MT. ORAB — East Clinton head coach Tony Berlin saw the silver lining in the Astros’ 74-29 Division III boys sectional tournament loss to Cincinnati Taft at Western Brown High School Tuesday.
”It was a good experience for us. Sometimes you have to lose to learn how to win. So hopefully we can take that experience into next season and try to get better,” he said. “We had some bright spots tonight. Gunner Neanover came in and hit some threes again. We took a couple charges, and against those kids, they’re men. Some of our out-of-bounds plays, our set plays, and our press break looked great if we didn’t throw the ball away, because it was open all night. And then we attacked once we beat the press. We did a lot of good things. I’m pleased.”
Neanover hit three threes on his way to a team high 11 points. Branson Smith joined him in double-figures with 10 points.
Taft (16-7) scored the first 12 points of the opening period and first 11 of the second period. By halftime, the Senators scored 25 points off turnovers and another 10 off second-chance points. All 11 points in the spurt to open the second quarter came off EC miscues.
“We were throwing the ball all over the place like it’s a hand grenade with the pin pulled,” Berlin said.
Taft’s largest the lead of the first half was 58-19 just before the intermission. Its biggest cushion of the contest was 69-21 at the end of the third quarter.
The second half was played with a running clock that goes into effect with a 35-point margin in the second half.
Three Senators reached double-figures, lead by Leroy Walker with 25 points.
East Clinton’s season ends at 2-21.
SUMMARY
Feb 25, 2020
@Western Brown High School
Taft 74 East Clinton 29
T^27^31^11^5^^74
EC^8^11^2^8^^29
(74) TAFT (fg-ft-tp) Walker 12-1-25, Smith 4-0-9, Britten 2-0-5, Griffin 6-0-13, Carleo 5-0-11, Metz 3-0-7, Berry 1-0-2, Miles 0-0-0, Nelson 1-0-2, Lowe 0-0-0. Total 34-1-74. 3-point goals: 5 (Metz, Smith, Britten, Griffin, Carleon. FTM-FTA 1-1, 100 percent.
(29) EAST CLINTON (fg-ft-tp) Smith 5-0-10, Runyon 0-0-0, Tolle 0-0-0, Mitchell 0-0-0, Vadnais 0-0-0, Collom 2-0-6, Garen 0-0-0, Peterman 0-0-0, Arnold 1-0-2, Neanover 4-0-11, Hall 0-0-0, Curtis 0-0-0. Total 12-0-29. 3-point goals: 5 (Neanover 3, Collom 2). FTM-FTA 0-1, 0 percent.
