“You can’t ask for more for your senior year,” said Lions senior Fred Shropshire.
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While the Lions are proud of their success, they’re not satisfied. The program knows it can reach new heights, winning its first district title in school history.
“We’re fulfilled but not satisfied,” said Lions senior Casey Swank. “We want to strive to get better and keep going in the tournament.”
Emmanuel (22-2) will play Cincinnati Christian (19-6) in a D-IV district final game at 9 p.m. Friday at the Vandalia Butler Student Activity Center.
The Lions have gotten off to slow starts in their last two tournament games as they pressed to get back to the district tournament, said coach Danny Moore. He hopes they’ll be more relaxed now that they’ve accomplished one of their biggest goals of the season.
“I really feel like part of the problem we’ve had with our first couple tournament games is that we’ve been playing really tight,” Moore said. “We felt like we had to be back at district. Now we can say ‘Here we are, we’ve done what we needed to do, now let’s just go play’.”
Emmanuel hasn’t lost since Dec. 7. It was that loss, a 52-49 setback at Dayton Christian where the Lions led by 17 at halftime, that fueled their winning streak, Moore said.
“It really paved the rest of the year for us,” he said.
The Lions know they must be stout defensively against a fast-paced Cougars squad averaging 65.2 points per game. Cincinnati Christian, which lost to Fort Loramie in a district final game last has three players averaging double figures — sophomore Logan Woods (15.8 ppg), junior KJ Swain (13.8) and sophomore Cameron Rogers (10.1).
Emmanuel has held opponents to a program-best 41 points per game this season.
“We’re focusing defensively on what we need to do,” Moore said. “It’s going to be a matter of owning the defensive game. (Cincinnati Christian) love to score 80, 90 points. We don’t want that to happen.”
The Lions return to the district tournament this season after advancing two years ago. They hope that experience will pay off, Shropshire said.
“Experience is a big thing in basketball, especially in the tournament because the game plays a little different,” he said. “I’m glad the younger guys could get here so they could experience it like we did two years ago.”
Moore knew the Lions senior class would be special as they were entering high school, he said.
“We thought four years ago when we looked at them, if we just get them to work,” Moore said. “They put the work in every summer. We’ve made it a little tougher each year. They’ve just stepped up.”
While the Lions will go down as one of the best teams in school history, they’re not ready for their postseason run to end any time soon.
“We’re just trying to not take everything for granted, enjoy everything, but still trying to keep pushing,” Swank said.
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