First Posted: 1/30/2015
TOLEDO — Toledo St. John’s was in no mood to give up first place.
St. John’s went inside early and often and Lima Senior had no answer.
St. John’s stayed unbeaten in the Three Rivers Athletic Conference with an 81-73 boys basketball victory over Lima Senior Friday at St. John’s.
St. John’s was led by 6-foot-5 senior Myles Copeland, who set up shop down low in scoring 22 points, on 11 of 14 shooting.
Xavier Simpson paced the Spartans with 28 points.
St. John’s also dominated the boards, outrebounding the Spartans, 31-19, including 18-4 in the first half.
“We were just a step slow in all aspects of the game,” Lima Senior coach Quincey Simpson said. … “I didn’t think we were allowed to play our style of basketball and they were allowed to play theirs. They pushed us around and I never complain about that because I’m an aggressive coach, but we were not allowed to be aggressive. But we always talk about adjusting to the officials and if they’re calling it tight, we have to back off. But it’s not about the officials. We didn’t guard the basket.”
Jaylin Thomas had 15 points for the Spartans, while Rico Stafford had 10. Elijah Pughsley had seven points, all in the first quarter.
Kaleb Vaughn had 14 for the Titans, Harrison Riggs scored 12.
Lima Senior, which had its 10-game winning streak snapped, is 10-3, 6-2 in the TRAC. First-place St. John’s is 12-3 and 8-0 in the TRAC.
St. John’s was ahead by 17, 69-52, early in the fourth quarter. The Titans still led 79-66 with just under two minutes to play.
But the Spartans’ man-to-man press forced four straight St. John’s turnovers and the Spartans rallied back to get within six, 79-73, with 45 seconds left. Simpson hit a driving layup and Thomas nailed a 3-pointer to get the margin to six.
But St. John’s sealed it with two free throws by Riggs to make it 81-73 with 17 seconds left.
“When you make those flurries at the end, it was pretty much over and you’re just scrapping,” Simpson said. “It shouldn’t have come to that.. … We didn’t defend well and they got a lot of high-percentage shots at the basket.”
In fact, all six St. John’s baskets in the final quarter came on layups.
“That’s what we like to do,” 36-year veteran St. John’s coach Ed Heintschel said. “If you live and die by the arc, that’s not a good thing. We like to play inside, out.”
The game was tied at 20 after the first quarter, then the Titans ran off a 15-6 burst to close the first half to grab a 47-36 halftime lead.
Copeland had 12 at the half, all down on the blocks.
“I thought we really moved the ball well,” Heintschel said. “But we didn’t have an answer for Xavier all night, he’s so quick and a heck of a player.”
St. John’s won at Lima Senior on Dec. 12, 82-79, in overtime.
St. John’s shot 64 percent from the field, mostly in the paint. It was 4 of 9 on threes. The Spartans shot 45 percent and were 5 of 16 on threes.
Lima Senior forced 24 turnovers, including seven in the final four minutes to lead the late comeback.
“How about that flurry at the end?” Heintschel (639-200) said with a laugh. “I’ve been through so many of these things.”
