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On this date in area sports history …
Six years ago on this date, Feb. 19, 2003, the South boys basketball team stomped Miamisburg in the first round of the sectional tournament. Complete story on the jump.
Published Feb. 20, 2003
SOUTH PILLAGES VIKINGS
By BRIAN PLASTERS, News-Sun Sports Writer
FAIRBORN — South boys basketball coach Larry Ham says his team is “tournament ready.”
On Wednesday night at the Ervin J. Nutter Center, Miamisburg had zero room to argue.
South used 20 points and 19 rebounds from Nate Miller and a game-high 23 points from Isiah Carson to defeat the Vikings 91-43 in the first round of the Division I sectional.
“This is what we wait for every year,” Carson said. “This is when the hard work pays off.”
Besides being a sectional win, it was also the 200th career win for Ham.
The Wildcats (16-3) now advance to face Xenia in the sectional semifinals Feb. 28 at 8 p.m. South defeated the Buccaneers 48-45 at Xenia earlier this season.
Entering the game, Miamisburg coach Frank Back wanted to play conservatively and make the Wildcats shoot over the Vikings’ 2-3 zone.
To a point that worked, as South hit just 3 of 12 3-pointers. But the Wildcats held a commanding 63-39 rebounding edge, giving them an almost unlimited supply of second chance points in the paint.
“Our hopes were we could keep (South) off the boards and slow down the transition, and obviously that didn’t work tonight,” Back said.
It also didn’t help that Miamisburg (10-11) only shot 26.3 percent from the floor, including 7 of 26 from behind the arc.
“They wanted to live and die by the 3, and we wanted to pressure that,” Carson said.
In the first half, Miamisburg connected on six 3-pointers, keeping the game respectable at 39-25. But South shifted to a stronger man-to-man defense in the second half, and the Vikings hit only one more trey the rest of the game.
“At halftime we said `Here’s the deal, no more 3’s,’ ” Ham said. “We just decided to play straight up man-to-man defense.
With an 11-day layoff between games and only one day of practice this week, the Wildcats had every chance to say they were rusty. But Miller had another option.
“We still shot every day, even though we didn’t have school,” he said. “We’ve been mad (that we didn’t get to play.) We’re basketball die-hards. We just want to play whenever we can.”
After the starters got their three quarters, the second-string Wildcats limited the Vikings to 14 points in the final eight minutes, maintaining a 35- to 45-point lead before settling on the final margin.
Ham was just as pleased with the play of bench players Jason Allen and Tyrice White as he was with the victory. The two players were promoted from the junior varsity and both provided quality minutes throughout the game.
White scored 10 points and Allen picked up two rebounds.
“Those two kids are really going to have to step up. That’s why we wanted to give those kids a lot of minutes early,” Ham said.
South athletic director Greg Newland said tickets to both the boys and girls upcoming sectional games will be on sale from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the South athletic office. All tickets are $5.
First, however, is a regular season game at Troy tonight that has major implications for the Greater Western Ohio Conference Eastern Division title.
SOUTH (91) — Ball 2 0-0 6, Jones 3 0-0 6, Vance 1 0-0 3, Miller 9 2-5 20, Thomas 4 3-4 11, Carson 9 5-8 23, White 4 2-4 10, Grant 6 0-0 12. Totals: 38 12-21 91.
MIAMISBURG (43) — Schomburg 3 1-2 10, Kierstead 3 1-2 8, Blevins 0 0-1 0, Mangen 1 0-0 3, Kitchen 1 1-2 4, Wells 1 0-0 2, Soriano 0 2-2 2, Whipps 5 1-2 12, Simmons 1 0-0 2. Totals: 15 6-11 43.
South 19 39 64 91
Miamisburg 10 25 30 43
3-point goals: South 3 (Ball 2, Vance), Miamisburg 7 (Schomburg 3, Kierstead, Mangen, Kitchen, Whipps).
Records: South 16-3, Miamisburg 10-11.
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