Springfield and Centerville met for the third time this season on Saturday. As expected, it was close. As a clinic on how to play at tournament time, it wasn’t.

“I couldn’t figure out if both teams really wanted to win or if both teams were trying to lose,” Centerville coach Brook Cupps said. “It was pretty sloppy, pretty ugly.”

Seventh-seeded Springfield forced Cupps’ team into 21 turnovers. But it was four late turnovers by the Wildcats that allowed No. 9 Centerville to rally for a 41-36 victory in a Division I sectional opener at Butler High School.

The Elks (13-10) play No. 6 Tecumseh (18-4) in the sectional semifinals at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Butler.

Springfield (13-10) took a 35-32 lead with a 10-2 run in the fourth quarter, but a turnover in the backcourt led to a layup by the Elks’ Joey Weingartner with 2:17 left. Then the Wildcats fumbled two balls out of bounds at 2:01 and 1:43 and were called for traveling at 1:19. By then the Elks led 36-35 and made 5 of 8 free throws in the final 53 seconds.

“We just didn’t do a good job of executing anything,” Springfield coach Isiah Carson said. “Our minds really weren’t there today. The worst game we played all year.”

The Wildcats were held under 40 points for the third time. Henry Alexander led them with 10 points, but leading scorers Ryan Minney and Dae’Shawn Jackson combined for only 14.

“We didn’t come out and execute as much, and we didn’t play much as a team either,” Minney said. “We came out flat.”

The Elks had to overcome foul trouble to point guard Eric Meininger and their best 3-pointer shooter Austin Recker, who was held to two points. Weingartner scored 15 points and Jake Replogle had 14.

In the first meeting, Springfield won 68-64 in overtime. Then at Centerville, the Elks won 46-43 and the Wildcats had a chance to tie at the end.

“It was just two even teams playing,” Cupps said. “We both have our strengths and we both have our weaknesses, and I think both teams play pretty hard. Somebody had to win two out of three, and we were lucky for it to be us.”

Springfield’s season was up and down, but the first winning season in Carson’s third year is something the young Wildcats plan to build on.

“This season was great – just being able to lead the team as a senior and to win,” Minney said. “But it hurts to lose.”