The veteran East Knox Bulldogs took their time against the young Grove City Christian Eagles. Fired up in the second half, EK relied on KMAC leading scorer Shane Knepp to run away from the tiring GCC team at Capital University on Saturday to gain their first-ever district title with a 51-36 victory.
Knepp, who scored 21 points in the Bulldogs' second half against Berne Union on March 5, hit blackjack again and scored 21 in the second half against Grove City in the Division 4 District final.
For third-seeded East Knox, it was its first district final since 1970, and the Bulldogs were looking for their first district final crown. The fifth-seeded Eagles last won a district title in 2017.
In a battle of defensive and substitution strategies, the Bulldogs hounded the Eagles with a man-to-man setup, while Grove City played a 2-3 zone to shut down EK. Additionally, Bulldogs coach Ryan Powell used a six-man rotation in the first half and expanded to seven on the third before bench-time in the fourth (11 players). The Eagles coach, Chris Timlin, used only five players in the first quarter, six total in the first half and five again in the third quarter before the game got out of hand and he emptied his bench.
Both strategies played to a standstill with an even first quarter at 11-11 and a half-time tie at 17-17.
In the first, Knepp, Peyton Lester and Dillon Moreland each drained a three. The Eagles’ Seth Vaughn hit for seven points. In the second, Sam Whitney’s four points for EK tied the Eagles’ Caleb Ransom for most points in the quarter.
At halftime, Knepp was concentrating on the “win or go home” mantra, and Powell talked of toughness, the system and the history the team could make in half of a basketball game … the second half of this one.
Filled with enthusiasm, the Bulldogs started to pull away in the third quarter, as East Knox took a three-point lead in a 13-10 frame. Vaughn hit eight for the Eagles, and Knepp, who started the third with seven straight points, scored all 13 Bulldog tallies on two threes, two deuces and three free throws.
The fourth quarter belonged to Knepp, Moreland and the Bulldogs. East Knox outscored Grove City Christian 21-9, with Moreland putting 11 points through the twine and Knepp hitting for eight. Knepp finished with 26 points for the second straight game and Moreland had 14. Vaughn led the Eagles with 15 points, and Ransom had 12.
East Knox is led by a starting squad of seniors and got to the final with a 19-6 record, a four-game winning streak and a 49-39 win in the semis against Berne Union. Grove City’s team is made up entirely of underclassmen and made the matchup via a 14-10 record and a last-second-stop victory over Danville, 53-52.
The Bulldogs, now 20-6, move ahead to New Madison Tri-Village (21-3, and on a 13-game winning streak) in a regional semifinal at 5:30 p.m. March 8 at Kettering Fairmont. Tri-Village got to the regional semis by virtue of a 64-29 win over Fayetteville-Perry (17-9).
