Blue Devils shake off pesky Hornets, advance in tourney

ZANESVILLE – It's all about survival in the tournament.

In Zanesville's case, it overcame long stretches of sluggish play and shaky defense — areas that usually lead to losses in the postseason.

It didn't in this instance. Licking Heights' poor shooting and a big fourth quarter ensured a 56-35 win in a Division I district game at Winland Memorial Gymnasium.

Zanesville (19-5) advanced to play rival Newark (19-5) in the semifinals at 7 p.m. on March 11 at a site to be determined by the Central District.

Like the Blue Devils did to Heights, the Wildcats pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 64-49 win against Westerville Central in their second-round game.

Neither team has been particularly impressive in their two tournament wins, but coach Scott Aronhalt has seen enough of the Wildcats to know the score.

"We're going to have to play very well," Aronhalt said. "They're good. It's not that they are unbeatable or anything, but they are really solid in everything that they do. They make the physical plays. They get tough rebounds. If we don't compete on the boards it will be a long night."

Licking Heights proved more difficult than anticipated for three quarters, when the cold-shooting Hornets — they checked in at just 31 percent by game's end — got just enough second-chance points and turnovers to stay within 35-29 after Chris Trent's 3 to start the fourth.

But Zanesville outscored them 21-6 the rest of the way as senior Malik Bocook scored seven of his game-high 21 points in a 11-3 run that put the game away.

He and classmates Ramon Wilson and Spenser Hardwick were playing their final home games as Blue Devils, and Wilson responded with 13 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Zanesville, which led 27-18 at halftime, shot 51 percent from the field and held a 34-24 edge on the glass, although Heights collected 13 offensive rebounds.

But Aronhalt couldn't get past the 18 turnovers and overall inconsistency, especially considering his team "had three really good days of practice," leading into the game.

"There were points early in the season when we would have lost this game," Aronhalt said. "We were able to put enough good plays together to win, but I want to be a little sharper at this point. I'm disappointed, but at the time time we're still playing."

KeShawn Underwood added 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting with eight rebounds for Zanesville, which had seven players score.

Marcos Yilma, a 6-6 center who had his way at times inside, finished with 15 points on 7-of-12 shooting with five rebounds for Heights, who were only 2-of-13 on 3s.

It was a familiar theme.

"Our big Achilles' heel all season has been our scoring," said Hornets coach Nathan Clark, a Maysville grad in his eighth season. "We graduated a lot of scoring and we've pretty much been a team that scores by committee. Tonight we basically only had three guys score."

sblackburn@zanesvilletimesrecorder.com

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Twitter: @SamBlackburnTR