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Monday, February 9, 2009
KR, Urbana in tough tourney bracket
It was no secret what the teams not named Graham were planning to do heading into the Division II sectional at Troy High School tournament draw on Sunday, Feb. 8
They all wanted to stay away from D-II top-ranked Graham.
After Kenton Ridge’s 67-36 CBC victory on Monday, Feb. 9, Cougars coach Kris Spriggs and Urbana coach Jeremy Dixon talked about their team’s tournament draw.
10 of the 12 teams in the bracket are CBC league members, so its easy to know who you may or may not want to play.
Spriggs said he was sure most of the top teams would avoid the Falcons.
The Cougars drew the second seed and have a first-round bye. They’ll face either Bellefontaine or Milton-Union in a second round game.
“You’re familiar with everybody,” Spriggs said. “You’ve got a good idea of what you’re facing going in. The bottom line is that you have to beat somebody.
Five of the six teams in the Troy lower bracket all have winning records.
Dixon said he was surprised the bottom bracket wasn’t seeds two through seven. The No. 7 seed Indian Lake chose to jump in the top bracket with Graham.
The Hillclimbers face Tippecanoe in a first-round game.
“I knew it could be a tough half,” Dixon said. “It was what I thought would happen.”
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment | Categories: Boys Basketball, Central Buckeye Conference, Kenton Ridge High School, Urbana High School
TweetLive updates from Urbana-KR boys hoops
9:15: KR wins 67-36.
8:54: After three quarters, KR leads 46-27.
8:38: At the half, KR leads 29-9. The Cougars are playing tenacious defense. Urbana had just four points in the quarter until Anthony Marino’s layup at the buzzer.
8:16: After one quarter, KR leads 14-3. Kyle Morris has six points, nailing two 3-pointers for KR. Urbana’s getting good looks, but can’t buy a bucket.
8:15 p.m.: I got here right at tipoff. Lots to do in the office tonight.
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TweetGraham boys No. 1, Trojan move up to third
SPRINGFIELD — Graham is still the unanimous No. 1 team in Division II, while Southeastern moved up one spot to third in D-IV in the fifth weekly Associated Press boys basketball state poll.
Click the jump for the complete poll.
AP STATE POLL
How a state panel of sports writers and broadcasters rates Ohio high school boys basketball teams in the fifth of seven weekly Associated Press polls of 2009, by OHSAA divisions, with won-lost record and total points (first-place votes in parentheses):
DIVISION I
1, Cols. Northland (10) 15-1 253
2, Cin. Princeton (7) 14-1 233
3, Cle. Glenville (5) 13-0 205
4, Warren Harding (3) 13-1 183
5, Middletown (1) 14-1 121
6, Cin. Moeller 14-2 119
7, Can. Timken (1) 14-1 108
8, Barberton 14-1 54
9, Trotwood-Madison 15-2 46
10, Lima Sr. 13-2 44
Others receiving 12 or more points: 11, Can. GlenOak 34. 12, Dublin Scioto 33. 13, Cin. LaSalle 31. 14, Lorain Admiral King (2) 30. 15, Garfield Hts. 19. 16, Sylvania Southview 17. 17, Centerville 14.
DIVISION II
1, GRAHAM (29) 16-0 290
2, Circleville Logan Elm 14-1 219
3, Wilmington 15-1 197
4, Cin. Indian Hill 14-1 170
5, Akr. SVSM 13-3 142
6, Cle. Benedictine 12-4 137
7, Dover 14-2 93
8, Cols. DeSales 13-3 79
9, Day. Thurgood Marshall 13-4 65
10, Day. Dunbar 9-5 33
Others receiving 12 or more points: 11, Chillicothe 32. 12, St. Bernard Roger Bacon 30. 13, Poland Seminary 17. 14, Kettering Alter 15. 15, Minerva 14.
DIVISION III
1, Smithville (25) 16-0 284
2, Findlay Liberty-Benton (2) 13-1 224
3, Casstown Miami E. (1) 13-1 169
4, Anna 15-2 165
5, Ottawa-Glandorf 14-2 146
6, St. Henry (1) 15-1 137
7, Kirtland 13-1 128
8, Cle. Cent. Cath. 13-2 81
9, Piketon 14-2 46
10, W. Salem NW 14-2 44
Others receiving 12 or more points: 11, Cuyahoga Falls CVCA 27. 12, Middletown Madison 24. 13, Beverly Ft. Frye 22. 14, Seaman N. Adams 21. 15, Milan Edison 18.
DIVISION IV
1, New Knoxville (22) 16-0 281
2, Berlin Hiland (6) 16-0 265
3, SOUTHEASTERN 14-1 202
4, Oak Hill 14-2 158
5, Cle. Hts. Lutheran E. 13-2 138
6, Bedford Chanel (1) 10-3 105
7, Delphos St. John’s 12-3 104
8, Newark Cath. 13-3 81
9, Cin. Seven Hills 12-3 50
10, Day. Jefferson 13-4 47
Others receiving 12 or more points: 11, Plymouth 40. 12, Malvern 32. 13, Worthington Christian 27. 14, Pettisville 18. 15, McDonald 13.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Boys Basketball, Central Buckeye Conference, Graham High School, Greater Western Ohio Conference, Ohio Heritage Conference, Southeastern High School
TweetBig week for KR bowling
The Kenton Ridge bowling team has a big week ahead of them. They’re currently 12-0 and face a big match against Stebbins at Northridge Lanes at 4 p.m. Tuesday.
Rock ‘n’ roll
The Super Bowl of boys bowling takes place at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 10, when 10-2 Stebbins visits 12-0 Kenton Ridge in a Central Buckeye Conference showdown at Northridge Lanes in Springfield.
Stebbins, led by Chase Carter, is the defending state champion. Kenton Ridge, paced by “Mr. 300” Ryan Dobie, has its eye on the prize in ‘09.
Quote machine
“These are easily two of the better high school bowling programs in Ohio. We had our way with Kenton Ridge for two seasons, but right now they are on fire. They want what we achieved (state title) last year. Kenton Ridge may be the best team in the state.” — Stebbins coach Don Brown
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TweetWeird happenings at the boys tourney draw
There were all kinds of shenanigans in the prep boys basketball tournament draw this year — outside of Graham getting the No. 1 seed in the Division II Troy sectional.
For the complete brackets, click here.
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TweetOn this date in area sports history…
On this day 15 years ago, Feb. 9, 1994, the Wittenberg men’s basketball team beat Earlham by 75 points, garnering the largest victory in school history.
According to the Wittenberg record book, the 1993-1994 team — which advanced to the NCAA D-III national semifinals — scored 2,789 points in a season, still the most by any time in school history.
Published in the Feb. 10, 1994 edition of the Springfield News-Sun:
BROKEN RECORDS MARK TIGERS WIN
WITT BURIES EARLHAM, 117-42
By Rob Oller, Sports Writer
SPRINGFIELD — Wittenberg wanted a challenging game. Instead, it played kick the can.
Earlham supplied the equipment.
The Tigers went looking for their record-tying 21st consecutive win before 1,068 at the HPER Center on Wednesday. They found it with a marginal victory - a margin of 75, the biggest spread in school history.
Earlham provided little more than warm bodies as Wittenberg dismantled the Quakers, 117-42, to remain atop the North Coast Athletic Conference standings at 21-0 overall and 13-0 in the league.
Kenyon, which earned a 90-83 overtime win over Ohio Wesleyan on Wednesday, is a game back in second. The Lords host Wittenberg next Wednesday and should provide the Tigers with the tougher competition they want.
Playing Earlham — and likely Oberlin on Saturday — equals little resistence.
The Quakers dropped to 2-19 and 2-12. The biggest question surrounding them is … who did they beat?
“Honestly, I would rather have a one-point game, but it was fun to have the extras,” said a smiling Aaron Perry, who led six Tigers in double figures with 24 points.
A quick list of the extras:
The Tigers used 16 players, and 13 scored, as the starters sat out the final 12:17.
Wittenberg’s 13 three-pointers broke the record of 11, which had been reached twice before. Also, the Tigers’ 32 attempts shattered the school mark by eight.
The starters used a 14-0 run to go up 40-13 with 5:36 left in the half. Not to be topped, the second team had a 15-0 run midway through the second half for a 101-31 lead.
Luke Ragan, who considers a free throw a long shot, attempted not one, but two three-pointers. Both clanked off the rim but Ragan shrugged it off. “I’m trying to expand my game,” the senior forward quipped.
Matt Croci became Wittenberg’s single-season three-point leader with 62, breaking Steve Allison’s mark by one.
The 21 straight victories ties the 1962-63 and 1988-89 squads for most consecutive wins. That mark should fall on Saturday.
The 75-point margin was the largest ever, breaking the 72-point cushion in last year’s 113-41 blowout over Oberlin.
Otherwise, it was a typical Wittenberg-Earlham game. The Tigers score. Earlham turns it over. Repeat. The Quakers committed 29 turnovers, while Witt had a season-low six.
So overwhelming was Witt’s performance that one of the Quakers’ own players - South product Kawambee Gaines - admitted he wouldn’t mind playing in Springfield more often.
“All the comments I heard on the floor were their guys telling me I should have come here,” Gaines remarked. “They said I could have gotten a ring here.”
Gaines, who led Earlham with 13 points, also confirmed he’s still looking to transfer, and Wittenberg is in the picture.
“I wouldn’t mind coming here,” he said.
At 21-0, who wouldn’t?
Wittenberg Coach Bill Brown used the night as an opportunity to tinker with full and halfcourt zone pressure. It worked as Earlham shot just 32 percent from the field and 19 percent (3 of 16) from three-point range.
“It’s so difficult simulating pressure and good zone defense in practice. This was experimenting,” Brown explained.
Earlham Coach Tony Gary didn’t appreciate being the guinea pig.
“They’re a much better team than us and would beat us 10 times out of 10 … so he didn’t need to press us with his starters the first eight minutes of the second half,” Gary said.
Actually, it was more like four minutes, and it was a soft press, and, well, the Tigers aren’t overly concerned with keeping the score close - ever.
“You’ve got to make it fun against this kind of competition,” Ragan said. “You’ve got to keep mentally tough.”
That didn’t seem to be a problem against Earlham. The Tigers started by pounding the ball inside to Aaron Smith, who scored all of his 13 points the first half, then fired away from the perimeter after intermission, at one point hitting six straight treys. Perry buried four in a row. He finished 8 of 13 from the field, including 6 of 10 from outside the arc.
“We were getting great looks at the basket,” Perry said, adding that he was surprised Earlham never came out of its zone.
Joining Perry in double figures were Croci with 17, Smith and John Burns with 13 apiece, Chris Wolfe with 12 and Mark Balusik with 10. Smith also ripped down a season-high 12 boards as the Tigers gained a huge 44-28 advantage on the glass.
Brown was proud of his players for staying focused.
“This game could have gotten sloppy,” he said.
Instead, it just got easy.
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