DIVISION III Tigers 22-0; St. V-M is next

Springfield rolled past Waterloo to set up the much-anticipated district final.
By BRIAN RICHESSON
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
SALEM -- The pressure has been lifted from the Springfield High boys basketball team.
Until Friday.
Springfield showed its focus with an 83-48 victory over Waterloo in a Division III district semifinal Tuesday at Salem High.
The anticipated match-up between unbeaten Springfield (22-0) and Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary (21-1) has became a reality.
The Tigers' victory sent their fans to the ticket window for the championship game, which begins at 7:30 p.m.
Deciding factors: "It's been our teamwork, our unselfish play," said Springfield coach Jeff Brink, when asked to explain his team's perfect record. "Even tonight, you have different guys scoring. It's not like one guy is carrying us."
Senior Isaac Smolko played strong inside for Springfield. The 6-foot-5 center had a game-high 19 points and 11 rebounds, and his effort helped launch the Tigers' perimeter attack.
"[Waterloo] is strong physically, but they're only 6-foot, 6-1," Brink said.
Isaac is strong and he's 6-5. We tried to take advantage of that. He pretty much controlled the paint and did what he wanted inside.
"That opened up our perimeter play," Brink added. "Isaac scoring big in the first half [13 points] opened up shots for Jimmy [Schuler], David Rispinto and Pat Birch."
Long range: Springfield made 13-of-30 field goals from 3-point range, with Rispinto and Birch sinking four each and Schuler three.
"Our guards can flat-out shoot the 3-pointer," senior guard Matt Walker said.
"If we penetrate and kick the ball to Smolko, people collapse on him, and he turns and kicks it right back out. He's an unselfish player."
Waterloo kept it close throughout much of the first quarter and into the second.
"They were out-working us in the first half, they were beating us to loose balls," Brink said of Waterloo. "That's something that can't happen.
"One of the trademarks of our team is we don't like to lose the battle for loose balls and give up offensive rebounds," he said. "Defensively, we were way too lax in the first half."
Still, the Tigers out-scored Waterloo 19-8 to start the second quarter and build a 34-18 lead with 52.2 seconds remaining in the half. They led comfortably for the remainder of the game.
"We just wanted to make our presence known, just hustle and get this win," Schuler said.
Contributor: Schuler finished with 17 points, 12 rebounds and six steals.
"If you put Jim Schuler on a lot of teams, he'd average 25 points a game," Brink said. "On our team he's averaging around 14 points because we've got five guys in double figures.
"All of our guys are willing to pass -- we've got three or four guys who average five assists a game," he said. "That shows we're willing to give up the ball and get it to the guy who has a better shot."
Birch, a junior, finished with 16 points and Rispinto, a sophomore, added 12 for the Tigers.
Sophomore Dan Sheaffer led Waterloo (10-13) with 10 points.