By Ken Barhorst
TROTWOOD — Sidney built up a 14-point lead at the half over Greenville, but in this series, no lead is safe.
And so it was again Saturday night in the first round of the Division 1 Sectional Tournament at Trotwood.
With 1:50 left in the game, the Green Wave had trimmed the margin to 73-68, thanks to the second-half scoring of 6-foot-6 Isaiah Gable.
That’s when Sidney coach John Willoughby sent his players back on the floor out of a timeout playing a box-and-one on Gable. Greenville eventually scored, but took 35 seconds to do so in trying to figure out the defense, and the Jackets survived a couple of nervous moments down the stretch to pull out a 79-72 victory and advance to the semifinals Wednesday night.
It was the third win in three games for Sidney against Greenville this season, and put the Jackets at 18-5 heading into a Wednesday night battle with Springboro at 7:30 at Centerville for the right to advance to the finals Saturday.
“The way Gable was scoring on us in the second half, I don’t know what you do,” said Sidney coach John Willoughby. “We went box-and-one on him late and Isaiah (Bowser) did a good job on him. But they still had kids driving by us and getting to the basket.”
Sidney led 73-70 after the Greenville bucket and added a point on one of two free throws by Josiah Hudgins. Greenville missed at the other end, but Sidney misfired at the line. Greenville got a couple chances inside but couldn’t convert, and after the ball went out of bounds, it was awarded to the Jackets.
Isaiah Bowser was fouled on the inbounds pass, andas the teams were headed down the floor for the free throw attempts, the Greenville bench was called for a technical foul. Bowser stood at the line and dropped in three out of four to put the game out of reach.
Sidney sophomore Andre Gordon was sensational again. After scoring six points in the opening quarter, he poured in 14 in the second when the Jackets pulled out to a double-digit lead.
He wound up with 35, giving him 94 in the three games against the Green Wave.
“Andre had a great game,” Willoughby said. “And I thought Allec Gordon really gave us a lift when he came in in the first quarter. Devan Rogers struggled early and Allec gave us a spark when he got in there, like he always does.”
Sophomore Ratez Roberts scored eight points in the early going and went on to finish with 19, including a pair of dunks. And Bowser got behind the defense several times for key buckets in the second half and finished with 16. And he was 7-for-9 from the line.
Gable wound up with 28 for the Green Wave and really made his mark in the third quarter, when he hit three threes and scored 13 points to get the Wave back within striking distance.
“We turned the ball over at times in the second half that hurt us,” Willoughby said. “Our kids play a lot of minutes and we got tired and had a bad spell. But we made the plays when we had to.”
TICKETS — Sidney will be selling tickets for Wednesday night’s sectional semifinal game from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at the high school.
Greenville (72) — Hendrix 13, Woods 5, Pandy 9, Rick 15, Gable 28, Comer 2.
Sidney (79) — Bowser 16, Roberts 19, An. Gordon 35, Al. Gordon 2, Rogers 1, Hudgins 6.
Score by quarters:
Greenville`15`29`55`72
Sidney`23`43`61`79
Three-pointers: Sidney 4 (An. Gordon 3, Hudgins); Greenville 7 (Gable 4, Woods, Pandy, Rich).
Records: Sidney 18-5, Greenville 13-10.
Next game: Wedndesday, sectional semifinals at Centerville vs. Springboro (12-11), 7:30
