Southern's defense keeps Crestview down

Crestview made 15 goals and had 15 turnovers against the Indians.
By ERIC HAMILTON
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
NEW WATERFORD -- It's never a good sign when a basketball team has just has many field goals as it does turnovers.
The Crestview High boys basketball team learned that lesson the hard way Tuesday.
Southern stymied the Rebels' perimeter game with a strong man-to-man defense, limiting Crestview to just 32.6 percent shooting, en route to a 47-39 victory.
Crestview finished with 15 field goals on 46 attempts and turned the ball over 15 times.
The win moves the Indians (13-6, 8-5) into sole possession of third place in the Tri-County League standings -- one game ahead of Crestview (11-8, 7-6) -- with one contest left to play.
Struggled
"Southern just played hard-nosed defense," Crestview coach Rick Gates said. "Our guards struggled shooting the ball and didn't get their feet set coming off the screens. We had some good looks late in the game, but we just couldn't convert.
"The last two weeks we've just had breakdowns either offensively or defensively at crucial stages of the game. If we had corrected a couple of little things, then that makes a difference in the outcome."
Less than two weeks ago, Crestview was tied for the TCL lead with East Palestine, but with Tuesday's loss, it falls four games back.
Southern meanwhile is starting to peak at the right time. The Indians, which surrender a Columbiana County-best 46 points per contest, will enter tournament time with confidence after beating a quality Crestview squad.
"We've played solid defense all year," Southern coach George Whittaker said. "We spend about 70 percent of our practice time on defensive drills. Tonight we knew we had to get out on their shooters and get off the screens well.
Forced tough shots
"We didn't shoot real well tonight, but you'll have nights like that so you have to play defense every night out. We made them take tough shots and made a few when we had to."
The Rebels' shooting woes started in the very beginning, as Crestview hit just 5-of-21 shots in the first half. Southern took advantage, building a 17-11 halftime lead.
Southern's defense continued to harass Crestview shooters Jerry Einsiedel and Anthony Amabile in the second half. Amabile, who entered the game averaging 17.1 points per game, was held to just seven points. Einsiedel did not score.
Southern's offense didn't fare much better, converting just 40 percent. But Anthony Castro provided the spark in the second half. The senior guard scored 15 of his game-high 19 points after intermission to give his team more than enough offense.
How he did it
"He did a nice job of handling the ball in the second half," Whittaker said. "We don't have guys who can shoot right off of screens, but he scored on some drives and from outside."
Southern led by as much as 10 points, 40-30, with 2:07 remaining, but Crestview rallied. Senior Andy Walton scored all 10 of his points in the second half, including eight in the final quarter.
Amabile converted a pair of free throws at the 1:29 mark to bring Crestview within 40-34.
But Southern beat the Rebels' press for several easy layups and converted a couple free throws to secure the win.