First Posted: 3/19/2015
BOWLING GREEN — Fast starts are critical during the postseason.
It’s even more important for a team to keep the pressure on and not let up.
Defiance got out quickly and kept the pressure on just enough to pull out a hard-fought 48-43 victory over Western Buckeye League-foe Celina in Thursday’s boys Division II regional semifinal game at Bowling Green State University’s Stroh Center.
With the win, Defiance (24-2) will play Parma Heights Holy Name (17-9) at 4 p.m. Saturday in the Division II regional final at BGSU. Holy Name defeated Sandusky 65-57 in Thursday’s first regional semifinal at the Stroh Center.
Defiance led Celina from start to finish. Its biggest lead was 13 points.
Defiance had three players score in double figures. Katwan Singleton led the way with 17 points and nine rebounds. Kameron Singleton scored 10 points and had three steals. Wes Detter added 10 points, including three 3-pointers for Defiance.
Celina (22-4) had just two players score in double figures. Caleb Hoyng led Celina with 14 points, while teammate Ryan Hoyng added 10. Ryan Hoyng, the leading scorer for Celina, was held to just two points in the first half.
“I’m just really proud of our guys,” Defiance coach Kirk Lehman said. “I thought they played extremely hard. They were extremely patient. It would be hard to find another game we played with a better effort, defensively. I thought our activeness on Ryan Hoyng was tremendous.”
Defiance raced out to a 6-0 lead within the first two minutes of the game. Celina did not record its first field goal until midway through the first quarter, when Grant Laffin (six points, four rebounds) scored inside the paint.
In the first half, Celina committed eight turnovers, while Defiance turned it over just two times.
For the game, Celina turned the ball over 16 times, while Defiance committed just six miscues.
“I thought us causing some turnovers in the first half was a big factor in the game,” Lehman said.
Defiance led 9-2 at the end of the first quarter. At the halftime break, Defiance’s lead was 20-11.
Celina struggled from the field in the first half, making just 5-of-15 of its shots. Defiance, on the other hand, connected on 8-of-20 of its field goal attempts.
In the third quarter, Celina cut the deficit to four, 22-18, on a 3-pointer by Caleb Hoyng. However, Defiance responded, pushing its lead to 28-18 within two minutes.
At the end of three quarters, Defiance led 30-20.
In the fourth quarter, Defiance extended its lead to 33-20, on a 3-pointer by Shay Smiddy.
At the 1:47 mark of the fourth quarter, Logan DeLong (seven points) scored down low to cut the Defiance lead to 38-33.
Celina also cut it to five, 40-35, with 1:39 left to play on a turnaround jumper inside the paint by Ryan Hoyng.
Down the stretch, Celina cut the Defiance lead to three points, on three different occasions.
However, Defiance was able to put the game away at the free throw line.
In the fourth quarter, Defiance was 13-of-18 from the free throw line. For the game, Defiance was 16-of-24 from the line.
Celina, however, was just 2-for-6 from the charity stripe for the entire game.
“I think that any time you can get a lead it helps you when they have runs like they had,” Lehman said. “When they cut it to five, we thought about taking a timeout. But, our seniors took it over.”
For the game, Celina shot 50 percent from the floor. Defiance shot 40 percent.
Celina won the boards, 28-18.
“I think it was a very hard fought game,” Celina coach Chris Bihn said. “We needed to get to the line more. We didn’t get to the line and we didn’t get free throws. …That was the difference in the game, right there. That was huge.
“I think the physicality of the game caught us off-guard a little bit. We talked about it, but it’s tough until you get out there and see it. They definitely delivered the first blow. That took us a little while to recover. But, I think our guys figured it out and played a whale of a second half.”
