Cissell’s 20 not enough for Perryville in home loss

The Pirates were bombarding the Blackcats throughout the first three quarters.

By the time the fourth quarter came around, their canons ran out of ammunition.

Perryville scored only two points in the fourth quarter and saw a double-digit lead turn into a 55-51 loss against Herculaneum on Wednesday, Jan. 17, in Perryville.

Perryville head coach Justin Dreyer said the slide started at the end of the third quarter when a pair of layups from the Blackcats shorted the Pirates lead to 49-40 entering the final period.

“We just never recovered after that,” Dreyer said. “We killed ourselves tonight.”

Jake Cissell was sizzling in the first half, scoring 15 of his team-leading 20 points in the first half, leading the Pirates to score 22 points in the first quarter and go to halftime up 31-25. He scored five points in the third quarter and was held scoreless in the fourth.

“They switched to a man-to-man and had pretty good pressure on the ball, but nothing that we haven’t seen before,” Dreyer said. “We might have had more turnovers in the fourth quarter than we did shots, and we missed easy shots.”

With the win, Herculaneum (4-8) snapped a six-game losing streak. Gage Albertson led the Blackcats with 19 points, followed by 13 from Tanner Duncan and 11 from Jackson LaPlante. The Blackcats made seven shots from the three-point line and went 8-of-14 from the free-throw line.

The Pirates made 7-of-14 free throws but six of their seven baskets from beyond the arch came from Cissell. Dreyer said the Pirates, who were coming off their second win of the season, are still looking for more than their junior leader to carry the offensive load.

“Jake’s had a really good year but we’re good when everybody else around him is scoring too,” Dreyer said. “When we won last weekend, he had six points and we had four other guys that were in double figures. So we’re trying to get other kids to step up and score.”

Sophomore forward Barrett Wheeler was the closest to double-digit scoring with nine points, including 5-of-8 shooting from the charity stripe. Other Perryville scorers include Eli Schott (six points), Evan Hayden (five points), Aiden Wendell (five points), Cole Rodewald (four points), and Karston Schilli (two points).

“Barrett Wheeler played a really good game inside,” Dreyer said. “Evan Hayden (5 points) has been playing really good as of late as well.”

Perryville (2-13) host Windsor on Thursday and will have an entire week to rest and prepare for St. Vincent on Saturday, Jan. 27.