LCC tops Shawnee in Tip Off Classic championship

ELIDA – On a day when college football coaches were getting Gatorade buckets emptied on them across the country to celebrate winning conference championships, Lima Central Catholic’s boys basketball team celebrated winning the Tip Off Classic its own way on Saturday night.

There were no Gatorade buckets dumped on coach Sean Powell, just 16.9 ounce bottles of water that the Thunderbirds soaked him with in the hall outside their locker room.

The beverage was different, but it’s the thought that counts.

“We had to. It was his first win in the Tip Off. We had to,” senior guard DeMarr Foster said.

LCC (2-0) faced several “had to” moments in a closely contested 47-42 win over Shawnee (1-1) at the Elida Fieldhouse.

The Thunderbirds scored eight unanswered points late in the third quarter and in the first minute of the fourth quarter on a 15-footer by Willie Foster, a 3-pointer by DeMarr Foster and a hoop plus a free throw by Jordan Priddy to take a 37-30 lead.

Shawnee responded with eight unanswered points of its own and went ahead 38-37 with 4:59 left in the game on a bucket and a free throw by Beckett Bertke.

LCC regained the lead at 39-38 on an offensive rebound for a score by Carson Parker. He followed that with a 3-pointer on LCC’s next possession and scored. Shawnee cut the lead to two points twice but never could catch up again.

Parker led LCC with 10 points, including a steal that he turned into a length-of-the-court drive for the Thunderbirds’ last two points in the final seconds when a 3-pointer by Shawnee could have sent the game to overtime. Eight of his 10 points came in the fourth quarter.

Priddy and both Fosters scored nine points, and Billy Bourk had seven points and seven rebounds for LCC.

Beckett Bertke had 17 points and Alex Goldsberry scored 10 points for Shawnee.

“Carson Parker just did Carson Parker stuff,” Powell said. “He’s a leader at LCC in football, basketball and baseball. For him to come out and have that kind of performance just coming off the football field two or three weeks ago, it doesn’t surprise any T-Bird.”

Parker said, “I was just out there playing defense. I even told my teammates, ‘I don’t care if I get the ball. You guys can go win it on offense, and I’ll win it on defense.’

“I hit the three and then the and-one (in the fourth quarter), but none of those plays would have happened if there wasn’t driving and everyone else wasn’t getting their buckets all game. Really my teammates were the main reasons I was able to get those points.”

Powell said DeMarr Foster “kind of gave us a spark in the second half.”

“It was a team win. To come away early in the season with a win like that in the Tip Off Classic is big. The crowd got kind of hot. The intensity definitely went up a couple notches,” he said.

The win was extra special for DeMarr Foster, who missed the second half of his sophomore season and all of his junior season when he suffered two torn ACLs, both in the same knee, and didn’t play in a game again until the weekend’s two Tip Off games.

“Man, it’s super big. I’m just proud to be back out there, I’m not going to lie. To finally get out there was just good,” he said.

Powell said, “DaMarr had a huge hurdle. Not too many athletes come back from that.”

Parker said, “He came back last night looking like he had never stepped off the floor even once. He was knocking down all of his middies (mid-range shots) and getting to the rim, playing the basketball that DeMarr knows how to play.”

Elida 46, Bath 26

Elida evened its record at 1-1 with a 46-26 win over Bath (0-2) in the consolation game of the Tip Off Classic.

Zori Island scored 14 points and A’mari Wash had 10 points to lead the Bulldogs. Jaxon Foster led Bath with 14 points.

Elida led 10-2 after one quarter, 24-10 at halftime and never let its lead fall below 10 points in the second half.

The Bulldogs shot 46 percent (17 of 37) on field goals and Bath connected on 30 percent of its attempts (11 of 37).