Tecumseh rallies in fourth to beat Tipp

Arrows go on 14-0 run to secure season sweep of Red Devils.

Tecumseh High School's Dalton Davis (left) and Tippecanoe's Austin Holden battle for a loose ball during Friday night's game in Tipp City. Tecumseh won 52-47. Staff Photo by Barbara J. Perenic

Barbara Perenic/Staff Photographer Tecumseh High School's Dalton Davis (left) and Tippecanoe's Austin Holden battle for a loose ball during Friday night's game in Tipp City. Tecumseh won 52-47. Staff Photo by Barbara J. Perenic

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By David Jablonski, Staff Writer 7:50 PM Saturday, January 21, 2012

TIPP CITY — Roger Culbertson picked the perfect time to turn on the press Friday. With his Tecumseh High School boys basketball team trailing Tippecanoe 29-21 at the start of the second half, the coach unleashed the Arrows’ ferocious full-court trap.

With a couple of turnovers by Tippecanoe and quick baskets by Tecumseh in the first minute of the third quarter, the Arrows got back in the game. Then they asserted their dominance in the fourth quarter, going on a 14-0 run to secure a 52-47 victory.

“We had nothing to lose,” Culbertson said. “We wanted to try to get after them in a full-court setting. Maybe that quickened (Tippecanoe’s) game a little bit. They didn’t get as good of looks as they were in the first half. They were very patient in the first half and got some easy looks inside against us.”

The Arrows have now won six games in a row, improving to 9-3 overall and 5-1 in the Central Buckeye Conference Kenton Trail Division. They remain tied atop the division with Shawnee.

This game resembled the first matchup of the season on Dec. 2. Tecumseh trailed 25-22 after three quarters in that game and outscored Tippecanoe 15-9 in the fourth to win 37-34.

This time, Tippecanoe led by as many as 11 points in the first half and still led 37-31 after three quarters, but it didn’t score in the fourth until 1:37 remained. By that point, the Arrows led 45-38.

“I thought we played like a young team,” Tippecanoe coach Matt Pond said. “I don’t want to use that as an excuse, but it showed tonight. There were a couple of times they got us playing too fast, and we want to control the tempo.”

Trent Mead led Tecumseh with a career-high 19 points. Chase Culbertson added 13 points and nine rebounds.

Mead had one of the most important baskets of the game with 2:52 to play. On one possession, Tecumseh missed four shots and chased down four offensive rebounds. Finally, on the fifth shot, Mead scored on a layup to give Tecumseh a 43-37 lead.

“We were lucky to get back in the game early in the third,” Culbertson said. “We got it back to a reasonable margin, and we got hope. Once we got hope and got the lead, we relaxed a little bit and hit some shots.”

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