Getting fired up

ST. MARYS - Celina's Gavin Wicker was hot in the first quarter against St. Marys Friday.

He was on fire by the fourth quarter.

The junior guard scored 13 of his game-high 31 points in the final quarter - hitting a trio of 3-pointers and a jump shot within a short window to break the game in Celina's favor for its first victory of the season, a 62-54 result in the Battle of Grand Lake at Grand Lake Health System Court. Celina (1-3, 1-1 WBL) has now won back-to-back games in the series, winning those by a combined 13 points. St. Marys (1-4, 0-2 WBL) led 47-45 before being outscored 17-7 over the final 5 minutes.

"You just have to weather the storm in games like this," said Celina coach, and former Roughrider standout, Adam Johns, who was being congratulated by several St. Marys folks as he gave his postgame interview. "When stuff doesn't go your way, just keep battling. Eventually, there's going to be a play or two that flips the script for you."

Said plays came in crunch time for Celina, and Wicker had a hand in most.

Wicker tied the team total of St. Marys in the first quarter with 10 points. Celina led 15-10 at the end. The turnover total reached seven for St. Marys early in the second quarter. Celina was in control 21-13 after dribble penetration led to easy inside hoops for Logan Billerman and Caleb Schlater. The Bulldogs led 28-22 near the end but couldn't control the ball while holding for the last shot. Kasey Gross jumped a passing lane for a steal, which led to a follow-up basket at the other end for Aiden Meinerding to make it 28-24 at halftime.

Wicker led all scorers at the half with 14 points for Celina, which went nine-of-21 shooting collectively in the first half. Blake Dingledine was the top point-getter for St. Marys with 10, as the Roughriders went eight-of-22 shooting as a team in that span.

Dingledine connected on his third 3-pointer of the contest to start the third quarter. St. Marys took their first lead shortly after. There were a pair of lead changes and five ties in the frame. The score was locked at 39-all at the end.

St. Marys' Cayden Geiger and Celina's Schlater traded baskets on multiple occasions to begin the fourth. St. Marys was leading by three points with five minutes left when Wicker splashed a bucket from deep to tie the score. Following a hoop at the other end, Wicker got free in the corner and knocked down another three to reclaim the lead for Celina. A little later, St. Marys had a breakdown on defense and Wicker was left wide open for another trey. With just under 3 minutes to play, Wicker created space off the dribble and hit a 12-foot jumper just outside the lane for a six-point lead.

"Once he hit the first couple, it was an avalanche of confidence for him," Johns said. "He got hot and hit some big, timely shots."

St. Marys was within four twice over the final two minutes but couldn't get out of its own way. Celina's Hudson Grieshop scored off an offensive rebound and later, Schlater was left open for an easy layup on a side-out-of-bounds play.

"Wicker shot the lights out," St. Marys coach Tim Barga said, "The shots he was taking weren't bad shots at all. He was wide open a few times. He made a couple nice passes inside for a couple of assists. He's an all-around player. Give him credit. Give the coaches credit. You could say they ran the right plays, but he was hot and we couldn't stop him. If he plays like that all year, they're going to win a lot of games."

But Barga definitely believed that the Roughriders could have executed better.

"In the fourth quarter, we were going to our inside game and we were scoring," he said. "We, as coaches, did not go away from that. Our players did.

"We didn't take a charge when we could have taken one in the fourth quarter. That cost us three points," he added. "We had two guys shoot threes when we were ahead or tied."

Dingledine paced St. Marys with 19 points. Geiger added 10.

Wicker hit 31 points on 11-of-19 shooting and six-of-nine from the stripe. Schlater had 11 points and six rebounds. Grieshop added nine points and six rebounds. Everybody on the team got a shout-out.

"At some point over the course of the evening, everybody contributed," Johns said.