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First-half woes sink Vikings on road

Tribune Chronicle / John Vargo Springfield’s Beau Brungard fends off LaBrae’s Benton Tennant as he drives.

NEW MIDDLETOWN — LaBrae High School boys basketball coach Chad Kiser looked out on the floor. His 6-foot-6 senior forward Tyler Stephens picked up his second foul with 3:50 left in the first quarter.

He vented some frustration to the officials, but he knew where his angst for Friday’s 63-58 loss to Springfield was really directed — his team’s lack of post defense.

Springfield’s lone senior, Shane Eynon, a 6-3 forward, had 17 points and 15 rebounds — grabbing about 10 of those boards in the first 16 minutes.

Numerous times Eynon got his own miss, getting two or three chances on a single possession.

“The story was the first half,” Kiser said. “We did not rebound. We gave them all kind of offensive rebounds. Eynon had a ton of them. He killed us inside.

“We just didn’t box him out. We’re just staring at the ball, not boxing out multiple guys. They were driving. We were rotating. We just didn’t box out. We tried to out-jump them and they were too physical inside.”

Eynon overcame Stephens and Walton Allie (6-4) near the basket.

“He’s got a great motor,” said Springfield coach Steve French, whose team was 26-of-58 from the floor. “He’s giving up some size inside, but you wouldn’t know it. He keeps battling with second effort. Eventually it finds its way home. He kept going.”

LaBrae (18-4) tried to fight back from a 54-48 Springfield lead off of Eynon’s drive and score with 1:14 left. Stephens fouled out with 20 points with 39.3 seconds remaining. Benton Tennant, who had 14 points, connected on a 3. Connor Meyer, who had 11 points, drove and scored with 14.7 seconds left as LaBrae trailed, 59-56.

Evan Ohlin, a 6-1 Springfield junior guard, was too much with a game-high 30 points, a bit of a surprise to LaBrae. Ohlin was 5-of-6 from the foul line in the fourth quarter.

“Ohlin did a heckuva job tonight,” Kiser said. “When we watched him on film, he wasn’t one of their main scorers. He ran the ball on offense for them and ran through him. He wasn’t looking to score as much.

“Tonight, he beat us off the dribble.”

Ohlin limited his turnovers, played better defense and had more assists in lieu of his offensive numbers in the weeks leading up to Friday. He had four assists against LaBrae.

“He’s struggled the last couple of weeks scoring the ball, but he’s done everything else,” French said.

LaBrae trailed 32-22 heading into halftime, but made the adjustments needed to come out on an 11-0 run and took the lead on Stephens’ 3 with 5:17 left in the third quarter.

Kiser knew if his team could get some rebounds in the second half, the Vikings could run and get in transition. There were outlets and quick baskets as LaBrae started the third 5-of-6 from the floor and finished the quarter 9-of-14. Stephens had 10 of his 20 points in the third.

It was a stark contrast to an almost 5-minute scoring drought in the second quarter for the Vikings.

“It was a simple adjustment, box out and rebound,” Kiser said.

This was a big win for Springfield (17-5) heading into a March 1 Division IV Struthers District sectional bracket final against the winner of next week’s East Canton-St. Thomas Aquinas matchup.

“To get a win like this against a team that is senior-laden and has some really nice pieces and is always well-coached,” French said. “That’s a huge momentum builder for us.”

LaBrae is the second-seeded team in the Division II Warren District, hosting a March 1 sectional bracket final against next week’s Garfield-Grand Valley winner.

Kiser said his team learned some good lessons Friday, and it was better it happened then than in tournament play. He said his team cannot play this lackadaisical near the basket and expect to advance.

You can bet Kiser and his staff have that as a point of emphasis during next week’s practices.

“We’ll have a few box out drills to do next week,” he said.

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