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Tri-Village defense slows Coffey, Irish
Top-seeded Patriots hold Central senior to 13 points and nail 23-of-28 foul shots to advance with a 56-39 win.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
VANDALIA — It has become common knowledge this season that if you stop Coffey, you take away Catholic Central's kick.
That's what top-seeded Tri-Village wanted to do in a Division IV sectional semifinal matchup Wednesday, Feb. 20, against third-seeded Catholic Central. And that's what the Patriots did for most of the game, holding Irish senior standout Kyle Coffey in check long enough to build a big lead and coast to a 56-39 victory at Butler High School's Student Activity Center.
Central's Kyle Coffey tries a running shot along the baseline under pressure from several Tri-Village defenders during Wednesday's Division IV tournament game in Vandalia.Staff photo by Bill LackeyThe loss ended Central's up-and-down boys basketball season at 12-9.
"He's a great player, and we knew if we didn't stop him, we couldn't win," said Tri-Village coach Josh Sagester, whose team improved to 17-5.
Coffey had only six points in the first three quarters, and finished with 13 to go with seven rebounds.
"They did a nice job of containing Kyle," said Irish coach Dan Shay. "We wanted to continue to run everything through him, we just didn't do it all the time.
"I don't feel they are 17 points better than us, but they were tonight."
Tri-Village never trailed, jumping out to a 9-3 lead early that Central managed to cut to 11-8 by the end of the first eight minutes.
The Irish played some good defense for the first six minutes of the second quarter to earn their only leads of the game at 17-16 and 19-18. But a 3-point goal right at the buzzer sent Tri-Village into the locker room up 23-19 and with the momentum.
Central stayed within striking distance in the third, trailing only 35-29 after three quarters. But a four-minute dry spell in the critical fourth stanza allowed Tri-Village to go on a 10-0 run to push a 37-31 advantage out to a 47-31 runaway.
Besides not finding Coffey enough, the Irish struggled at the foul line, sinking only 5-of-13 and missing three key 1-and-1s in the final quarter. The winners countered with 23-of-28 from the charity stripe, which proved to be the difference.
"Those were crucial, and we just didn't get it done," said Shay.
Central's Devon Halloran added 10 points, and Tyler Lacey nailed three 3-pointers for nine points. But it just wasn't enough offense.
Shay put his finger on what happened to a fast 2007-08 Irish start.
"We just kind of fell apart," he said. "The chemistry was there, but we stopped playing hard defense."
