The Third time was not the charm for Marissa-Coulterville against New Athens Saturday night in the championship game of the 48th annual Chester Invitational Tournament.
For the third time this season, the Meteors fell to their Cahokia Conference rival as the Yellowjackets picked up their 10th title in the tournament with a 54-46 victory.
In other action from Saturday, Valley Park took seventh place with a 69-28 win over Dongola, Chester won the consolation title with a 74-49 decision over Elverado and Valle Catholic won third place with a 50-36 victory over Saxony Lutheran.
Vince Kiefer was selected as the tournament’s most valuable player while the rest of the all-tournament team was comprised of Mike Lloyd and Casey Pitchford of Marissa, Zach Lochhead of Chester, Michael Loida of Valle Catholic, Kyle Kempfer of Elverado, Brayton Klaus of Saxony Lutheran, Tyler Womack of New Athens and Josh Ramsey of Valley Park.
In the cheerleading competition, Chester topped the field to take home the trophy.
New Athens 54
Marissa-Coulterville 46
After a close battle through the first three quarters of play, New Athens outscored Marissa-Coulterville 22-16 in the fourth quarter which included a 10-3 scoring run to turn a three-point advantage into a 10-point lead with under three minutes to play.
The Meteors nailed five three-pointers in the fourth quarter to stay close, but the uphill fight was too much as New Athens held on for the eight-point win.
“One of the main reasons we lost the championship game was because we strayed from our game plan and lost focus in the second half,” said Marissa-Coulterville coach Dirk Miller. “This was the same old story from the last game we played them.  We were scared to attack the basket and their press in the second half.  Their size gives a team like us huge problems. Offensively, we begin relying on perimeter jump shots and forgot to hit the offensive boards.  We have to get better at creating off the dribble, attacking their press in the right spots, and playing four quality quarters instead of two.”
Coming into the game, coach Dirk Miller and his Meteors wanted to stop New Athens’ big three, Tyler Womack, Vince Kiefer and Cody Gaubatz.
That plan didn’t turn out well for Marissa-Coulterville as the big three all scored in double figures in the game.
“I thought coach Derwort was well prepared, and his team executed when they needed to,” added Miller. “We held Kiefer and Womack in check from the field, but bad fouls on our part and free throws on their part killed us.  We only shot four free throws the entire game to their 33 because they were more aggressive offensively.  We still have a lot of room for improvement.  It was great going 2-1 in the tournament, but we (especially as coaches) are far from satisfied.  Ultimately, we hope to be playing our best at regionals.”
Womack and Kiefer made their presence felt right from the start by scoring five and four points respectively to give New Athens a 13-8 lead in the first quarter.
Cody Mahan sank two three-pointers in the first to keep Marissa-Coulterville within striking distance.
The Marissa-Coulterville offense got going in the second quarter, making 6-of-12 shots to outscore the Yellowjackets 14-9 to tie the game up at 22 at halftime.
Casey Pitchford led the Meteor attack with four points, while Chris Fullerton and Mahan each knocked down a big three-pointer.
Meanwhile, the New Athens offense was just 3-of-9 from the floor in the second.
In the third quarter, New Athens outscored Marissa-Coulterville 10-8 even though the team made just one shot from the field in the period. The Yellowjackets were 1-of-8 in the quarter, but scored eight points from the foul line to grab the lead.
The Meteors were whistled for eight fouls in the quarter, while New Athens got just one. Mike Lloyd scored four points in the quarter for Marissa-Coulterville to keep his team close, while Womack had five points for New Athens
New Athens opened the fourth quarter with a 5-1 run to increase its advantage to six points, 37-31.
Lloyd answered by nailing a three-pointer from the top of the key to cut the lead to three points, 37-34, but that would be as close as Marissa-Coulterville would come.
New Athens answered the Lloyd three-pointer with a 10-3 run for a 10-point advantage.
Logan Tabor drained two three-pointers in the fourth, while Mahan and Kyle Sinn each added a trifecta for the Meteors, but the late offense was not enough.
Womack finished with 16 points to lead New Athens, while Kiefer had 15 and Gaubatz added 11.
Mahan tossed in 12 points to lead Marissa-Coulterville, while Lloyd added nine.
Chester 75
Elverado 49
Chester notched its second consecutive win of the tournament Saturday with a convincing 75-49 victory over Elverado to win the consolation championship.
The Yellow Jacket defense forced 22 turnovers, while their offense got plenty of scoring from Zach Lochhead, Aaron Grah and MJ Hamilton.
“It is huge for us to have success,” said Chester coach Robert Bell. “We have been working on pressuring the ball and being more physical. We were able to get into the passing lanes more and created a lot of turnovers.”
Lochhead finished with a game high 21 points while Grah added 15 and Hamilton had 12.
Chester, which never trailed in the game, jumped out to a 10-2 lead and led by as much as 12 points in the first quarter. Grah had the hot hand early scoring nine points, while Lochhead had five.
Elverado finished the first quarter with a 6-2 run to trail by eight, 21-13.
The quick pace of the game continued in the second quarter as Hamilton led Chester with 23 points and Lochhead added six as their team doubled up Elverado 26-13 in the quarter for a 47-26 halftime lead.
The Jackets put the game out of reach in the third outscoring Elverado 22-11 as Lochhead tossed in 10 points for a 69-37 advantage. Elverado was just 4-of-14 from the field in the third.
With the win, Chester improved to 5-10 on the season.
“In our next four games, we have three winnable contests,” added Bell. “Then after that we will have another tough stretch. We just have to continue to play hard and improve.”
Chester 47
Dongola 27
Chester opened the game by scoring the first 11 points and the Yellow Jackets never looked back as they rolled to a 47-27 victory over Dongola in the consolation semifinals Friday night.
Chester forced 37 turnovers and got plenty of offense from Zach Lochhead in the 20-point win.
Lochhead scored 13 points in the first quarter as Chester was 7-of-17 from the floor to grab a 17-4 lead. Dongola turned the ball over 11 times in the first quarter and attempted just five shots.
The Jackets’ lead was pushed up to 22-points midway through the second quarter following a 9-0 run as Hamilton paced the offense with four points off the bench.
However, Chester finished the quarter going 0-for-6 with three turnovers and Dongola used an 8-0 scoring run to end the half trailing by 14 points, 26-12.
Another strong defensive effort sealed the win for Chester in the third quarter as the squad forced 11 turnovers and Dongola was just 1-of-8 from the floor.
The Yellow Jackets outscored Dongola 10-3 in the period as Lochhead added six points for a 36-15 lead.
Lochhead finished with a game high 26 points, while Hamilton added eight in the win.
In the other consolation semifinal, Elverado notched its first win of the season by beating Valley Park 55-43 Friday night.