UTICA – Seth Cooper, a junior forward on the Utica boys basketball team, has a pretty simple approach to shot selection.
“If I think I’m going to make it, I’m going to shoot it,” he said. “If not, I just pass it off.”
Cooper had a lot of confidence in his shoot on Friday, Feb. 5. He poured in 32 points to lead Utica to a 64-37 win over visiting Lakewood in Licking County League play. He also added six rebounds and a pair of steals to his ledger.
“He’s filling it up right now,” Utica coach Brian Radabaugh said. “Inside, outside, offensive rebounds, transitions. He’s a good free throw shooter. He’s been on a major roll and has really become a go-to guy for us. I’m really proud of what he’s been able to do and really excited to see him finish it off the right way.”
Cooper’s confidence level has been steadily increasing over the course of the season. It started early in the year when he went for 26 points and 16 rebounds off the bench in a win at Mount Gilead in the team’s second game.
Friday night was the fourth time in the last five games that Cooper has scored more than 20 points.
“I just get to the foul line,” Cooper said. “I score half my points at the foul line. Being aggressive, getting (to) the hole (and) being aggressive getting the ball off to teammates. Not being selfish … it pays off.”
Cooper was 11-of-12 at the foul line against Lakewood and 43-of-55 (78%) over the last five games — the most recent of which was a 51-44 victory for Utica at Lakewood on Jan. 30.
He scored five points in the early going as Utica (5-12, 2-9) opened up an 9-0 lead.
Jarrett Pfister was also a spark off the bench for Utica in the first quarter with six points.
“Jarrett was great in the first quarter,” Radabaugh said. “He made two really contested plays ... got an and-1. That was big for us to really establish some early momentum.”
Trenton Collins scored 11 of his team-high 17 points as the Lancers whittled their deficit down to 23-21 at the half. He had five rebounds and a pair of assists as well.
Collins hit a pair of free throws to tie the game before Zach Cramer briefly gave Lakewood the lead with a free throw at 28-27.
But Cooper took over from there. He hit a 3-pointer and followed with an and-1 — the first six of a 21-point second half.
“The last five games, we’ve played a few good quarters here and there,” Lakewood coach Ben Schenko said. “The last time we played them we had a really good second quarter and a really good third quarter. I think that’s where you see our youth and inexperience come out.”
Utica went on a 37-9 run the rest of the way, holding the Lancers (0-15, 0-10) to a pair of free throws in the fourth quarter.
“Credit to (Lakewood), they made a really big push in the second quarter and it continued into the third quarter,” Radabaugh said. “We just kind of lost our way for a minute. But we luckily righted the ship and finished strong.”
Zach Heckman had 15 points, four assists and four rebounds; and Elijah Larue dished out six assists and added four rebounds and three steals for Utica.
Jacob Whiteman had seven points, Colton Crawmer added six points and Aidan Bowman had six rebounds for Lakewood.
