Centerville secured a Division I district title with a 49-28 win against Sycamore on Sunday at the Cintas Center.
The only place on the floor which saw either team shoot well was Centerville at the free throw line. The Elks, after only leading by six going into the final period, made 15 free throws in the fourth quarter alone to put away the win while going 18 of 23 from the stripe for the afternoon.
Credit: Steven Wright
Credit: Steven Wright
“Earlier in the game, we were shooting shots they wanted us to shoot instead of the ones we wanted to shoot,” Centerville head coach Brook Cupps said. “In the fourth we really got aggressive about attacking the paint and trying to live in there.”
Both teams struggled throughout the game from the floor. Sycamore went 2-for-18 from three, while Centerville only shot 25 percent during the second half and 35 percent for the game.
“That’s definitely what they play off of,” Cupps said about Sycamore’s three-point shooting tendency. “It was good that we were able to take those away as that was part of our focus.”
The Elks increased its frequency of driving into the paint immediately in the fourth quarter and were consistently rewarded. Centerville’s size and strength advantage earned them five separate opportunities from the foul line in the first four minutes of the period that allowed them to grow their lead into double digits for the first time all game.
Centerville got 15 points by junior Sam Keely. Freshman Julian Sam added 11 points, and junior Trey Sam had 10 points.
Sycamore hung around for most of the game while Centerville struggled to get its offense in gear. The Elks only scored two finals over the final four minutes of the first half and had a five-minute drought during the third quarter.
On both occasions, the defense did its part to not allow the Aviators to get within one-possession.
“Defensively we were pretty good the entire game,” Cupps said. “We made it hard for them to et those shots they wanted too which is a tribute to our guys accepting their roles on that side of the basketball.”
Centerville advances to play Pickerington Central in the Region 3 semifinal game at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Ohio Expo Center’s Taft Coliseum.
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