WL-Salem rallies for 57-45 victory
|
West Liberty-Salem’s Neil Markin drives to the basket during Friday’s Division III sectional tournament game against Dayton Christian at Northmont High School in Clayton. (EXAMINER PHOTO | TONY BARRETT) |
CLAYTON — A scrappy Dayton Christian team provided some anxious moments for West Liberty-Salem here Friday, but the Tigers thrived in crunch time to survive.
Fourth-seeded WL-Salem trailed 38-37 after three quarters against the 15th-seeded Warriors before catching fire in the final period for a 57-45 victory in a Division III boys sectional opener at Northmont High School.
The Tigers are now 20-3 and advance to play 14th-seeded Northeastern in the sectional semifinal round at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Northmont.
Photo slideshow below
“I think we played a little soft in the first half,” said WL-Salem head coach Darrin Leichty. “We settled for too many jump shots. We kept telling the guys to attack more, and we did a better job of that in the second half.”
Without a lot of tournament wins experienced by the current group of players and coaches, the Tigers enjoyed getting their feet wet with a postseason victory.
“Myself included, we have not been a part of many tournament wins,” said Leichty. “It is good for the guys to experience a tournament win, and it gives us something to build on.”
Junior guard Kannon Stillings again was a big factor for the Tigers with a game-high 21 points.
“Kannon knows he has to work hard every time out,” said Leichty. “I think the rest of the team feeds off the energy he plays with.”
The unheralded Warriors, who came in with an 8-14 record, played with a lot of confidence early on.
Dayton Christian led 16-11 after one quarter and 22-18 at halftime.
“We did not guard very well in the first half,” said Leichty. “We were giving up way too many open shots. We did a lot better job contesting their shots and cutting off penetration in the second half.”
Read complete story in Saturday’s Examiner.
CLICK HERE to subscribe today!
WEB EDITION STARTING AT $9.50 FOR 5 WEEKS!
CLICK ON AN IMAGE TO VIEW SLIDE SHOW
{gallery}stories/SLIDESHOWS/BasketballSlideshows/2016/wls-dayc{/gallery}