Tuesday, February 26, 2013
By Doug Chapin
SALEM
A wide grin spread across the face of South Range coach Dave Purins when he was asked if the chance to face arch-rival Springfield a third time was a motivating factor in his team’s 67-55 victory over Waterloo in a Division III sectional semifinal Monday at Salem High.
“It’s a fun game. The coaches and the kids are looking forward to that,” Purins said after a slight chuckle to go with his grin.
The Raiders will face the Tigers for the third time this season on Wednesday night at 7:30 in a sectional final.
“It’s just a great rivalry, the communities will be out here and it will be a great atmosphere for high school basketball,” Purins said. “It’s a fun game to coach in. Their kids play extremely hard, they’re well-coached. We’re looking forward to that.”
South Range lost to Springfield 57-44 on the Tigers’ floor in December and was beaten 52-41 at home.
“The second game was closer most of the game and then we got into a little bit of foul trouble. And Garrett Anderson was injured in that game and didn’t play,” Purins said. “Our kids are looking forward to the opportunity.”
As for the victory over Waterloo, the Raiders (11-12) used a solid zone defense and good inside scoring to beat the sophomore-laden Vikings (3-20).
Tyler Beverly (18 points) and Garrett Anderson (17 points) did all of their scoring in the paint. Jake Arsuffi added 13 points, including a trio of 3-pointers, and point guard Mason Miller was solid controlling the Raiders’ offense.
“We talked before the game about controlling the boards and winning the offensive rebounds. I thought when we didn’t, we gave them opportunities, and when we did, we controlled things,” Purins said. “I was real happy with our guys’ resiliency. A couple times they made a run at us and we were able to weather that storm. We showed good patience on offense to wait until we got some good looks.”
South Range used a 14-0 run in the latter half of the second quarter to gain control. Down 22-21, Robby Seman scored a fast-break layup with 4:14 remaining to give the Raiders their first lead.
The South Range advantage stood at 35-22 after a 3-pointer by Andrew Cullar at the 1:24 mark.
Waterloo, which used six sophomores in its nine-player rotation, cut the lead to 44-39 with 1:26 remaining in the third quarter.
The Raiders scored twice in the final minute of the period, holding a 48-39 lead at the break, then scored the first 10 minutes of the fourth quarter to put the game away.
“We’ve won six out of our last eight games and are playing with some confidence right now,” Purins said. “The guys are loose and excited to play. It’s a good time of year to be playing like that.”