 22 points.

“When Nolan’s running in transition, he helps us,” Dahl said. “He’s fast. Sometimes he forgets who he is. He thinks he’s me, playing the old man way. I love when he runs because it gives us another dimension and stretches the floor.”

Following a scoreless first half, Grothaus exploded for all 13 of his points in the third quarter.

“It was crazy,” Grothaus said. “I didn’t even realize it. Somebody told me at the end of the game and I was like, ‘Are you sure?’ and they’re like, ‘Yeah.’ I thought that was crazy.”

Sophomore Hunter Froman pitched in 11 points, including seven in the second quarter.

“Hunter had a big game getting to the rim,” Knowles said. “Nolan had a good game. He was running the floor, getting a lot of layups inside. Lewis was shooting well. Gavin had a big third quarter. I was trying to set screens and get out of the way, and if they draw their attention to me, let our guys get a free layup.”