Carterville 53-YellowJackets 42
By Jim Beers
CHESTER – The Chester High School YellowJackets hosted the Carterville Lions Friday December 22 in a non-conference game to end Week 5. The Jackets and Lions traded leads throughout the evening, however, as the final buzzer sounded after 32-mnuites of battle, the Lions managed to escape Colbert Memorial Gymnasium with a win.
The Lions roared out to a seven-point lead in the opening quarter, 20-13. The YellowJackets swarmed the Lions in the second quarter outscoring them 16-5 to take a 4-point lead at halftime, 29-25.
Carterville edged Chester by 4-points in the third quarter, 11-7 to tie the game, 36-36 after three quarters of very close and exciting basketball. Most unfortunately, down the stretch, the Jackets offense shut down and couldn’t score, and the Lions couldn’t miss, as they outscored the Jackets, 17-6, to win the game by 11 points, 53-42.
CHS junior, Devante Palacio (5) was the leading scorer for the Chester YellowJackets Friday December 2 when CHS hosted Carterville in a non-conference game. The Jackets were tied, 36-36, after three quarters of play but stalled in the 4th period and allowed the Lions to outscore them, 17-6, in the 4th quarter to fall, 53-42 to Carterville. In the loss, Palacio led Chester with 16 points. Jim Beers Photo
In the loss the Jackets had two players score in double figures. Junior Kolton Jany scored 15 points and junior Devante Palacio scored 16 points. After that, only three other YellowJackets contributed to the offense. Sophomore Gage Steele added even points and then, junior Cayden Brunkhorst and junior Brenden Malley each scored two points apiece for a total of 42 points.
Throughout the first half of the 2023-24 season scoring has been a problem for the Jackets. Consistency has been an issue with the team in general. If the Jackets can get everyone to start producing points on a regular basis they will be a dangerous team in the second half of the season.
Carterville, on the other hand, is led by one primary player, Colton Hawkins, who scored 23 points in the win. Hawkins is the son of Carterville’s Head Coach, Shane Hawkins, who was a former Southern Illinois University Saluki Basketball standout. Basketball is understandably in Colton’s blood.
After Hawkins’ 23 points, the Lions had seven other players add to the offense, but none scored more than eight points.
Skelcher (8), Drew Barrington (6), Kaden Wilson (6), Josh Waller (4), and Kimbrough, Wakey, and Alexander Guthrie each scored two points apiece to round out the Lion’s 53 point total. One of Carterville’s key players, Aiden Hinton, a 6’3”, 205 Lb. forward, remains on the disabled list while recovering from surgery created by a football injury.
Week 5 ended with the YellowJackets taking a 6-8 overall record and a Cahokia Conference record of 1-3 into Christmas break. Week 6 will take the YellowJackets to Pinckneyville High School for the Annual Duster Thomas Classic Basketball Tournament. The event runs Wednesday December 27 through Friday December 29.