Over and over again.
The Elks ran Wayne off the floor with an 81-54 win on Wednesday night in Centerville to take a two-game lead in the Greater Western Ohio Conference standings.
Centerville didn’t just overcome a five-point halftime deficit. It threw as many knockout punches as the group could muster.
The Elks trailed 34-29 at the break before outscoring Wayne 52-20 in the second half.
“I thought our guys attention to detail at the defensive end was a lot better in the first half and there were some shots that we wanted them to take and some that we didn’t,” Centerville head coach Brook Cupps said. “But I thought in the second half we did a much better job of making it a little bit more difficult for them.”
One of the big reasons the Elks were so dominant down low was the return of junior Sam Keely. Centerville’s leading scorer missed the last six games with a high ankle sprain.
He wasted no time getting back in the groove. Keely made eight baskets in the second half as part of a 25-point night.
Cupps said the timing of having a few extra days off helped with his recovery and he’s close enough to 100 percent to make him feel comfortable getting back on the floor.
“He’s still not quite as explosive, there were a couple he probably would have dunked normally, but Sam is good,” Cupps said. “I think he did a good job tonight attacking the rim and when he does that, he’s a very good player. He was going to the rim and attacking and scoring there, and that puts him in rebounding position. He shoots a really high percentage at the rim.”
Centerville (11-5, 9-1) also got 16 points by junior Trey Sam and another 14 from junior Ty Rohrer. As a team, the Elks made 29 shots from two and only needed one make from the three-point line as part of its second half outburst.
Credit: Steven Wright
Credit: Steven Wright
Centerville’s only GWOC loss came against Wayne in a 71-51 blowout on Dec. 16. Wayne (12-4, 8-3) had only lost this season when Kettering is involved — twice against Fairmont and once more at Trent Arena during Flyin’ to the Hoop.
Wednesday was an uncharacteristic late game performance by the Warriors.
“They got layup after layup after layup and they did a great job doing exactly what coach Cupps asked them to do,” Wayne head coach Nathan Martindale said. “He runs a great program and I have nothing but respect what they accomplish year after year. They deserved it tonight the way they played the second half. ”
An exciting first quarter saw both sides trade the lead seven times, capped by Sam hitting a three from near the corner. Wayne, however, seized control near the end of the second quarter with outside shooting by senior Sante Jones and sophomore Dontay Chivers producing a 12-2 run into halftime.
Centerville came out determined scoring the first eight points. Wayne got a three by senior Kaden Post to briefly tie the game at 37. Centerville netted the next 12 points and never stopped piling on from there.
“We wanted to do that the whole time, but it’s hard against them when you’re in the halfcourt all the time because they do such a good job of packing things in and protecting the paint with their quickness,” Cupps said. “It’s hard to get in there. We were playing in transition a lot more and I thought that’s what led to all those additional twos.”
The game was delayed a day due to ongoing cold weather in the area.
The Elks dug in its feet and pronounced itself as the favorite to capture a seventh straight GWOC crown. They lead Wayne and Fairmont both by two games in the loss column.
Centerville has four league games left, all of which are on the road, but against the four teams at the bottom of the standings.
Cupps said he and his team aren’t really thinking about the big picture at this moment. He was happier to see his team play well against another good team.
“They have dynamic guys that can hurt you in multiple ways and I think from that standpoint it was a good win for us,“ he said. ”We got on that run and it was kind of nice to see us just stay on that run where we put our foot on the gas and kept it there.”
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