Shawnee beats Stebbins to hold onto share of first

Jaelin Williams scores 18 points in win over the relentless Indians.

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By Jeff Gilbert, Contributing Writer 7:50 PM Saturday, January 21, 2012

SPRINGFIELD — Stebbins was in control of everything but the lead.

The Indians had trailed by 17 at halftime, but three times in the fourth quarter they cut Shawnee’s lead to one point. Victory looked imminent for the Indians.

Khaleal McCormick had dominated the comeback with his disruptive presence at the top of a 1-3-1 zone. Steals and layups and steals and dunks (what seemed like too many to count) were the result of 13 second-half turnovers by the Braves.

When it seemed the Braves were out of ways to protect the lead, they regained control. David Sawyer rebounded a blocked shot, scored and made a free throw for a four-point lead.

Jaelin Williams, who scored 18 points, hit a jumper in the lane and added a free throw for a seven-point lead with 1:35 left.

Shawnee’s lead was safe again and the Braves held on for 61-55 victory to stay in a first-place tie with Tecumseh in the Central Buckeye Conference Kenton Trail Division.

“After they cut it to one a couple different times, they really could’ve taken the lead because they had all the momentum,” Braves coach Chris McGuire said. “We were able to make some plays then and get it back and hold on. We’d like not to go through something like that, but it was a good learning experience for us.”

What the Braves (8-3, 5-1) went through was an aggressive defense that was much more effective in the second half.

The Indians (7-6, 2-4) tried different zones, man-to-man and traps in the first half, but the Braves attacked it with good passes to finish with a 15-5 run for a 36-19 lead.

“We knew they were going to be aggressive in the backcourt, so we wanted to be sure we were looking down toward the basket,” McGuire said.

Sawyer, who doubled his scoring average with 16 points, scored 11 points in the run by getting open behind the Indians’ over-playing defense.

Then it was McCormick’s time in the second half. He used his 6-foot-4 frame, long arms, quickness and leaping ability to lead the Indians back.

He scored 13 of his 20 points in the half and dunked three times in the third quarter. But it was McCormick’s defensive presence that cost the Braves their poise.

“We just kind of held the ball, went backwards, really didn’t attack the pressure like we really needed to,” McGuire said.

“Once we finally got a couple timeouts and got them settled down and said, ‘We’ve got to go back to looking underneath the bucket,’ is when we were able to get some of those easy shots.”

Stebbins has averaged five victories the past four seasons, but even with the inconsistent play in this loss, third-year coach Jeremy Finn said his team continues to make progress.

“We had such a tough first half, and that’s kind of been who we are,” Finn said. “We don’t really know what we’re going to get. At halftime we decided we need to work a lot harder and we did a great job of being the aggressor. But we fell short ... it’s disappointing.”

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