NEWARK – The East Knox boys basketball team stepped into the house of their regional sports nemesis, and — for a while — it looked like they might give them more than they could handle.
But third-seeded Newark Catholic tightened up on defense and landed a trio of 3-pointers to push ahead in the third quarter, hanging on to defeat East Knox 42-34 in a Division IV district semifinal on Tuesday, March 3.
The Bulldogs were able to stop the Green Wave’s biggest weapon, Cole Canter, holding him to two points in the opening half and eight for the game.
“I thought our defense was excellent in the first half,” East Knox coach Ryan Powell said. “They’re a really good team, but I felt confident at halftime.”
Dillon Moreland put an exclamation point on a great Bulldogs first half, landing a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give East Knox a 19-16 lead.
“We played for our seniors,” East Knox junior Shane Knepp said. “I think that’s why we had so much power behind us and so much emotion.”
It was emotional and it got physical on both sides.
“That first half was a slugfest,” Newark Catholic coach Nate Adams said. “Just a hard-fought game. I tip my hat to (East Knox). They played a helluva season. It was a great game.”
Newark Catholic got a pair of 3-pointers from Tristan Gorious and another from Matthew Gialdini in the third quarter. Gorious scored 11 points to lead all scorers and Gialdini added seven points for the Green Wave.
Terry Jacobs’ 3-pointer was the only score for the Bulldogs in that quarter.
“We knew that they could hit 3s,” Knepp said. “We were holding them off, but eventually they were going to start getting hot and the third quarter was it. That’s when they started going off and we just couldn’t keep up.”
Canter and Gialdini each had a pair of field goals in the final quarter and Gialdini added a 3-pointer. The Green Wave defense made the stops down the stretch.
“In the third quarter, they extended on us,” Powell said. “They got second-chance points. They hit a couple of big 3s. They made some clutch shots when they had to. Our guys played a good game, but they came up short.”
Senior Weston Melick and Knepp both scored nine points to lead the Bulldogs. Melick finished his Bulldog career with 1,156 points — 46 points shy of Ron Johnson’s career mark of 1,202. The four games canceled in the regular season due to a quarantine shortened the Bulldogs’ season and might have made the difference.
Melick was emotional after his final game.
“I’m proud of our team this year,” he said. “I wouldn’t trade them for the world.”
Berne Union 64, Cardington 59
Avery Harper hit three 3-pointers and scored 13 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter as host and top-seeded Cardington mounted a furious comeback. But Berne Union held off the Pirates 64-59 in a Division IV district semifinal on Tuesday, March 2.
Brock Unger scored 23 points, Brea Friesner had 17 points and Nate Nemeth added 11 points for the seventh-seeded Rockets (11-9), who built a 36-22 lead at the half and led 48-36 at the end of three quarters.
Trey Brininger scored 19 points and Zack Lester chipped in nine points for the Pirates (16-7). Lester knocked down two 3s in the fourth quarter to aid Cardington’s comeback bid.
The Green Wave host the Rockets in the district title game on Friday at 7 p.m.
