RELATED: Catholic Central coach wins top district honor
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Luckily for the Catholic Central Irish, this is Ohio.
Catholic Central fought off Ripley’s fourth-quarter rally, and continued writing its own script for a dream season.
“The dream is to make it to UD. To get here and to win is just unbelievable,” Catholic Central senior Jacob Woeber said of his team’s 56-45 victory Friday night. “To get here and to win my senior year is a dream come true.”
Catholic Central (22-3) won its first district title since 1997 thanks in part to a lopsided rebounding advantage, keeping their cool and a team effort that’s become their trademark.
The Irish outrebounded the Blue Jays 41-23 overall, including a game-high 10 from Woeber, eight from Sabien Doolittle and six from Trey Dunn. Of those 41 rebounds, 29 were defensive.
“Truthfully, they didn’t box out,” Woeber said. “We saw it on film so the game plan the whole time was to pound it inside. When we missed make sure we get it back.”
The Irish ripped off an 18-5 run to take a 37-24 lead with two minutes left in the third quarter. But the Blue Jays (17-9) responded with a 10-0 run of its own to cut the deficit to 37-34 with 6:41 left in the game.
Doolittle ended Ripley’s scoring run with a basket inside as four Blue Jays collapsed on him. After the teams traded baskets, Central’s Mykah Eichie scored five straight Irish points on two free throws and another after scoring off a rebound. The lead was restored to eight and Ripley never seriously threatened again despite pulling within six with 44 seconds remaining.
“At halftime coach told me to take over and play my game,” said Doolittle, who scored 14 of his game-high 21 points in the fourth quarter. “When you’re coached like that it’s easy to do that. I feel like I could put the team on my back.”
Along with those rebounds, the Irish also enjoyed a scoring advantage in the paint. Catholic Central outscored Ripley 28-18 inside. The Blue Jays – a perimeter-oriented offense – struggled from the outside hitting 6-of-24 (25 percent) three-pointers.
The first time Ripley stepped on the UD court Friday was the first time overall. Catholic Central practiced at UD Arena on Tuesday morning, which helped take some of the awe out of the arena.
“It definitely helped,” Eichie said. “We got a feel for the rims. What the rebounds are like here. How big the floor is.”
The best feel of those rims Eichie got Friday – excluding that personal scoring run he had – was when he climbed the ladder and cut down his piece of the net.
“That was probably the best feeling I ever had in my life,” he said.
“It’s a different atmosphere,” said Ripley coach Rex Woodward, who was a player on the Blue Jays’ last district team to reach UD in 2004. “This was the biggest stage and it took them awhile to settle in. I told them the first four minutes was going to be us against our adrenaline.”
Catholic Central plays the winner of Marion Local (20-4) and St. Henry (21-3) in the regional semifinals 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Trent Arena in Kettering.
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