“That’s a pretty big play,” Centerville coach Brook Cupps said. “It’s a tough call there — do you call a timeout or try to attack in transition. I thought playing in that scatter-court situation is a little bit easier to create a shot that you want instead of against a defense being set. He made a heck of a finish.”
Saben, who missed a couple of free throws moments earlier, wasn’t going to miss this time.
His final free throw capped a 26-point performance for the Alter transfer.
“I felt like I owed it to my team to put us back on top,” Saben said. “I wanted to take the three but they both jumped up on me so I drove the lane and put it in the basket.”
As for the free throw, it came in a noisy Springfield gym. Saben has seen worse. He sank two free throws against Dunbar last season in front of a packed house, mostly there to see Franklin’s Luke Kennard in the game after his.
“Nothing’s going to be more pressure than that,” Saben said of playing in front of thousands.
Centerville improved to 3-0 overall and 1-0 in the Greater Western Ohio Conference’s Central Division. Springfield fell to 1-2 and 0-1 GWOC Central.
The rematch is Jan. 29 in Centerville.
“I think Springfield is one of the best teams in the state, definitely one of the best again in southwest Ohio,” Cupps said. “It’s a great win for us. … Our guys, we don’t really look at home or away. We just look at the next game and focus on trying to win that game.”
Springfield took a 55-53 lead with 14 seconds left after Harper grabbed an offensive rebound and laid it in. Seconds before, the Wildcats had forced an Elks turnover at midcourt with the Cats’ full-court pressure.
Springfield’s final shot glanced off the rim at the buzzer.
“Huge,” Saben said of the win, but it could have also applied to the Wildcats’ inside game. “Springfield, they’re one of the top teams in the state in my opinion. Athletes everywhere. They’re huge.”
Cupps also credited senior Kevin Meiners with shadowing Springfield sharp-shooter Danny Davis. Davis finished with 16 points.
“Danny made some plays on him, but I thought Kevin for the most part tried to make it as tough as he could for a player the caliber of Davis,” Cupps said. “He accepted the challenge.”
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