First Posted: 2/27/2015
SHAWNEE TOWNSHIP — It was senior night at Lappin Gymnasium and the Shawnee seniors went out in a big way.
The five seniors — JaQuan Tucker, Malachi Ward, Jake Leppla, David Fox, and Angelo Fox — started together and Tucker got them off to great start with 12 first quarter points that gave the Indians a 19-12 lead. Shawnee never looked back and went on to post a 67-51 Western Buckeye League win over the visiting Wapakoneta.
“We wanted to come out with energy on senior night,” Shawnee coach Mark Triplett said. “Our seniors brought energy but were uncomfortable together.”
The Indians (7-15, 4-5 WBL) employed full court pressure and their speed and quickness caused the Redskins (11-11, 4-5 WBL) problems all game long as Wapakoneta ended the night with 18 turnovers.
“You can’t simulate their speed; we planned for their press but they took us off of our strengths.” Wapakoneta coach Doug Selvey said. “Their speed and quickness hurt us and we have to work on that.”
The Indians got big games from their one-two punch of Tucker and Jaden O’Neal. Tucker had 19 first half points on his way to a game-high 27 points and O’Neal took over with 17 second half points and ended the contest totaling 23 points.
The Redskins got 17 points from Adam Henderson and 12 from Corey Crawford while Jarrett Koch chipped in with 11 points for Wapakoneta.
Shawnee led 32-27 at the half-time break before opening the third period with a 10-4 run to grab a 46-31 lead and control of the game. The Redskins then scored six straight to get to with-in 46-37 but Shawnee closed out the quarter on a 7-4 spurt to take a 53-41 lead to the fourth period.
The Indians hit 4-of-8 from the field and 6-of-7 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter to thwart any hopes of a Wapakoneta come-back and held on for the victory.
“We executed on offense tonight by passing up good shots to get great shots; we made them uncomfortable and sped them up faster than they wanted to play.” Triplett said. “We were looking for some momentum to take us into tournament play Wednesday night against Kenton.”
Both teams connected for 46 percent from the field as the Indians connected on 25-of-54 in the game while the Redskins converted 18-of-39 in the game. Shawnee made 11-of-15 free throws compared to 14-of-20 by Wapakoneta.
The Redskins took the battle of the boards by a slim 26 to 23 margin.
