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Coldwater's Luke Schwieterman puts up a layup over Celina's Lennon Cisco at the Fieldhouse on Saturday.
CELINA - Coming off a triple-overtime comeback win, Celina was able to keep Coldwater from pulling away, but couldn't completely erase an early deficit.
The Cavaliers went up 18 in the second quarter before the Bulldogs battled back, but their defense kept Celina from getting closer than eight on the way to a 43-33 win in a boys basketball game at the Fieldhouse on Friday.
"We played an extra 12 minutes last night, probably a little bit of a factor there, but the effort was there," Celina coach Adam Johns said. "I thought we did a fairly decent job hanging with them on the glass defensively and even offensively, gave ourselves some extra chances. Sometimes you just need a shot or two to fall here or there to give you a little extra juice on a Saturday."
Luke Schwieterman hit a 3-pointer from the corner to help separate Coldwater (9-2) in the first quarter, Lefeld added a trey from the elbow, and the Cavaliers held Celina to 1-of-13 shooting from the field as they took a 15-4 lead after the first.
Lefeld hit his second three of the night on a kickout with four minutes left in the second quarter to extend the lead to 24-6.
"That's kind of happened from time to time," Johns said. "That one offensive rebound that they get, they kick it out and get a three. That just breaks your back a little bit."
From there, Celina (6-5) got into gear. The Bulldogs started getting to the free throw line, shooting 5-of-6 in the second quarter, and getting buckets in transition, and Grant Duncan converted two hoop-and-harms to bring Celina back within 10.
But with time winding down, Brady Lefeld managed to bat a loose ball to Landon Knapke, who hit a last-second layup to make it 31-21 at the half.
"First half, I was really ecstatic with the way we were playing defense," Coldwater coach Nick Fisher said. "I thought offensively, in the second quarter we allowed turnovers and just kind of got out of sync, and we never got back in sync the whole second half."
The margin hovered around 10 the rest of the game. Celina's offense took a blow when Braylon Gabes found himself in foul trouble for the second straight night, drawing two straight fouls in the first 30 seconds of the second half and going to the bench for the rest of the quarter.
Defense ruled the third quarter, with the teams combining for just 13 points. Miles Pottkotter knocked down a trey that helped Coldwater stay up by 11 heading into the fourth.
Braylon Gabes returned at the start of the fourth quarter, but missed both his shots and was held scoreless down the stretch. Celina mustered just six points in the fourth quarter, five coming from Caleb Gabes.
Celina's Caleb Gabes (1) tries to get a shot away as Coldwater's Mason Welsch goes up for the block during Saturday's game at the Fieldhouse.
Celina's defense kept Coldwater in check and Caleb Gabes hit a pair of free throws to get back within eight in the final two minutes, but Schwieterman answered with two free throws of his own. The Cavaliers were able to pass the ball around the Bulldogs' attempted traps, and eventually Pottkotter got wide open for a look under the basket, and Caleb Gabes' late driving layup only cut the deficit back to 10.
Coldwater toggled between man-to-man and a 3-2 zone defense, and although Celina committed just six turnovers, the Bulldogs took just 37 shots and shot 27% from the field without a 3-pointer.
"We've been preaching to the kids, we've got to attack, and it got us back into the game," Johns said. "Right there at the end of the second quarter, it got us back into it. But eventually, they went to that zone, and we needed to hit a shot or two and didn't."
"The 3-2 zone's something we've been working on, to burn a little clock for them," Fisher said. "We can use our length to be disruptive."
Schwieterman had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Kaiden Werntz scored 10 points and had six rebounds to lead Celina.
Both teams are off until Friday, when Coldwater travels to Fort Recovery for a Midwest Athletic Conference game and Celina heads to Elida for a Western Buckeye League matchup.
The 2024 Celina High School Athletic Hall of Fame class pose with their plaques. From left, Laura Homan, Betsy Hone, Kevin Olding and Lizz (Carr) Webber.
