Crestview controls the glass in win at South Central

GREENWICH — South Central struggled to rebound all night. It was never more apparent than with 1:42 to go and Ashland Crestview's Jarek Ringler shooting the back end of two free throws. Crestview — ahead by 12 points — cleared the lane in preparation for defense. Despite the missed attempt by Ringler, the ball bounced just right and allowed Ringler to snatch the rebound amongst four Trojans and keep possession. The Cougars didn't score, but it was that kind of night for South Central on Saturday, falling 63-50 in Firelands Conference action. "Crestview is tough. Their length is what makes them special," South Central coach Cory Durbin said. "That's how they have been beating teams all year. They wear you down and they crash the boards hard. They have the physical abilities to do those things." All told, the Trojans (3-2, 1-2 FC) were out-rebounded, 40-25. Ringler led the Cougars (5-0, 3-0) with 16 rebounds, while Owen Barker grabbed eight. Crestview had a 22-7 rebounding edge in the first half where the Cougars were able to build a comfortable lead and really never get challenged the rest of the way by SC. "We were getting some looks," Durbin said. "We got some looks at the rim actually and just missed them. I have to do a better job controlling the offense and getting our guys in positions to score. That's definitely on me." When the Trojans made a run at it, they were only able ever to get within nine points after trailing by as many as 17 points in the first half. But each time it looked like South Central was really going to get pressure on Crestview, the Cougars scored and knocked the Trojans back down a notch. "We would cut it down and then we couldn't get that one stop," Durbin said. "We would cut it down, get a stop, and just couldn't get that next bucket. That's what Crestview does so well. They don't have a very deep bench, but everybody they have is so gifted athletically." SC trailed 32-19 at halftime and Crestview pushed the margin back up to 36-21 after consecutive buckets by Justice Thompson. On the other end, Brandon Mitchell scored and back-to-back tallies by Isaac Blair sliced the deficit to 36-27. The Cougars continued to use their strong rebounding as Barker grabbed a rebound, was fouled and made both free throws. Blair scored for the Trojans to again get within nine points, but Barker answered for a 40-29 lead. The back and forth happened three more times with SC scoring to get within 40-31, 43-34, and 45-36. The Trojans had possession on that last exchange, but a turnover thwarted a chance to get closer as the quarter ended. Instead, Ringler was fouled and nailed two free throws to push the lead back to 11 points after three quarters. "They are just so long and able to put pressure on you for 32 minutes," Durbin said. "Our guys do that, but I've got four or five guys that played big minutes tonight that were playing in their fifth game ever on varsity. Crestview had the experience edge on us and that's what paid off for them tonight." Shooting woes also hurt South Central throughout. In the first half, the Trojans went 7:54 without a field goal and added a 6:48 drought in the second half. It spanned into the fourth quarter and allowed Crestview to open a 57-39 lead. The Trojans did get two 3s from Hayden Dobias and one from Blair to get within 59-48. It was too little, too late and South Central scored just two points in the final 2:01 to come up short. Two free throws by Blair gave the Trojans a 7-6 lead more than six minutes in as South Central looked content to take its time offensively. But, Crestview scored the next eight points. Blair knocked down two free throws to stop the run, but the Cougars added a 14-2 run to open a 28-11 lead with 3:16 to go until halftime. "I thought if we could hit shots early, maybe we could control the tempo," Durbin said. "I think we can play in the half-court with them. I think we just didn't get a rhythm tonight. They're certainly a great team when it comes to leaking out and getting transition buckets." Crestview used balanced scoring to rack up points. Ringler led the way with 17 points while Barker added 16 points. Thompson scored 15 points for the Cougars. "I do think we did defend pretty well for a lot of the night, but they had their runs," Durbin said. "That's when they killed us, especially in the first half. We were right there in the second half. We didn't have the same half in both halves." Blair's 27 points led all scorers while Brandon Mitchell contributed 13 points. They scored 40 of South Central's 50 points. "We didn't want to start 3-2, but we're still in a good position," Durbin said. "After our Mapleton game last week, we had eight days off and that was where I saw the biggest growth as a team since I've been here. "Those eight days were huge. Now we have five or six days before we go to Western Reserve next Friday night. We have to keep making the same amount of progress each time we get these long breaks." CRESTVIEW (5-0, 3-0) Heath Kash 2-0—6, Owen Barker 7-2—16, Justice Thompson 5-5—15, Jarek Ringler 5-6—17, Sam Wells 2-0—5, Tyson Ringler 2-0—4. TOTALS 23-13—63. SOUTH CENTRAL (3-2, 1-2) Gunner Ray 1-1—3, Isaac Blair 8-10—27, Brandon Mitchell 6-0—13, Karl Ferber 0-1—1, Hayden Dobias 2-0—6. TOTALS 17-12—50. Crestview 12 20 15 16 — 63 S. Central 7 12 17 14 — 50 3-point FGs: (CV) Kash 2, J. Ringler, Wells; (SC) Tobias 2, Blair, Mitchell