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Falls reaches D-3 final
Two area high school boys basketball teams are still alive
By TOM WILLIAMS
williams@vindy.com
CANTON
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C.J. Peaco, right, of Newton Falls and Stuart Campbell of East Canton go after a loose ball during the Division III regional semifinal basketball game at the Canton Fieldhouse on Wednesday night. Newton Falls advanced with a 60-48 win.
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BBALL - Cody Dillion looses his balance as (24) Jon Cartwright plays defense Wednesday night in Canton. - Special to The Vindicator/Nick Mays
Minutes after Newton Falls High basketball coach Roy Sembach won his 300th game (coincidentally, the biggest victory of his 23-year career), he reflected.
“It’s mostly a milestone that says, ‘Hey you got to coach a long time,’ ” said Sembach after his Tigers knocked out unbeaten East Canton, 60-48, in Wednesday’s regional semifinal at Canton Fieldhouse. “But to get it with this team in this game, I did tell [my players], ‘Thanks — 300 will always be special to me but it will drop big time on the totem pole if 301 comes this year.’ ”
Saturday, Newton Falls (20-5) will play Orrville (19-5) for a trip to Columbus. It will be the Tigers’ first regional final since the 1931 team made it to the state semifinals.
After jumping ahead 10-0, the Tigers lost the lead in the second quarter. Brandon Schultz’s 3-pointer capped the Hornets’ early comeback, giving them a 20-19 lead.
“They are too good of a team to get run off the floor [early],” Sembach said of the rally. “I just tried to compose our guys.”
Newton Falls took over, dominating the rest of the second quarter. Baskets by Matt Brazin, Cody Dillon and Brian Moser preceded 3-pointers by Dillon and Brazin that helped the Tigers surge to a 37-26 halftime edge.
But East Canton wasn’t through, slicing the Tigers’ lead to 46-44 with 6:28 to go after Josh Smith made consecutive baskets,
Brian Sole, who led Newton Falls with 20 points, sank a 3-pointer to spark the Tigers’ confidence.
“After that, I just felt that we weren’t [going to let] up at all,” Sole said. “We weren’t going to look back from there.”
Sembach said, “Brian hasn’t been shooting well lately, so it was great to see him coming out of that. Our bench ... we got great contributions from seven underclassmen.”
The Tigers’ final eight points came on foul shots.
“We were very clutch at the free throw line,” Sembach said. “That enabled us to keep a comfort zone at the end of the game.”
Dillon scored 13 points and Matt Czerniak 10 points for Newton Falls.
Sembach said the key was disrupting the Hornets’ outside shooters with a matchup zone.
“When we got tape on them and scouted them and talked to other coaches, we couldn’t find anything on what they did against zone,” Sembach said. “Our first zone is [designed] to take away the 3-point shot.
“It worked perfectly because they missed and a big reason they missed is we had the 6-3 arms of Dillon and Sole out there on the shooters.
“I wasn’t as terrified of their shooting as I was their penetration by [guard Zell] Bradley,” Sembach said. “That was one of our rules, that he was to be blockaded.”
Smith led East Canton with 13 points while Joe Cartwright had 10. Ryan Burfield, the Hornets’ top outside threat, was limited to eight points and one 3-pointer. Bradley scored two baskets.
Sole said the players were well aware of the significance of the victory.
“Earlier in the year, I was counting it down,” Sole said of Sembach’s milestone. “It meant a lot to me to get in my senior year.”
Orrville advanced by defeating defending state champion Cleveland Central Catholic, 65-59, in Wednesday’s other semifinal.
The Hornets (23-1) won the Salem district by defeating Campbell, the Tigers’ All-American Conference White Tier rival who had beaten Newton Falls twice this season.