If anyone thought Lima Senior was going to do everything exactly the same this year in boys basketball as it did on its way to a regional runner-up finish last season, well, guess again.
After using three different starting lineups in its first four games, the Spartans introduced a new press during a 73-46 win over Findlay on Tuesday night.
Let’s just say it worked pretty well. The Trojans turned the ball over 33 times against Lima Senior’s pressure, which helped fuel runs of 14-0, 10-0 and 14-2 during the game for the Spartans.
Xavier Simpson scored 23 points, including four 3-pointers, Marquavious Wilson had 15 points and Rico Stafford came off the bench for 11 points, five rebounds and four steals for Lima Senior (5-0, 3-0 TRAC).
Chase Miller’s 16 points led Findlay (5-2, 3-1 TRAC).
“We put a press in yesterday and went over it for about 45 minutes,” Lima Senior coach Quincey Simpson said. “I was kind of skeptical that we would show it today because we hadn’t completed it, but I thought it looked terrific. The guys caught on quick. It’s definitely going to be our primary defense full court once we get all the pieces together.
“I thought overall it was just a tremendous defensive effort for our guys,” he said. “We’ve got the speed and the length and we’ve got guys who are smart basketball players who can anticipate. We just have to get these guys to make the right decision after they make the steal.”
When Lima senior jumped out to a 24-7 lead a minute into the second quarter, it looked like the game could be over early.
But Findlay hit six consecutive shots and outscored the Spartans 16-2 over the next 3 1/2 minutes to cut the lead to 26-23. After Lima Senior went out to a 30-23 lead at halftime, Findlay got within three again, at 30-27, early in the second half.
Two minutes later, Lima Senior built its lead to 10 points again, and never led by fewer than nine points the rest of the way.
“We’re going to have turnovers against them but we had some bad ones,” Findlay coach Jim Rucki said. “We competed and we were fortunate we made some shots.
“We were close a couple times to getting where we could pull it out and try to make them come out and get us and see if we could beat them off the dribble. But we were always just fighting to make the next pass. We could never attack. We were just trying to find somebody to throw it to.
“They’re good. They’re active, they’re athletic, they’re long. It’s tough to play against them,” he said.
Lima Senior shot 46 percent on field goals (26 of 56). When Findlay was able to get into its offense, it shot well, hitting 51 percent on field goals (18 of 35). Lima Senior had a 24-21 rebounding edge and the Spartans turned the ball over 20 times.
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