Bean scores 18, Krone 15, Williams 13 as balanced Knights go though to final 67-49

EDWARDSVILLE – DaMonte Bean scored 18 points from the inside while Cooper Krone added 15 and Jason Williams, Jr. scored 13, mostly from the outside, as Metro-East Lutheran again advanced to the final of the Knights’ 38th annual Turkey Tip-Off Tournament with a 67-49 win over Litchfield Friday night at Thomas Hooks Gymnasium.

The Knights used their strong inside-outside game to advance to the final, where they’ll once again face Marquette Catholic, a 57-26 winner over Odin in the first semifinal earlier in the evening.

Bean, a senior, and sophomore A.J. Smith gave Litchfield problems throughout the game inside the paint, and both have the capability to be a lethal tandem throughout the season.

“When we decide that we’re playing for the name on the front of the jersey, DaMonte and A.J. and those guys are going to be a load for anybody,” said Metro-East coach Anthony Smith. “They’re big, they’re strong, they can finish, they pass well. We just got to be well-oiled, like a car, and that’s the thing we’re trying to preach to them. Litchfield is going to be real good. By the time the Litchfield tournament rolls around, they’re going to be a load. We just got to continue to build on where it is we are now, and where we’re trying to go. When we pound the ball inside to Bean and those guys, it’s going to take some really good post guys to stop them.”

And when the inside game is going well, it also opens up opportunities for the outside shooting game to shine as well.

“We surround Bean and A.J. with some really good perimeter shooters,” Smith said. “We just can’t live and die with the three first. And so, the thing is like last year, we were Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. And that’s out. We’re good enough to play, we’ve just got to understand what it is that we’re trying to do, and how does that start? It starts with getting it inside, they can double down on those guys, and then we kick out. We’ve got some work to do, but we’re getting there.”

Williams and Jonah Wilson did a tremendous job defensively in the second half on the Panthers’ best player, Sam Painter. Painter ended up with 22 points on the night but was defended well much of the game.

“Sam’s a really good player,” Smith said. “At one point in time, I think they had 21 points; he had 17 of the 21 at halftime, and I was like ‘whew, it’s going to be a long night.’ We focused on that in our early game preparation; we talked about it. ‘We have to share Sam, we’ve got to stop Sam.’ And then, number 30 (Seth McGill) comes up, and he ends up with 15 or 18 or something; he was five of eight in threes. Litchfield’s going to be really good. Jonah and Jason both did a great job of sticking to that. We were trying to wear them down, we were going to play them 84 feet, basically trying to wear them down. At some point in time, I think that he’s just kind of like “OK, I need a blow.’ But he never stops. He’s a really good player.”

The Knights jumped out to an early advantage with Bean scoring four of the game’s first six points and Williams scoring on a fast break lay-in and hitting a three-ball to give Metro-East a 9-2 lead. Painter then hit a three and a short jumper to cut the Knights’ lead to 9-7. Wilson and Williams then scored on back-to-back drives to up the lead to six, and Wilson scored on a great feed from Bean to up the lead to 17-9. Late in the term, Painter rejected a shot, then hit a three on the other end to make the score 17-12 at the end of the first period.

McGill hit another three at the start of the second to cut the Knights’ lead to two, but Wilson connected on a three-point play to restore the five-point lead at 20-15. A Krone three and a Bean layup extended the lead to ten, and later on, with the score 27-18, Bean hit twice inside to make it 31-18, but Painter scored on a three-point play of his own to cut the lead back to ten. A McGill three made the score 33-24 at halftime in favor of the Knights.

The Knights started the third quarter by going on a 16-6 run, with Bean scoring inside and Krone hitting a key three in the sequence to make it 49-30. Williams hit a floater late in the period, and a jumper from Painter and a Billy Beckham free throw made it 51-33 after three. In the fourth quarter, Litchfield attempted a comeback, with Painter leading the way with five points and McGill hitting a three. But Metro-East had the answers with Zach Miller connecting on a three, Bean continuing to score in the paint and Smith scoring on a three-point play as the Knights went on to their 67-49 win.

Wilson contributed to the Metro-East cause with 11 points, while Smith had five. McGill added 14 points for the Purple Panthers, while Beckham had five before fouling out.

The Knights will play the Explorers in a rematch of last year’s final, and Smith is looking forward to the challenge.

“It’s a good feeling,” Smith said. “We were here last year, we got a chance to play Alton Marquette last year, and they were loaded last year. This year, it’s payback. We think that we’re good enough to play with them. I think we have a team that’s good enough to make a run here for a potential first sectional. Nobody knows who we are, so we’re kind of under the radar, which is good. We want to come out of here 4-0, and then for the next four or five games, it gets really tough. We’ve got Nashville, we’ve got Triad, we’ve got (Waterloo) Gibault, we’ve got Alton Marquette again. So it won’t get any easier for us, but we’re excited about it.”

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