Upper Scioto Valley post player Trevor Dotson was the Rams’ go-to guy against Lima Temple Christian on Friday night.
The Rams’ center notched a team-high 21 points, including nine in the fourth quarter, to allow USV to escape with a 52-49 Northwest Central Conference win over the pesky Pioneers.
USV improves to 6-3 for the season and 1-1 in conference play. Temple Christian falls to 3-5 overall and slips to 1-1 in the NWCC.
Rams head coach Jeff Kloepfer, who described Temple Christian’s gym as one of the toughest places to win in the state, was happy to come away with the narrow victory after his team struggled offensively and defensively throughout the game.
“I don’t know but we came out jittery for what ever reason and missed some easy shots and threw away some passes,” Kloepfer said. “But once Trevor settled in down in the post he got the job done.”
Despite having the height advantage, Kloepfer added the Pioneers’ match-up, man-to-man defense posed a number of problems for the the Rams’ offense and it kept Temple Christian in the game. At the same time, Kloepfer pointed out that his defense failed to cover open shooters and this also allowed the Pioneers to keep pace with the Rams.
“I watched a lot of wide open looks tonight,” said Kloepfer, who watched the Pioneers continually come up with clutch 3-pointers. “We need to communicate better out there and that is what we are not doing. We have a long way to go still.”
For the game, the Rams hit 50 percent of their shots, thanks primarily to Dotson who was 9 of 13 from the floor, but managed to hit only 27 percent (3 of 11) from behind the 3-point arc.
Pioneer head coach Bruce Bowman said his team played well but not “really” well.
“We fought hard,” Bowman said. “Our guys worked hard but the points in the paint proved to be the difference. Trevor is a nice player. Give them credit tonight. They also grabbed a lot of offensive rebounds and got some put backs and that hurt us.”
The Rams outrebounded the Pioneers 25-18.
Pioneer sophomore Brody Bowman pumped in a game-high 22 points and hit several key 3-pointers. Bowman was 4 of 6 from behind the 3-point arc. Also hitting some key baskets was Seth Hohlbein, who scored 16 points
The Pioneers’ precision perimeter shooting was instrumental in never allowing the Rams from making a big run to garner a double-digit advantage.
The Rams came close in the second quarter. With the score tied 18-18 at the 6:45 mark, USV went on a quick 7-0 run to up 25-18. However, Noah Howell popped a trey to end the short Rams’ spurt. USV countered with four unanswered points, to garner its biggest lead of the game 29-21 with a little less than two minutes remaining in the half, but the Pioneers ended the half with four unanswered points including a buzzer beating layup from D.J. Clay to slice the lead to four, 29-25.
In the second half, the Rams maintained its single digits lead, often times threatening to make it into double-digits, but the determined Pioneers produced the necessary baskets when it counted.
It appeared the Pioneers’ persistence finally paid off when the tied the score 47-47 with 3:12 left in the game when Hohlbein hit a running layup. But the senior Pioneer went down with a cramp and Bowman said that small break seemed to temper Temple Christian’s momentum.
On the Rams’ ensuing possession, USV went to the reliable Dotson and he put the Rams back on top. Bowman answered with a bucket of his own to knot the score again.
The Rams, on their next trip down the court, once again went to Dotson, only this time Dakota Clay got a block and the Pioneers were poised to take the lead for the first time. However, the Pioneers produced a costly turnover and then the Rams went do Dotson again and this time he got the hoop and the harm and finished off the 3-point play. With 1:06 left in the game, the Rams owned a 52-49 lead.
The Pioneers looked for one more 3-point shot to tie the score in the final minute but the Rams were in clamp down mode and forced Hohlbein to shoot an errant 3-pointer to end the game.
Temple Christian hit 37 percent of its shots from the floor but nailed 41 percent (10 of 24) from 3-point land.
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