Bulldogs hold off Cavaliers

COLDWATER - Just like their first meeting at the end of December, Celina and Coldwater battled down to wire.

And just like the first game, the Bulldogs came up big in the clutch.

The Bulldogs fended off a Cavalier third-quarter rally with clutch shooting down the stretch to pick up their 10th victory of the season in winning 51-45 Saturday night at the Palace.

It was a milestone night for Celina's Ryan Hoyng, who became the school's all-time leading scorer after hitting a free throw in the waning seconds of the contest.

This matchup was unlike the first time, when the Bulldogs rallied from down 11 points at the half to win 49-41 at the Asset Allocation Associates Holiday Classic. Celina (10-2) led 28-19 at the half but the Cavaliers rallied in the second half with a 9-0 run to tie the game with 3:48 left in the quarter thanks to Andy Brunet, Malave Bettinger and Aaron Harlamert, who had baskets in the run.

"That was a plus to us," Coldwater coach Mike Bruns said of coming back. "Win or lose, that was something we definitely had to do in the second half. The kids did that."

"We missed a couple shots in a row and (Coldwater) came down and scored to get them back in (the game)," Celina coach Chris Bihn said. "Their bigs (Brunet and Bettinger) were pretty good."

Celina regained the lead shortly after on Eric Moeder's three-pointer and went up five at 33-28 on a Ryan Hoyng dunk.

The Cavaliers (3-7) continued to give the Bulldogs a run for their money over the final 1 1/2 quarters of play. Coldwater got to within two points three times in the final four minutes of the game before having to foul to put Celina on the free throw line. Caleb Hoyng hit 1-of-2 and Ryan Hoyng followed by knocking down six straight free throws in the final 32.9 seconds.

"They stepped up and knocked them down down the stretch," Bihn said of his team's making free throws. "It was good to see."

The final pair of free throws with 11.6 seconds left proved to be the biggest for Hoyng in his career. The first put him at 1,145 points, pushing past Celina Hall of Famer Tim Homan on the all-time scoring list.

"Second half, we hit a couple (three-pointers), but (Celina) hit more," Bruns said. "That was the difference in the game. Plus Ryan had a stellar game. We preach that you don't want (the other team's) best player to beat us, but he did."

"They're getting better and better," Bihn said of Coldwater. "They have a nice team."

Hoyng led all players with 29 points on 9-of-13 shooting, including 4-of-5 from three-point line. Caleb Hoyng and Moeder each added nine points.

Harlamert, held scoreless in the first half, finished with 13 points for Coldwater. Brunet was 6-of-8 from the field to score 12 points.

Both teams are back in action Friday in league play. Celina, co-leaders in the WBL at 3-0, travel to Wapakoneta to face the Redskins. Coldwater is back home in the Palace in MAC play against Parkway.