Trojans’ defense holds off Blue Devils
CENTERBURG — The Centerburg High School boys basketball team locked up a third-place tie in the MBC with another excellent display of teamwork on Friday evening.
The host Trojans, down 15-6 early, played airtight defense and defeated the Danville Blue Devils, 49-41. The win puts leaves the Trojans (13-6) in tie for third with the Loudonville Redbirds, both with 9-5 records.
The Blue Devils (6-12, 5-9 MBC) came out with an aggressive defense, but soon found themselves dancing to the Trojans’ tempo.
“We came out of the gate shooting five-of-eight in the first quarter,” Danville coach Jason Crawford said. “We shot the ball well and our zone defense was working real well. We were getting up and running up and down the floor and playing together as a group.”
The Trojans, who were not able to find the basket in the first quarter, held the Devils to a pair of field goals in the second.
A baseliner by Centerburg post player Eric Doyle (8 points) and a jumper by teammate Brandt Lambert (13 points) brought the Trojans to within four at the half, 19-15.
“That’s the one thing,” said Centerburg coach Jim Simpson. “These kids will keep battling back. They had a good jump on us and we just continued to pick apart, little-by-little. We only gave up four points in that second quarter and that was huge for us.”
It only took Centerburg the first minute of the second half to completely erase the Danville lead.
“Centerburg made some great adjustments,” said Crawford. “Our people were not getting to their spots as well as they were in the first quarter.”
The Trojans really took charge as Lambert fed Doyle, who hit the inside jumper. Doyle also hit one from inside to tie it at 19. With 5:40 left in the third, Trojan guard Paul Crego (10 points) hit the go-ahead bucket, driving inside to make it 21-19.
“We came back in the second quarter,” said coach Simpson. “We needed to continue that. Once the kids got back out on the floor and got into the flow that was when things started clicking for us.”
The Devils, still down 23-22 with 3:25 remaining in the third, got a 3-pointer from Logan Snell (seven points). It was one of six field goals from three-point range for Danville for the evening.
The Trojans came right back with a Lambert basket to take back the lead, 26-25, with 2:15 to go in the third as the Trojans kept playing stronger under the boards.
“We preached to them at halftime,” said coach Simpson. “We were giving up to many second shots and we weren’t getting any second shots. We had to start pounding the boards.”
After a free throw by Danville’s Nathan Morton (two points) tied it up again, Centerburg’s Skyler Simpson (11 points) hit a 3-pointer to make it 29-26 going into the fourth.
With The Trojans up, 35-28, midway the fourth, Crego hit a driving layup and Danville called a timeout.
“I told them not to give up. It’s not over and keep believing,” said Crawford. “When we did come out, we switched up our defense and we hit a couple of shots.”
A Brad Bertrand turnaround jumper and a Zack Mowery (11 points) 3-pointer were followed by a B.T. Staats (6 points) 3-pointer to get the Devils within four points, 42-38, with 1:41 to go in the game. Staats, however, fouled out with less than a minute to go.
“They hit some big 3s,” said coach Simpson, “but we just didn’t want to give them anything easy in the second half.”
The Trojans, relentless at the foul line going 15-for-19 for the game, finished out the game with a 7-3 run.
