Senior Ian Galluch scored 14 points, hitting four 3-pointers, as Catholic Central (22-2) advanced to a district semifinal game for the sixth straight season. The Irish will face Ohio Heritage Conference rival Cedarville at 7 p.m. Saturday at Troy.
“It was a great team win,” said Irish coach John Detling. “Everybody contributed. The bench played great for us.”
The Irish jumped out to an 18-8 lead after the first quarter and never trailed the rest of the game.
“We were able to get out quick off the rebound with good outlets and we were able to stay wide and find the open man, catching everybody in stride on our fast break,” Detling said. “That’s kind of what we’ve been talking about here lately. We’ve gotten away from not getting easy buckets in transition and I think we did a good job with that.”
Tyler Galluch scored 17 of his 30 points in the second quarter. After scoring his 1,000th point, Detling called a timeout to celebrate the accomplishment.
“It’s emotional,” Detling said. “My first year he was a skinny freshman coming in and he’s just matured so well and worked on his game so hard. It’s well-deserved in all aspects. I’m happy for him that he’s able to accomplish that as a junior.”
Tyler Galluch became the eighth boys player in school history to surpass 1,000 points. He was happy to accomplish the feat, but said he’s focused solely on advancing in the postseason.
“I’m excited to score (1,000 points), but I’m more focused on this playoff run,” he said. “We want to show how far we can go this year.”
The Irish led 35-22 at the half and took a 35-point lead in the fourth quarter, starting the running clock with about four minutes remaining.
The Irish, ranked sixth in the final D-IV state poll, will now set their sights on Cedarville, which split with them this season. Catholic Central beat Cedarville 65-50 on Dec. 3 in Springfield, but the Indians won the second meeting 56-55 on Jan. 21 in Cedarville.
The third matchup of the season will have even bigger stakes: a trip to the D-IV district finals. Catholic Central is seeking its first trip to UD Arena since winning back-to-back titles in 2018 and 2019.
“My first year (our motto) was ‘Trust the Process’ and this year we changed it to ‘Finish the Process’,” Detling said. “Let’s finish the process so we can move on.”
Cedarville 64, Yellow Springs 50: Drew Koning scored 19 points, Tyler Cross had 15 points and Hayden Hanson added 14 as the Indians improved to 20-4, advancing to Saturday’s district semifinal game against Catholic Central.
The Indians jumped out to a 21-9 first quarter lead and never looked back.
“Our start was big for us,” said Indians coach Ryan Godlove. “I loved the energy we came out with. We thought that that was really important and the guys came out clicking on all cylinders.”
Cedarville led 37-20 at the half. The Bulldogs cut the lead to 12 points several times in the second half, but couldn’t get any closer.
DeAndre Cowen had 17 points for Yellow Springs, which finished its season 16-5. The Bulldogs earned a share of the Metro Buckeye Conference this season — its first conference title since 2016 — after going 7-11 a year ago. They’ll graduate five seniors.
“I talked about how proud I am of them, but a lot of times in life we get caught in the destination and we forget that the ride is the fun part,” said Bulldogs coach Nick Trimbach. “I made sure the last sentiment they left with is that I loved every second of it and I hope they did, too. We had a ball. Even when we lost, we had a ball.”
The Indians are seeking their second straight trip to the district finals. Last year, the Indians advanced to a D-IV regional final game, falling to eventual state champion Botkins.
They’ll face a familiar foe in Catholic Central, the OHC South Division champions.
“We know it’s going to be a dog fight,” Godlove said. “They’ve got a really nice team. It’s going to be a fun game and it’s going to be good for our conference.”
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