By MARC TOBIAS
mtobias@dailystandard.com
If you like defensive battles, then you would have loved Celina’s
42-36 win over Coldwater on Saturday night.
Both squads struggled to score, and neither shot better than
37 percent from the field.
Coldwater’s 2-3 zone and brief use of a diamond-and-one
defense bottled up Celina star Tim Homan for the majority of
the night while Celina played a fundamentally sound man-to-man
defense to keep all the Cavaliers in check.
Homan finished with 16 points, but they were a hard-earned 16
as he finished by making 6-of-13 shots from the field.
“Coldwater did a great job defensively guarding our shooters
and finding Tim, and we did a nice job of guarding them,”
said Celina coach Mike Kanney. “It was just a great defensive
game and became a possession game at the end and we were fortunate
enough to hit our free throws.”
With neither offense able to get into a consistent flow, the
biggest lead either squad could build was five points.
Celina held that advantage at 38-33 with just over a minute
to play in the game, but the Cavaliers’ Jay Miller was
able to convert a three-point play to draw Coldwater to within
two points with 1:07 remaining in the game.
Homan then missed the front end of a one-and-one to give the
Cavs possession, but Brandon Bettinger was unable to convert
on a shot in the paint and Brian Gagle came up with a big rebound
for the Bulldogs.
Joe Kanney was subsequently fouled and sent to the free-throw
line where he sank both tosses for a four-point Bulldogs lead.
Coldwater then turned the ball over and Homan sank a pair of
free throws for the game’s final six-point spread.
“I think (the pace) was what we wanted, all we tried to
do is keep tabs on Homan, and keep in our zone as much as we
could,” said Coldwater coach Don Vogt. “I thought
our kids played it well and played it hard. They did exactly
what we told them to do, I’m proud of what they did.”
What the Cavs weren’t able to do was find a consistent
scorer in the second half.
Celina’s defense deserves a good amount of credit for
Coldwater’s offensive struggles.
The Bulldogs held Coldwater to seven points in both the third
and fourth quarters in which the Cavaliers connected on just
6-of-21 shots.
“I thought we did a good job of holding them to one shot,
we didn’t give up too many second shots and we contested
pretty well,” Kanney said.
Brent Robbins led the Cavs attack with 10 points while Jeff
Grieshop added eight.
“Believe it or not we made an unbelievable (offensive)
stride tonight compared to Friday night, so there’s another
reason I’m pretty proud of our kids,” Vogt said.
“I’m sure nobody expected us to be where we were,
the kids to their credit kept battling and kept fighting and
do what we ask them to do and keep a positive attitude. We’re
just hoping one of these days that we can keep doing that on
a consistent basis.”
Homan was the only Bulldog to reach double figures, but Celina
had a lot of key plays from a number of players.
Brian Geise had six points and four key rebounds while helping
to keep the Bulldogs patient on offense while Scott Boley added
four points and seven boards.
The win over the Cavs gave Celina a 2-0 weekend and improves
the Bulldogs to 11-3 on the year. Coldwater falls to 5-8 with
the loss.
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