Cavaliers hold off Bulldogs to sweep season series

COLDWATER - Round two of the Celina-Coldwater rivalry was a little more competitive than the first meeting.

The Cavaliers used a quick burst at the end of the first half to take a 32-26 lead and then held off the Bulldogs in the second half to get a 58-51 win Saturday night at The Palace.  

Coldwater goes to 6-7 on the season and gets two wins in the same season over their rival to the northeast for the first time since the 1933-34 season. Celina see their four-game win streak snapped at 6-9.

The first half was back and forth with the lead changing four times in the second half. Matt Buschur, back after missing the Van Wert game due to illness, put Celina up 26-25 with 2:36 left in the half. Cavalier sub Adam Klosterman, who earlier hit a big three-pointer in the game, sank another trey 19 seconds later to put the Cavaliers up for good. After a Celina turnover, Brody Hoying made it 30-26 before adding another bucket with 37 seconds left in the half to give Coldwater a 32-26 halftime lead.

"Brody gave us a spark there," said Coldwater's coach Mike Bruns. "Those inside put-ups were very important there."

"I don't think we had the legs or the energy tonight that we had last night (a 55-45 win over Van Wert in WBL play)," said Celina's Chris Bihn. "They outshot us from the three-point line. We only made one on the night (out of 13 attempts). They beat us to the loose balls and had 11 offensive boards. They got to it, and we didn't"

While Coldwater would not relinquish the lead in the second half, Cavalier fans were put through their paces as Celina kept within a possession or two of the Cavaliers in the second half. Buschur and Ryan Hoyng led an early third-quarter burst to get Celina to within one at 32-31, but Mitch Schoenherr got a bucket to push the lead to three.

That was the same story for most of the rest of the game. Celina made sure Coldwater could not pull away, only to have their comeback chances thwarted. It wasn't until the final moments of the game when Coldwater was able get the lead up to nine points before Celina cut in again.
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"I thought they played with heart and played as hard as they could," said Bihn. "We got pretty good looks (at the basket). We shot close to 50 percent (22-of-49 for just under 45 percent) from the field. We couldn't hit the threes, and (Coldwater) played that zone and packed it in. Even the ones we got inside were 10-foot jumpers. We didn't get to the rim."

Hoyng was a big reason Celina stayed in the game. The sophomore scored 14 of his game-high 20 points in the second half, drawing praise from coach Bruns.

"I thought Hoyng kept them in the game in the second half," said Bruns. "I know he was sick this week, but boy, he played like a warrior in the second half."

Buschur and Mason Ross each added nine points for Celina.

Austin Bruns paced Coldwater with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Klosterman finished with 11 points with Hoying 10. All seven Cavaliers scored at least two points, something that pleased their coach.

"All the players brought something to the plate tonight," said Bruns. "All seven I played gave me something. Adam Klosterman off the bench gave a spark. You need that kind of stuff. You need that diversity and balance. I told them they all need to score and rebound. It was more of a good team effort that won us that game."

Both teams return to league play this Friday. Coldwater heads south to face Versailles, while Celina heads to Lappin Gymnasium to face Shawnee.