For three quarters, Allen East chased Lima Central Catholic and the lead. But five minutes left in the game the Mustangs finally got the advantage and never gave it back en route to a thrilling 47-44 win in the Division III boys basketball sectional Tuesday night at Elida.
Allen East, who improves to 14-9, will face Liberty-Benton in the sectional final at Elida at 7:30 p.m. Friday. LCC ends its year with a 11-11 overall mark.
“We didn’t want to give it back,” Allen East head coach Gabe Young said. “I have nothing but good things to say about our guys. They came out and fought in the second half. It wasn’t pretty. I just found out we shot 32 percent which is uncharacteristic for us but that is a heck of a win for us and our program. It has probably been 20 years since we have beat LCC.”
Going into the second half, LCC owned a 22-19 advantage but opened that lead to 12, 34-22, with an 12-2 run to open the third quarter and it appeared the T-Birds were ready to finally put the Mustangs away.
But Allen East countered with a 9-0 run, highlighted by back-to-back treys from Carson Clum, to put the Mustangs down, 37-35 going into the final stanza.
For the first three minutes of the fourth quarter, LCC held the Mustangs off but big 3-pointer by Zach Miller with five minutes left in the game gave Allen East its first lead of the game at 38-37 and now it was the T-Birds doing the chasing.
Unlike the Mustangs, LCC never caught up in the final four minutes of the game but had a chance to tie it in the final 10 seconds however two 3-point efforts fell short.
The T-Birds, who shot 27 percent fro the floor and 4 of 19 from 3-point range, were led by Carson Parker with 15 points.
Parker had 11 points at halftime but Young brought in Carter Young off the bench to help defend the talented T-Bird sophomore.
“He is one of the fastest kids in our program and one of the fastest kids in the school and I told him to get after him as hard he could and think that really disrupted those guys flow and kind of got them out of their rhythm with someone like that on him,” Young said. “
Mustang Landon Newland, who had a big 3-pointer in the fourth quarter, finished with a game-high 22 points and snared 11 rebounds. Newland was the main reason the Mustangs stayed within striking distance in the first half as he scored 17 of the Mustangs’ 19 points.
Miller ended up with 10 points with seven of those coming in the final eight minutes.
“Early Garrett Newland played extremelywell and late in the game our sophomore point guard Carson Clum stepped up and hits some big three’s for us late in the game that were huge for us to help us get the lead.”
Liberty-Benton 45, Delphos Jefferson 25
Liberty-Benton’s trademark defense was on full display in its 50-25 win over Delphos Jefferson in the Division III sectional opener Wednesday night.
Delphos Jefferson ends its season with a 6-17 mark. Liberty-Benton improves to 17-6.
The Eagles, who are giving up an average of 43 points this season, shutdown the Wildcats offense throughout the contest as Delphos shot 28 percent from the field and were 1 for 14 from 3-point range.
“That has kind of been our Achilles’ heel all year is when we aren’t making shots we struggle but that can be said for a lot of teams but for us especially,” Jefferson head coach Jordan Jettinghoff said. “We’ve struggled to get it into the 40s this year. They mixed in their zone to keep us off balance, They played us defensively to a tee.”
Wildcat Colin Bailey, who did lead the team with 12 points, was held scoreless in the first half.
Liberty-Benton head coach Ben Gerken was concerned about Bailey’s ability but said his team came through with an solid team defensive effort.
“We talked about it before the game, at halftime and after the game, that we have had successful season because we have guarded” Gerken said. “Bailey is a heck of a player and is a great athlete and (Trent) Teman and (Levi) Rode have length and they are able to rebound….But I thought the most part we did a good job playing team defense.”
Liberty-Benton established itself early when they raced out to a 10-2 advantage to open the game and held a 14-5 lead after the first eight minutes.
Delphos made a small run to slice the lead to six, 20-14, in the second quarter, but that was a close as the Wildcats would get for the rest of the game as the Eagles closed out the first half with four straight points and then carried that momentum into the second half as maintained a double digit lead through the first four minutes of the third quarter.
The Eagles expanded that lead 14 points, 37-23, as time expired in the third period. In the final four and a half minutes, the Wildcats managed two points.
Liberty-Benton hit 46 percent of its shots and Cason Doolittle led the Eagles in scoring with 18 points.
“I thought they were physical and took us out of some of things we do offensively,” Gerken said. “I don’t think we passed the ball very well. We saw things that were open but we just didn’t make the play.”
In two match-ups of Putnam County League teams in the Division IV boys basketball sectional at Van Wert on Wednesday night it really wasn’t over until it was over when Pandora-Gilboa and Ottoville came from behind in the final quarter to win.
Division IV
at Van Wert
Pandora-Gilboa 53, Miller City 42
Pandora-Gilboa rode a fourth-quarter comeback to add a postseason win over Miller City to a regular-season victory over the Wildcats.
Aiden Harris scored 22 points and Colin Harris had 13 to lead Pandora-Gilboa. Austin Ruhe had 12 points for Miller City.
The Rockets outscored Miller City 24-10 in the final eight minutes for the win. P-G won the regular-season game between the two teams 55-47 on Jan. 3. Pandora-Gilboa improved to 16-7 on the season. Miller Ciy ended its season 11-12.
Ottoville 47, Continental 46
William Miller hit two free throws with six seconds left to play to give the Big Green the win. He led all scorers in the game with 24 points. Carter Horstman added 10 points. Konnor Knipp-Williams led Continental with 15 points.
Continental led 37-28 going into the fourth quarter. Miller scored 13 of Ottoville’s 19 points in the fourth-quarter comeback.
Ottoville is 14-9 this season. Continental ended its season 7-16.
At St. Marys
Perry 61, Temple Christian 25
Perry led 49-8 at halftime over the Pioneers. Kameron Moore scored 12 points and Brayden Knight scored nine for the Commodores (18-5). Landon Callahan scored 12 points for Temple Christian (5-17).
Fort Recovery 35, Parkway 19
The Indians (15-8) had an easier time of it in the postseason after beating the Panthers (8-15) by only one point during the regular season.
At Coldwater
Marion Local 57, New Knoxville 22
The Flyers raised their record to 19-4 and the Rangers finished their season at 1-22.
Minster 66, Ridgemont 39
The Wildcats (6-17) dominated the Gophers (15-8).
Division II
At Lima Senior
Celina 36, Kenton 34
Celina outscored the Wildcats 10-2 in the fourth quarter for the win.
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