LCC pushes past Paulding for NWC win

LIMA — When the shots aren’t falling, the defense had better pick it up.

Such was the case in Lima Central Catholic’s 49-41 Northwest Conference victory over Paulding on Friday in boys basketball at Monsignor Edward C. Herr Gymnasium.

LCC (13-2, 6-0 NWC) shot 33 percent from the field, while Paulding (8-7, 3-3) shot 45 percent from the floor. However, the Thunderbirds limited the Panthers to just 5-of-10 shooting in the second half and forced the Panthers into 12 second-half turnovers. For the game, Paulding turned the ball over 20 times.

Martyce Kimbrough and Bruce Hodges both scored 14 points to lead LCC. Billy Taflinger scored nine points and had seven rebounds and two steals for the Thunderbirds.

Anthony Arellano led Paulding with 15 points.

The game was tied 12-12 at the end of the first quarter and was knotted at 26 apiece at the halftime break. LCC finally got some separation in the third quarter when it opened the second half with a 10-0 run, pulling out to a 36-26 lead midway through the quarter.

However, as quickly as LCC got hot shooting from the field, it turned ice cold as Paulding battled back to cut it to 36-32 by the end of the third quarter. The Thunderbirds made just 3 of 13 from the floor in the third period.

“We got it to 10 points in the third quarter and then we just struggled for the rest of the quarter,” LCC coach Frank Kill said. “When we get the ball inside, it then opens up the outside. They (Paulding) did a good job of slowing us down inside. But, when we did get an outside shot, we couldn’t make it.

“Defensively, we played a pretty good game. Offensively, we just struggled.”

Paulding took control of the game in the first quarter, jumping out to a 10-4 lead with less than two minutes left in the period. LCC battled back and eventually tied the game at 12-12, on a putback by Taflinger with a few seconds left in the quarter.

LCC finally took the lead in the opening moments of the second quarter, on two free throws by John Kidd (eight points, four rebounds), giving the Thunderbirds a 14-12 advantage. The T-Birds managed to push the lead to 23-19 by the 3:29 mark, on a fastbreak basket by Hodges. However the Panthers, behind the strong play of Arellano and Steven Strayer (4 points) down low, came back to knot the game at 26-26 by the break.

“(Arellano’s) a good athlete,” Kill said. “He made it tough inside for us.”

Paulding coach Shawn Brewer said he knew LCC liked to penetrate.

“Our biggest concern was with Taflinger,” Brewer said. “He wants to get it inside and get it to the bigs. I felt like we did a pretty good job of defending that. But, offensively, we just had too many turnovers.”

LCC not only got off to a slow start, but it had some misfortune during pregame warm-ups.

“Tre’on (Johnson) tweaked an ankle during warm-ups and he couldn’t go,” Kill said. “So, with Darius (West) already out, we then had two main players not out there. That doesn’t help.”

In the fourth quarter, LCC made 6 of 7 from the free throw line to stave off the Panthers. Kill said there are two areas his team needs to be focused on.

“I’ve always said that if you can’t make layups and free throws, then you won’t win a lot of games,” Kill said. “That’s our focus for next weekend, when we play Spencerville and Elida.”