Tigers not in a sharing mood

Springfield last won the league crown in 2003.
By CHUCK HOUSTEAU
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
NEW MIDDLETOWN -- You won't find a more unselfish boys basketball team than the Springfield Tigers -- except when it comes to winning the Inter-County League championship.
"We don't want to just share the title," said Springfield coach Grant Spaite after the Tigers captured a share of the ICL championship Tuesday with a 68-52 win over Western Reserve.
"Obviously were pleased to know that we at least have a share of [the conference championship]," Spaite said. "We told the kids that we don't want to stop here. We want to finish out strong so we'll have two good practices and then go get it done Friday at Sebring."
Springfield (16-3, 12-1) can wrap up the ICL championship with a win over the Trojans.
Springfield last won the league crown in 2003.
Little celebrating
After the victory over the Western Reserve, the Tigers did very little celebrating despite winning the game rather easily.
"That's our mindset," said Spaite of the lack of a celebration. "Our kids want to get it done. We don't want to share.
"Maybe we are a little selfish but we don't want to share the championship with anyone."
That point was obvious from the start as the Tigers broke from a 7-7 tie to outscore the Blue Devils 10-2 the rest of the first quarter and lead 17-9.
Andrew Schuler sparked the rally by scoring nine of his 13 points in the period.
In the second quarter, guards Dane Dobson and Mike Kampfer began to heat up and Springfield forced Western Reserve into numerous turnovers to open up a 36-19 lead at the break.
Dobson scored eight of his 25 points in the second quarter and he was a catalyst defensively for Springfield.
"We knew that we had to make things happen by penetrating and kicking the ball out," Dobson said. "We knew that we might not have a lot of opportunities in the lane with all their big guys."
"I had a lot of confidence in my shot tonight and the shots were falling."
A lot of heart
Western Reserve (12-7, 7-6) showed why they are a number two seed in the Division IV tournament at Struthers -- they played with a lot of heart.
The Blue Devils didn't quit and made several runs in the third quarter to try to get back in the game.
Jarod Barker scored 15 of his 27 points in the third quarter as the Blue Devils got the lead down to 10 points several times.
Barker made seven 3s overall and was six of seven from the field in the third quarter.
"I thought it was time for us to have a heart check at halftime," Western Reserve coach Steve Miller said. "I thought we were feeling sorry for ourselves so I told the guys even if we don't catch them we need to get better and prove to people that we deserve to be the number two seed at Struthers.
"We came out and played hard in the second half and did a good job of cutting the lead down to 10, but then we don't do a good job of closing out in the fourth quarter."
Springfield put the game away by scoring the last five points of the third quarter and opening the fourth period on a 9-2 run.
"We should have put the game away in the third quarter," Spaite said. "I wasn't happy with the way we played defense in that period.
"It doesn't take much talent to play defense. It comes down to heart."