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Central completes sweep of Southeastern

Irish win another close one on 3 free throws in final 2 minutes.

Randy Hilt Southeastern's Duncan Mercer puts up a shot Friday in front of Catholic Central's Jake Aldridge. Contributed photo by Randy HIlt

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By David Jablonski, Staff Writer 11:24 PM Friday, January 27, 2012

SOUTH CHARLESTON — There’s nothing in the area quite like the Southeastern High School gym. The fans sit or stand inches from the court on all four sides. The only way they could get any closer would be by cracking the starting lineup.

“I hate it. It’s the worst visiting court we play at,” Catholic Central senior Brian Kelly said. “I had never won here. That was one of my goals coming into this game.”

Kelly scored 16 of his game-high 22 points in the first quarter Friday, and a back-and-forth contest — one of the most exciting games in the area this season — ended with Southeastern missing two 3-pointers in the final 7 seconds. The Irish escaped with a 62-59 victory.

“We came out fired up,” Kelly said. “Coming into this hostile environment, we knew we had to play well.”

The Irish won their fourth straight game, improving to 10-3 overall and 7-3 in the Ohio Heritage Conference. It was the third straight close game between the two teams. Central lost 66-61 in overtime at Southeastern last February, and the Trojans lost 53-48 in overtime in December.

Central trailed 59-58 with 1:26 to play when Kelly missed 2 free throws. But after the second miss, he stole the ball and was fouled again. This time he made both.

That was a rarity on a night when both teams combined to shoot 43 percent (18-of-42) from the line. Mark Ellis, who scored 15 points, and Will Johnson each hit 1-of-2 free throws in the final seconds to give the Irish a 62-59 lead.

Southeastern didn’t score in the final 2 minutes.

“We just made a couple of plays down the stretch,” Southeastern coach Dan Shay said. “This is one of those gyms you can’t get comfortable in. I thought our kids did a nice job hanging in there and overcoming adversity.”

The Trojans lost for the fourth time in the last five games, falling to 7-7 and 5-5 in the OHC. They led 38-36 at halftime thanks to a 3-pointer by Eli Lloyd at the halftime buzzer. Lloyd scored 15 and Jordan Hitt also had 15.

Southeastern went scoreless in the first 4 minutes of the third quarter and trailed 49-45 going into the fourth.

They surged ahead 4 minutes into the fourth, despite missing the front end of the 1-and-1 three straight times.

“For the most part, we got the ball where we wanted to until the end,” Southeastern coach P.J. Bertemes said. “Duncan Mercer needs to touch the basketball. We found a way to not get him the ball unless he went in and got a rebound and put it back in.”

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