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Springfield, South Range win to earn another date
By Brandon Judeh
Salem
The Springfield High boys basketball team and their fans came out confident Wednesday as they sailed past Waterloo, 55-35, to win a Division III sectional championship.
Before the game started, there was plenty of chatter in the stands about the potential Springfield versus South Range rubber match.
That rematch between the Inter Tri-County League Tier One teams is set South Range defeated East Palestine, 90-69, in Wednesday’s other game at Salem High.
After the Raiders’ win and before the Tigers (19-2) tipped off, one fan said, “I can’t wait until we play South Range on Tuesday, it’s going to be a battle, this is what March is all about.”
Against pesky Waterloo, the first quarter fit the script as Springfield jumped out to an early 16-4 lead, thanks to senior Nick Russell scoring seven of his 20 points.
The start of the second quarter did not go as expected for the Tigers, as the Vikings came out on a 6-0 run to cut the lead in half.
“We were making some bad passes and turning the ball over, which led to their run, but we recovered nicely,” Russell said.
Russell also added that his team wasn’t hitting the deep ball like they usually do so they had to play harder on defense to cause turnovers.
After a timeout, Springfield took over the game and never looked back as their dominant defense caused Waterloo to play sloppy and make costly mistakes.
Springfield moves on to play their bitter rival South Range, in what is sure to be a close game.
“Both games this season were close, we won by two, they won by one and it’s a heated rivalry and for a District Semifinal,” Springfield coach Eric Fender said. “I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
This was Waterloo head coach John Herchek’s final game; he retires after 33 years of coaching and 391 career wins.
South Range 90, East Palestine 69
In the first game, Brandon Pluchinsky scored a game-high 31 points and teammate Dan Good nearly matched his total by scoring 28.
The pair combined for 65.5 percent of the Raiders (17-4) offense.
The most crucial part of the game came in the beginning of the fourth quarter when Pluchinsky hit a three point shot and was fouled. He hit the free throw and gave his team a comfortable 16 point lead.
“My guys were all with me tonight, it wasn’t just me,” Pluchinsky said. “The big man in the middle Dan Good and everyone else was getting me open shots.”
In all, Pluchinsky hit an unprecedented eight three pointers.
“My shot was on, but we just wanted to work our game and move the ball inside and back out,” Pluchinsky added.
East Palestine hung around early as Austen Reiser scored 23 points and Jake DiCello dished out nine assists.
The Bulldogs (12-10) were only down seven at intermission, but once again Pluchinsky and company came out firing. He hit a big three on the opening possession to push the Raiders lead to 10.
For the Raiders, Isaac Schuster led all rebounders with 10.
DiCello added 18 points and Travis Cope scored nine for the Bulldogs.