First Posted: 3/6/2015
BATH TOWNSHIP — Matt Tabler’s young Perry squad has had to be plenty resilient this season and Friday was no different.
The third-seeded Commodores used a late charge to shake off New Knoxville for a 62-56 victory in the second Division IV sectional final at Bath. In the first game, Spencerville’s Zach Goecke delivered a career-high 28 points to help the second-seeded Bearcats beat Minster 69-58.
Spencerville (15-5) will take on Perry (18-5) in the district semifinals at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Wapakoneta.
Trailing 48-41 early in the fourth, Perry started to take over the final quarter when Plummie Gardner hit a 3-pointer to cut to 48-44 with 5:56 remaining. That keyed a 21-8 run to finish the game. However, New Knoxville still led 55-51 with 2:22 remaining before an 8-0 jolt gave the Commodores a 59-55 lead with 1:00 remaining.
Perry took a 56-55 lead with 1:54 remaining in that stretch when Jared Poling hit a crucial 3-pointer.
“It was all kind of a blur because stuff was happening so fast but the biggest key was us attacking,” Tabler said. “Jakoby (Lane-Harvey) got to the basket. Whether it was him getting to the free throw line or Jared (Poling) hitting one of the biggest 3-pointers of the season, because of Jakoby getting to the basket they had to respect that.”
Lane-Harvey finished with a game-high 28 points for Perry while Plummie Gardner scored 18 for the Commodores.
“This was wonderful,” Lane-Harvey said. “Being a younger team, our first time coming out here – because we have five sophomores and three seniors – I thought we played great.”
Jalen Fullenkamp scored 24 points for New Knoxville (8-14) and Andrew Arnett finished with 18 points.
“We’ve had a lot of ups and downs this season … and I thought our kids did a really good job in the fourth quarter of not folding,” Tabler said. “They just took it one possession at a time and we got enough defensive stops when we needed them. I just thought our kids were really resilient.”
Spencerville 69, Minster 58
Minster came out hot from behind the 3-point arc early, hitting three en route to a 15-12 lead before Goecke and the Bearcats got warmed up. Spencerville’s lone senior, Goecke keyed both the offense and defense with his career-high 28 points.
“He did what leaders do,” Spencerville coach Kevin Sensabaugh said. “He’s played more tournament games than anyone else, and he was very poised early when we got down. He was just really difficult to guard tonight.
Spencerville’s defense forced eight turnovers in the second quarter for a 27-24 halftime lead then had six more turnovers in the third and outscored Minster 26-9 in the period for a 53-33 lead entering the fourth.
“After we adjusted, the defense really buckled down,” Sensabaugh said. “Those middle quarters were the difference in the game. Our guys did a good job of speeding them up and turning them over, we just tried to get in the gaps and take away the lanes.”
Goecke scored 11 points in the pivotal third quarter. Mason Nourse added 15 points for Spencerville and Bailey Croft had 11 points for a Bearcats team that made 28-of-44 free throws.
Gabe Goodwin scored 15 points for Minster and Matthew Trushaw had 13 points. The Wildcats finished by hitting 11-of-25 3-pointers – five in the fourth quarter to make it interesting late.
