BOYS

Granville earns LCL Buckeye title

Dave Weidig
Reporter

PATASKALA - After falling on its home floor to Watkins Memorial earlier, Granville was 5-9 and hardly thinking about a league championship.

The Blue Aces haven't lost since.

Granville's zone defense limited the Warriors to 33 percent shooting Tuesday, and the visitors used a 20-4 third-quarter blitz to stun the Warriors 64-44 in a showdown for the Licking County League Buckeye Division championship.

"We played three and a half quarters of flawless basketball," Blue Aces coach Adam Teeters said. "We executed the game plan we had worked on for two weeks, and that was to make sure we recognized their shooters, pack in the zone and make them pass it around. Take away the driving lanes and contest every shot."

Despite a big height disadvantage, Granville (13-9, 10-3) out-rebounded Watkins 30-23, led by Jacob Alexander's 10, and kept the Warriors off the offensive glass.

"As small as we are, we did a really great job of going after the ball on the boards," Teeters said.

The Blue Aces also attacked the Watkins defense, scoring in transition and on drives to the basket. Granville hit 24 of 40 from the floor for 60 percent, led by Drew Dilger's 18 points, 13 from Alex Meurer and Will Sharp's 10. Meurer also had four assists, while Trent Tackett and Nick Windley added three apiece.

"We executed our half-court motion offense and took care of the basketball," Teeters said. "We had 24 turnovers against them last time, and we cut those in half."

The seeds of Granville's eighth consecutive win were actually sown in the second quarter. Dilger drove the lane for a basket and scored on a rebound. Meurer drilled a 3 from the right corner, off a Peyton Ley assist, and the Blue Aces suddenly led 24-14 and took a 26-18 lead into the locker room.

"We prepared for them all week, even during the last two games," Dilger said. "We wanted to get the people to shoot, that we wanted to shoot, and were able to transition into our offense from our defense."

They opened the second half on a 12-2 run. Meurer helped fuel it, converting one steal into a three-point play and another into a reverse fast-break layup. He also assisted Sharp on a layup as the lead ballooned to 38-20 and to 46-22 heading to the fourth, as Dilger made two technical foul shots and scored off an assist from Alexander.

"In the first game, our turnovers led to runouts and easy baskets for them," Meurer said. "Tonight, we were able to get the runouts and easy baskets from our defense. Make them shoot contested shots and focus on the defensive boards. They killed us on the offensive boards last time. We know how good we can be and played like it."

Alex Miles poured in 22 points, including four 3-pointers, but no one else was close to double figures for Watkins (11-10, 9-4). Westley Brandon had six rebounds and Miles five to go with three steals. Cole Nixon handed out four assists.

"I know we beat them the first time, but I said at the beginning of the year, Granville was the team to beat because they execute and are well-coached," Warriors' coach Ben Schenko said. "They executed their game plan and took us completely out of our game. They hit the shots they needed to, we missed shots we normally make and it kind of snowballed on us."

The Blue Aces now have over two weeks to get ready for a probable Division II district meeting with LCL Cardinal champ Johnstown in an unofficial battle for the outright conference championship.

"Our five seniors have played together since the sixth grade, and this is where we wanted to be," Dilger said,

dweidig@newarkadvocate.com

740-328-8557

Twitter: @noz75

Stat book

Granville 13-13-20-18 — 64

Watkins 10-8-4-22 — 44

Granville: 24-40 FG, 13-18 FT, 3 3 pt. (Meurer 2, Ley), 30 rebounds (Alexander 10), 13 turnovers, 14 Assists (Meurer 4, Tackett 3, Windley 3), 8 Steals (Meurer 2, Alexander 2, Windley 2). Scoring: Dilger 6 6-7 18, Meurer 4 3-3 13, Tackett 2 0-0 4, Windley 2 2-3 6, Alexander 2 0-1 4, Crouch 1 0-2 2, Ley 2 0-0 5, Thompson 1 0-0 2, Sharp 4 2-2 10.

Watkins: 15-45 FG, 7-10 FT, 7 3 pt. (A. Miles 4, Looney 2, Ruff), 23 rebounds (Brandon 6, A. Miles 5), 10 turnovers, 11 Assists (Nixon 4), 9 Steals (A. Miles 3). Scoring: Brandon 2 0-0 4, R. Miles 0 3-4 3, Nixon 0 0-2 0, Broomfield 1 0-0 2, Looney 2 0-0 6, Sharpe 0 4-4 4, A. Miles 9 0-0 22, Ruff 1 0-0 3.