By MARC TOBIAS
mtobias@dailystandard.com
KENTON — Celina was able to open its weekend on a good
note as it trounced Kenton, 71-23 in Western Buckeye League
action.
The Bulldogs dominated from the opening tip, and at one point
held a 48-point lead in the third quarter.
With the lopsided score, Celina coach Mike Kanney was able to
clear his bench early and often and it led to 10 Bulldogs reaching
the scoring column.
“I thought our kids came out and moved their feet real
well, defensively they played hard and got a nice early lead
and they were able to build on it,” Kanney said. “I
think that set the tone for the game and I was real happy with
our bench play, the way the kids came in and executed and kept
their composure and just kept playing hard the whole game.”
Adam Tindall jump started the Celina attack in the first quarter
by controlling the paint offensively for the Bulldogs.
Scott Boley helped by finding Tindall underneath the basket
for a layup with a no-look pass to put the Bulldogs on top 11-3.
“All my teammates, but Scott (Boley) especially, really
looked inside this game. Some of the passes he had were unreal,”
Tindall said.
The Celina big man then had to leave when he took an elbow to
the eye, but the Bulldogs offense didn’t slow down as
they ended the first quarter with a 20-5 lead.
Tindall returned in the second, but by the midway point all
the Bulldogs starters were on the bench with a comfortable lead.
Celina led 43-5 at the break.
The Bulldogs outscored Kenton 23-0 in the second quarter, and
for the half they held the Wildcats to eight percent (2-for-25)
shooting from the field.
Tindall finished with a game-high 14 points on six-of-eight
shooting from the field. Boley had a nice overall game finishing
with six points, five rebounds and three blocks.
“Our coaches prepped us all week on how we should come
out strong and don’t let the record really phase us, because
we knew they could be dangerous at home and we just played as
hard as we could the whole time we were in,” Tindall said.
After the half the Bulldogs continued to roll, and a Rob Grubaugh
three-point play extended the lead to 55-7.
Grubaugh finished with nine points and nine rebounds. Tim Homan
and Eric Klosterman also tallied nine points, with Klosterman
connecting on all four of his shots.
Despite the huge lead, Kanney said he was pleased with how his
team continued to run its offensive sets and play disciplined
basketball.
The Bulldogs finished with just five turnovers compared to 25
for the Wildcats.
Celina finished by shooting 45 percent (29-for-65) from the
field, while Kenton was woeful at 18 percent (eight-for-43).
The Bulldogs outscored Kenton 28-18 in the second half.
The easy victory also allowed Kanney to rest his starters for
what should be a decidedly tougher game tonight against Toledo
Central Catholic.
“It was nice to give our starters a little rest, and it’s
nice that the other guys get to play too, they practice hard
and they want to be out there too and I thought they did a nice
job tonight,” Kanney said.
Celina improves to 8-2 overall and 2-1 in the WBL while Kenton
falls to 0-12 and 0-3 in the WBL.
The Bulldogs jayvee squad also had no problems with the Wildcats
as they won 71-31.
|
