For Catholic Central, Murphy’s Law had a field day with missed shots, turnovers, you name it.
The result: a stunning 70-31 victory for Greeneview. Not stunning that the Rams won but by how much.
“We’ve been confident all season, we’ve just been waiting for a time to shine like this,” said Carter Williams, one of the Rams’ seven seniors. “We know we can do it, so we just went out and did it this time.”
The Rams (5-1, 5-0 Ohio Heritage Conference) weren’t quite supernatural, but Williams’ shooting was divine in the first quarter. Before any shot he took missed, he made three 3-pointers by the 3:40 mark, followed in a teammate’s missed shot a minute later, then was fouled shooting a 3-pointer – the only way the Irish (3-3, 3-2) could stop him – and made all three free throws. Williams had 14 points, the Rams led 16-0 and there was 2:04 left in the quarter.
“It was fun,” said Williams, who scored a game-high 24 points and made five 3-pointers. “We were all coming together. We couldn’t be stopped. It was beautiful play by the team as a whole.”
The Rams led 18-3 after one quarter, 43-14 at halftime and by 35 early in the third quarter to get a running clock. Head coach Kyle Fulk didn’t have to do much but watch and enjoy what he knew his team was capable of.
“Shooting 35% on the year was not indicative of what this team can do,” he said. “We really just worked on the details this week of our offense and tell guys to keep shooting and they’re going to fall. Tonight they did and hopefully they keep doing that.”
Fulk didn’t know his team’s shooting percentage for the game, but it was easily over 50% and probably over 60% in the first half. Myles Witt added 13 points and Ben Myers 11. The Rams made a season-high 10 3-pointers.
But the Rams weren’t just playing offense. They were forcing frequent turnovers, contested shots and converting those stops into fast-break points. Central’s Tyler Galluch, the reigning OHC player of the year, didn’t get going early and was held to 14 points.
“Our defensive effort and execution was huge,” Fulk said. “They had three points at the end of the first quarter and that sets the tone. We’ve done that some this year, but we haven’t put four quarters together like that defensively.”
First-year Central coach Matt Mullen practiced this week to prepare for Greeneview’s high-intensity defense.
“It’s not even a press, it’s not even a trapping defense,” Mullen said. “It’s just our guys see two guys coming out and they want to get rid of the ball versus slowing down. They just see four arms coming at them and they just throw the ball.”
Mullen, though, is being patient with his mostly young team that surrounds Galluch and Cole Ray, who got in early foul trouble. Senior transfer Ian Roediger is the only player with previous varsity experience.
“We’ll get there. We’re going to work on it and this game gives us a lot to work on,” Mullen said. “We knew what they were going to do, but it was a little bit too big of a moment for us right now.”
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