Celina runs the table

CELINA - There was to be no sharing from the Celina boys basketball team - unless it was sharing with fans in the celebration of an outright Western Buckeye League title.

Celina shook off Elida midway through the first quarter and never looked back en route to a 62-48 victory in the battle of the Bulldogs at the Fieldhouse on Friday night.

Celina ends the regular season at 19-3 and with a perfect 9-0 record in league play. It's the first league title for Celina since the 2010-11 season and first undefeated title since the 1998-99 season.

"We had so much chemistry from playing since fifth grade," senior guard Eric Moeder said. "This is basically what we dreamed (about)."

"These kids we've got right now deserve it as much as any I've coached," Celina coach Chris Bihn said. "I'm really proud of them and happy for them."

The play of Celina inside the paint in the first half was the long and short of its success.

Actaully, it was more like "Delong" and short of it.

With Elida focusing its pressure on Ryan Hoyng and Grant Laffin, Logan Delong was able to get inside the paint and do damage. Delong's bunny with 1:54 left in the first quarter put Celina into the lead for good at 15-14. In the second quarter, Delong scored 13 straight points for Celina, either by getting layups or at the foul line after being hammered trying to go for layups. The end result was a 22-9 run for the homestanding Bulldogs to take a 44-25 halftime lead.

"We came out and did some things to try and get their perimeter people covered," Elida coach Denny Thompson said. "At the same time, (we wanted to) try and bring more a presence towards Ryan. It didn't quite work out like we thought it would."

Delong finished the first half with 21 points (7-of-12 from the field, 7-of-8 free throws).

"I just had to step up and do what we do," Delong said. "Everybody has to be a threat on the team. It was just my turn."

"We talked about Elida not having much inside (presence) right now," Bihn said. "When we first found out we can get it into the paint, after that we wanted to go in as much as possible. Logan did a nice job. I bet nine out of 10 times we got him the ball he had both feet in the paint and was catching it right at the rim. That's a pretty easy finish."

Thompson tipped his cap to Delong.

"When you catch the ball where he was catching it, it makes things pretty easy," Thompson said.

Celina put an exclamation point on in the third quarter, holding Elida to just four points and extending its lead to 61-29, with Caleb Hoyng scoring seven of Celina's 17 points.

The fourth quarter was an honor for the seniors (Moeder, Delong, Laffin, Ryan Hoyng and Kurtis Williams). Bihn started all five before pulling them off to ovations midway through the quarter. Elida worked to shear the deficit down, outscoring Celina 19-1 in the final period, but the game was already well in hand.

"Every night, it's a battle out there," Bihn said. "To be able to go through it 9-0 is something special. Kids are very deserving of it."

Delong finished with 24 points and seven rebounds. Ryan Hoyng tacked on 15 more points to his all-time scoring mark. Caleb Hoyng scored 10.

Austin Allemeier led Elida with 19 points.

Celina is off until next Friday when the Bulldogs face the winner of Otsego and Fostoria at the Division II sectional at Lima Senior.

"Right now, the focus is the tournament," Moeder said. "We'll celebrate right now, but the big focus is tournament."