First Posted: 3/6/2015
LIMA — Momentum is a fragile thing and it can turn on something as simple as a single turnover. Imagine what a swing it takes on four turnovers.
Elida was able to grab the momentum late thanks to Bath miscues and the result was a 48-38 Division II Lima Senior sectional championship victory for the Bulldogs.
With the win Elida moves on to meet Celina in the Liberty-Benton district at 6:15 p.m Wednesday. Celina earned the right to advance with a 65-35 win over Otsego in the first game Friday night.
Bath and Elida battled back and forth for three quarters before Elida seemed to grab control when they grabbed a 32-27 lead early in the fourth quarter.
A basket by the Wildcats was followed by back to back Bulldog turnovers that Bath converted and suddenly Bath was back in front 33-32 with 6:15 left to play.
But in the blink of an eye the Wildcats committed four turnovers in a row that Elida turned into a 9-0 run and just like that the Bulldogs had a 41-33 lead with 2:15 left to play in the game.
“We were out of sync the whole game for whatever reason,” Bath coach Shawn Allen said. “We got that spurt and got the lead back but then the turnovers hit. Our kids kept playing hard and we got a lot better over the last three weeks.”
Elida (11-11) ended the game on a 16-5 run for the final margin and avoided losing three games to Bath (6-18) this season.
The Bulldogs earned the victory by turning around their free throw shooting; they went 4-of-11 in the first half but were able to turn that around to 13-of-14 in the second half, including 11-of-12 in the fourth quarter.
“The wheels shook a little bit but we were able to keep it on the tracks,” Elida coach Denny Thompson said. “The key was us making free throws in the second half.”
Andrew Renner paced Bath with a team-high 12 points before fouling out late and was the only Wildcat to reach double digits.
Austin Allemeier scored a game-high 19 points for Elida and also guarded Renner in the Elida man to man defense.
“I thought Austin did a good job guarding Renner and now we get to move on and face Celina.” Thompson said.
Celina 65 Otsego 35
Number one seed Celina was never challenged as they raced by Otsego 65-35 in the first game Friday night and earned the right to advance to the Liberty Benton district.
Western Buckeye League player of the year Ryan Hoyng scored a game-high 19 points to pace the Bulldogs attack. Logan DeLong added 15 points and Caleb Hoyng chipped in with 12 points for Celina.
Celina shot a red-hot 68 percent from the field in the game as they were able to pound the ball inside against the smaller Knights (4-20) and connect on 28-of-41 field goals in the contest. The Bulldogs converted an amazing 17-of-19 field goal attempts in the second and third quarters.
“I was happy with the way we played offensively; we moved the ball and got good looks.” Celina coach Chris Bihn said. “They wanted to slow the game down but we got the lead and that got things rolling. It’s always a good thing if you get to leave Lima with a smile on your face.”
Celina (20-3) had nine players break into the scoring column in the game.
“It was good to get all those kids in the game,” Bihn said. “This is a good bunch of kids and they deserve good things.”
