Thursday, March 15, 2001
Russellville too much for Highlands
Bluebirds done in by scoring drought in 4th
By Ray Schaefer
Enquirer contributor
LEXINGTON — Highlands' surprising run to the Sweet Sixteen came to an abrupt end Wednesday.
The Bluebirds, who upset Conner to make the state tournament, lost 59-45 to Fourth Region champion Russellville in the first round Wednesday in Rupp Arena.
The Bluebirds rallied from a seven-point first-quarter deficit and trailed by only one point entering the fourth quarter. But Russellville outscored Highlands 11-2 over the first three minutes of the fourth period to take a 47-37 lead, and the Bluebirds couldn't recover.
“We ran out of gas the fourth quarter,” Highlands coach John Messmer said of Russellville's 21-8 run in the period. “We didn't make the shots we needed to.”
Russellville senior Teco Dickerson scored six of his 17 points in the decisive fourth-quarter run.
And Highlands didn't help itself: The Bluebirds didn't score from Gino Guidugli's free throw with 56.1 seconds left in the third period until he hit a basket with 5:03 left in the game.
The Bluebirds went scoreless after that until junior guard Craig Forbes' basket with 1:47 left in the game when the Bluebirds were down 52-41.
The Bluebirds outshot the Panthers 42 percent to 40 percent and had a narrow 31-30 advantage on the boards but turned the ball over 17 times, leading to 27 Russellville points.
“I think we made our mistakes on our own,” Guidugli said.
Russellville junior guard Maurice Hampton did the most damage with 19 points and seven rebounds.
Guidugli finished his basketball career with 18 points.
“Our main trouble early on was our offensive rebounding,” Messmer said. “We fought back the second quarter.”
Russellville led 18-12 after one quarter and increased the lead to 22-14 on Dickerson's jumper in the lane with 5:58 to play in the half.
From that point, Highlands outscored the Panthers 10-2 to tie the game at 24 at halftime.
The lead changed hands several times early in the second half, and the Bluebirds led 37-36 with a minute to play in the third quar ter.
But Russellville got hot to begin the fourth, and Highlands didn't have an answer.
Forbes scored 13 points and Ross Neltner had 10 rebounds, although he was held to seven points. Mylor Rider added nine assists for the Bluebirds, who finished 22-9.
RUSSELLVILLE (59): Hampton 8-16 2 2 19, Thompson 3-12 4-4 10, T. Dickerson 8-15 1-1 17, R. Dickerson 2-8 0-0 5, Evans 0-3 0-0 0, Todd 1-2 4-7 6, Bigbee 1-2 0-0 2. Totals: 23-58 11-14 59.
HIGHLANDS (45): Rider 1-3, 0-0 3, Forbes 5-11 0-0 13, Moeves 2-5 0-0 4, G Guidugli 7 11 4-6 18, J. Guidugli 0-0, 0-0 0, Liggett 0-0 0-0 0, Gilles 0-1 0-0 0, Klingenberg 0-1 0-0 0, Neltner 2-9 3-4 7. Totals: 17-41 7-10 45.
Russellville ....... 18 6 14 21—59
Highlands ....... 11 13 13 8—45
Three-point goals: R 2-of-10 (Hampton 1-1, Thompson 0-2, T. Dickerson 0-2, R. Dickerson 1-3, Evans 0-2); H 4-of-15 (Rider 1-3, Forbes 3-7, Moeves 0-2, G. Guidugli 0-1, Gilles 0-1, Klingenberg 0-1). Rebounds: R 21 (Hampton 7, R. Dickerson 7); H 30 (Neltner 10). Fouled out: none. Assists: R 8 (R. Dickerson 4); H 13 (Rider 9). Turnovers: R 7 (Hampton 4); H 17 (Neltner 6). Blocked shots: R 1 (Bigbee); H 8 (Neltner 5). Steals: R 5 (Thompson 2, R. Dickerson 2); H 3 (Neltner 2). Records: R 23-7, H 22-9.
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Russellville too much for Highlands