Carson Parker, of Lima Central Catholic, drives to the basket against Grant Slusser of Allen East during Friday’s game at Msgr. Edward C. Herr Gymnasium.
Richard Parrish | The Lima News
LIMA – Lima Central Catholic boys basketball coach Sean Powell wants his team to push the tempo.
In Friday’s matchup with Allen East at Msgr. Edward C. Herr Gymnasium, Lima Central Catholic took a little while to shift it to a higher gear.
However, once LCC got it going, Allen East could not keep up, as the Thunderbirds rolled to a 53-37 victory over the Mustangs.
With the win, LCC improves to 3-0. Allen East evens its record at 1-1.
Allen East jumped out to an early 7-2 lead over LCC.
However, the T-Birds responded and closed out the opening quarter on a 13-0 run to claim a 15-7 lead at the first stop.
LCC never looked back.
“Our goal is to get up and down (the court) and create shots,” Powell said. “We want to create numbers. We’re not the best at it right now. … It’s something that we are working on. Tonight, I thought we did a good job in the second quarter of getting big shots – shots that we wanted in our offense.”
Jordan Priddy led LCC and all scorers Friday night with 19 points, including four 3-pointers. Willie Foster scored seven points. Carson Parker had six points, five rebounds and five assists. Angelo Collins came off the bench and scored six points. Billy Bourk (6-foot-6, forward) had 10 rebounds, two blocks and three points for the T-Birds.
“Jordan (Priddy) is benefiting from playing with a very good guard in DeMarr Foster (five points, two assists). He (Foster) finds him a lot,” Powell said. “Then on the other side, we have Willie Foster. When you (the opposing teams) have to load up to guard those guys, Jordan is usually on the backside, wide open. He’s been able to capitalize.”
Ethan Young led Allen East on Friday with 12 points, on four 3-pointers. Young also came away with nine boards. Deacon Jones scored nine points. Carson Clum was held to four points but managed to pull down eight rebounds, dish out six assists, make a steal and record a block for the Mustangs.
“We knew they (Allen East) had a team full of shooters,” Powell said. “Our goal was to interrupt their shooting. We tried to keep (Carson) Clum (5-9, senior, guard) out of the lane, because he’s a big-time playmaker. I felt like our guys who sat down and guarded him (Clum) did a pretty good job. Matthew Quatman came off the bench. I felt like he (Quatman) disturbed Clum a little bit.”
LCC led 33-17 at the halftime break, and 41-24 at the end of the third quarter.
For the game, LCC shot 39 percent from the field. Allen East connected on 29 percent of its shots from the floor.
Allen East had a slight 36-34 edge on the boards.
The T-Birds committed eight turnovers on the night, while Allen East turned it over 11 times.
Powell, who is in his first year as LCC’s head coach, spent the previous two years at Bath. Before his stint at Bath, Powell coached at Botkins for three seasons, where he went 56-22 and won a state title.
Powell points to the experience on his roster as a key component for this season.
“I joked about this early in the season – that we have six returning starters,” Powell said with a grin. “Carson Parker and Billy Bourk – they’re amazing. They are my leaders. Without those two, we would struggle, especially on the boards. They bring the physicality for us. It’s something we need to improve on. With their experience, we hope we can have a solid season.”
Lima Central Catholic 53, Allen East 37
Allen East 7 10 7 13 – 37
LCC 15 18 8 12 – 53
Allen East
Ethan Young 12, Carson Clum 4, Deacon Jones 9, Trey Hensley 4, Logan Helser 4, Brady Brooks 2, Hunter Nickles 2. Totals: 16-0-37.
Lima Central Catholic
Jordan Priddy 19, Willie Foster 7, Carson Parker 6, Parker Judy 3, Matthew Quatman 2, DeMarr Foster 5, Drew Pester 2, Billy Bourk 3, Angelo Collins 6. Totals: 17-12-53.
3-pointers made: Allen East – Ethan Young 4, Deacon Jones 1; LCC – Jordan Priddy 4, Willie Foster 1, Parker Judy 1, DeMarr Foster 1
Records: LCC 3-0, Allen East 1-1
