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On this date in area sports history …
Twelve years ago on this date, Feb. 28, 1997, the Catholic Central boys basketball team recorded its third sectional title in a row, beating top-seeded Southeastern. Complete story on the jump.
SHUTTE SHOOTS IRISH INTO DISTRICT FINAL
By Matt Thompson, News-Sun Sports Writer
DAYTON — Friday afternoon, the day after Catholic Central’s biggest upset of the season, Irish Coach Josh Leslie held a relatively informal practice after school.
The workout was light … the message Leslie delivered afterward was not.
“Think about how good you feel right now,” he told his players. “As good as you feel now, if you lose tonight, it’s all over.”
Point taken.
Indeed, the Irish showed anything but a letdown after Thursday’s upset of top-seeded Southeastern, coasting to a 62-45 victory over Dayton Jefferson in a Division IV sectional final at University of Dayton Arena Friday night.
It was Central’s third sectional title in as many years and sends the defending Division IV state champion into a divisional final game against Cincinnati Seven Hills at 6:30 p.m. Friday at UD. Seven Hills beat Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy, 68-53, Friday.
Still, Leslie was not much in the mood to celebrate after the game, despite the fact his team never trailed and was never truly challenged by the misfiring Broncos.
He was more in the mood to talk about the Irish shortcomings, which among other things he listed was a tendency to give up lots of second shots.
“Right now, we’re a horrible boxing-out team,” said Leslie, whose team improves to 8-14. “We were sloppy.”
To an extent, that’s true. But the Irish were somewhat limited, particularly in the first half, when 6-foot-4 Matt Talbott, one of the team’s biggest bodies, was sent to the bench with two quick fouls. When Talbott returned to the lineup the second half, he managed to pull down seven rebounds, put on some inside pressure and helped limit Jefferson’s second chances.
In the interim, Central can thank the fates for senior guard Pat Shutte, who hit his first four three-pointers — on his way to a game-high 24 points — as the Irish built up a 27-15 halftime lead.
“He had it going,” Leslie said of Shutte. “The last five or six games, he’s been shooting the ball extremely well.”
Central opened the second half with a 12-4 run, then dropped things down a gear through the later stages, milking the clock as much as possible the final 10 minutes or so.
“(We were) not so much stalling,” Leslie said, “but when you’re up 20 points, the clock’s on your side.”
Meanwhile, Jefferson just couldn’t get anything to fall. The Broncos — despite taking the majority of their shots almost directly under the basket — shot just 34 percent for the game, missing all 10 of their three-point attempts.
Chris Wells added 13 for Central, while Donte Dubose came off the bench to lead the Broncos, 9-13, with 15 points.
DAYTON JEFFERSON (45) — Gooden 0-0 0-0 0, Hall 0-5 0-0 0, Mitchell 2-6 0-0 4, Shackleford 3-17 1-2 7, McDougle 4-8 1-2 9, Glover 2-7 0-0 4, Dubose 7-13 1-1 15, Parker 3-5 0-0 6. Totals: 21-61 3-5 45.
CATHOLIC CENTRAL (62) — Shutte 7-12 5-5 24, Wells 6-13 1-4 13, Brandewie 3-4 2-2 8, Moore 1-3 4-4 6, Ma. Talbott 2-7 4-6 8, Mi. Talbott 1-3 0-1 3, Federer 0-1 0-0 0, Doane 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 20-44 16-22 62.
Dayton Jefferson 8 15 25 45
Catholic Central14 27 43 62
Three-point goals: Dayton Jefferson 0-10, Catholic Central 6-10 (Shutte 5, Mi. Talbott)
Records: Dayton Jefferson 9-13, Catholic Central 8-14
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