No. 1 Wauseon ousts Celina

FINDLAY - Celina had the right game plan for top-ranked Wauseon.

But in the end, the Indians were just too tough as they ended the Bulldogs' season with a 51-19 trouncing in the Division II boys basketball sectional final on Friday night at Findlay High School.

Wauseon (23-0) takes on Van Wert next week at Ohio Northern University. The Cougars defeated Bath 72-61 in the other final.

Celina started out in a 2-3 zone to clog up the middle and prevent 6-9 Austin Rotroff from dominating. The Bulldogs also kept a close eye on shooter Brooks Gype on the perimeter.

Unfortunately, Gype got open early for two 3-pointers to make it 6-0 out of the gate.

"We knew we had to get out on Gype," Celina coach Jay Imwalle said. "We were going to take our chances with the other four and pack it in."

Celina intended to start offensively in the four-corners to bring Wauseon out of a 2-3 zone. The Indians did exactly that, moving to a 1-3-1 trap that put pressure on the ball.

Once the Bulldogs had to start moving the ball and shooting, events quickly snowballed.

Kole Murlin scored the Bulldogs' first bucket with 3:22 left in the first quarter, but that was the last points scored by Celina in the first half as the Indians finished the half on a 25-0 run. Celina turned over the ball nine times in the first half and was just 1-of-12 shooting. Wauseon got out in transition and Rotroff got going, scoring eight points in the first half with a handful of dunks.

"Offensively, I take a huge part of the blame," Imwalle said. "I put in the four corners, fully anticipating they would come out and guard us. I knew they had the 1-3-1 and they would eventually go to it. I didn't think they would go to it on the first possession."

In the third quarter, Murlin snapped the scoring skid with a 3-pointer and Celina started hitting shots, but that wasn't enough. Wauseon gave Dusquesne-commit Rotroff and Gype the rest of the night off early in the third quarter as it was able to push the lead up to 35 at 46-11 late in the third quarter, resulting in a running clock to finish the game.

"They're a nice team, a really good team," Imwalle said of Wauseon. "Things did not work out as I thought they might."

Rotroff, the Northwest Ohio Athletic League Player of the Year, finished with 14 points and went over the 1,000-point mark for his career. Owen Newlove added 10.

Murlin scored six in his final game as a Bulldog. Fellow senior Kyle Flaute added five while senior Jimi Briand went scoreless.