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Defense critical for Spartans during Tornadoes’ warning
By BOB ETTINGER
BOARDMAN
Boardman guards Derrick Anderson and Che Trevena managed to tilt a Division I sectional final in the Spartans’ favor in just under than a minute.
The pair tortured Dover ballhandlers on three straight possessions in the third quarter to allow Boardman to build a lead in a 44-41 victory over the Tornadoes on Saturday night.
“They found another level tonight,” Boardman coach Pat Birch said. “Both of them found another gear. They showed their versatility on both offense and defense. Those two guys led us down the stretch, that’s for sure.”
Anderson led the Spartans with 18 points and Trevena had 13.
The third-seeded Spartans (20-3) will play second-seeded Green in a Division I district semifinal at Canton Civic Center at 7 p.m. Thursday.
“They were second in the Federal League,” Birch said. “They’re a really good program. They have a really good point guard and some nice pieces around him. It’s going to be a challenge.”
In the span of 55 seconds, Anderson and Trevena helped turn a 20-19 advantage in the first minute of the third period into a 26-19 lead with 5:01 to play in the quarter.
“We pressured them and played defense,” Anderson said. “We were getting deflections and they led to runouts and layups.”
A layup from Trevena and a 3-pointer from Daeone Martin made it 31-20 with 2:13 left in the third.
“I thought getting a lead would be very important,” Birch said. “I know we had a double-digit lead at one point. They had that stretch when [Kade Ruegsegger] hit some big shots to keep them alive. We knew he’d make some shots, but that’s tournament basketball. You survive and advance.”
A 3-pointer from Kyler Folkert had the Tornadoes (20-3) within six, 38-32, midway through the fourth. A pair of 3-pointers from Ruegsegger had Dover within three, 44-41, with 18 seconds to go, but the Tornadoes missed two 3-point attempts in the final five seconds to give the Spartans the win.
“That last 3 felt like it was in the air for an eternity,” Birch said. “If it went in, we get to play more basketball [tonight] and if it doesn’t, we move on to the next game. That’s part of the game. That’s what everyone loves about March. You get those moments. Fortunately, they went in our favor tonight.”
Boardman opened the game with 8-0 run as Anderson and Ethan Andersen each scored four points over the first 3:22 to force Dover to play catchup.
“We were behind from the get-go,” Tornadoes coach Bob Von Kaenel said. “When you start down 8-0, you put yourself in a pretty big hole. We fought hard and used a lot of energy to get it back to even. We had a couple of crucial possessions where we turned it over, didn’t rebound or missed some free throws. Credit [Boardman’. They made one more play than we did.”
The Tornadoes were paced by Ruegsegger’s 18 points.