CLAYTON — After missing one point blank look after another, it appeared there was a lock on West Liberty-Salem’s basket here in the first half Friday night.
But the seventh-seeded Tigers refused to get frustrated and their shots eventually fell at a much more efficient rate in the second half as they pulled away for a 61-47 win over 16th-seeded Bethel in a Division III sectional boys basketball opener at Northmont High School.
The Tigers are now 17-6 and advance to play ninth-seeded Brookville in a sectional semifinal at 6 p.m. Thursday at Northmont.
“I thought we were in a good place, maybe it was a little bit of nerves,” said WL-Salem head coach Darrin Leichty of his team’s tough offensive luck in the first half. “I think we just needed to see the ball go through a few times.”
The Tigers led 17-11 after one quarter. Bethel closed two within two on several occasions in the second period, the latest at 22-20 with 52 seconds left until halftime.
WL-Salem closed the half with four straight points to lead by six (26-20) at the intermission.
Bethel cut the Tigers’ lead to four early early in the third period before the Tigers rattled off a 8-0 run to lead 34-22 at the 5:03 mark of the period. From there, WL-Salem’s lead never dropped below 10 points.
“We were able to get some transitions baskets and that’s how we like to play,” said Leichty. “We like to get out and go and we were able to do that more in the second half. We played really good defense at the start of the third quarter and that kind of set the tone for us.”
The Tigers were again balanced on the offensive end as four players reached double digits. Holden Nease and Jack Eggleston each scored 15 points, Matthew Loffing had 12 and Eli McGill added 10.
“The guys are comfortable in their roles,” said Leichty. “They are all filling their roles well right now.”