Saturday, January 26, 2002

Calvert maintains its mastery over Seneca East

By Dave Feltner
Sports Editor

Before the Seneca East basketball team tackles the physical aspects of the sport, the mental barrier the Tigers have when they play Calvert must be broken down.

For the fourth consecutive year Calvert handed Seneca East a loss by more than 30 points, and this one came at a time when the Tigers appeared ready to turn the corner.

Just six days after playing the then-No. 1 ranked team in the state, Buckeye Central, to within 13 points, Seneca East scored just 13 points in the second half of an 86-41 loss to the Senecas.

"Sure, it's mental,"Seneca East coach Doug Mason said. "They handle us in football, they handle us in basketball, and we have the same problem against Fremont St. Joe," Seneca East coach Doug Mason said. "Our kids just have a tough time competing against upper-echelon teams. First, you can't beat yourselves before you can beat the other team, and we're not over that hump yet. We're not putting ourselves in position where we can be in position to win games."

That point was glaring during the first three minutes of Friday night's game.

Calvert's Nick Lay, who finished with 22 points and 13 rebounds, all in the first three quarters, opened the game with a baseline jumper. Philip Smith came up with a steal-and-bucket, Tommy Smathers scored in transition and Lay stuck a jumper from the elbow to give the Senecas a quick 10-0 lead.

"That's what Calvert does so well," Mason said. "The come out, and once that ball is tipped up they put so much pressure on you. They always make this big push, and I told our kids they just have to handle that push and go out and play."

To the Tigers credit, they managed to weather the storm well enough to pull within 19-14 at the first stop. After a slow start, Bryan Benner popped in three buckets and Justin Butler chipped in four points in the first quarter.

But another push by Calvert opened things up in the second quarter.

Eric Koby knocked down a 3-pointer, a 2-pointer and foul shot, and Lay, Derek Wise, Smathers and Marc Baugher (3-pointer) all scored during a 17-5 run to start the quarter, giving the Senecas (8-4 overall, 5-1 Midland Athletic League) a 36-19 advantage.

"We've had great success the the last few years over (Seneca East)," Calvert coach Tony Mass said. "I don't know if I buy into all that; we just needed to come out and do what we do, and we did that early. We let a few things get away from us defensively later on, but we got that corrected at halftime.

"Our interior passing, I thought, was excellent," he said. "We were able to get the ball into the high post and do some things with the low. Our post people worked well together tonight. All four of them, and I like to see that."

The lead stood at 40-28 at halftime, and Calvert and Lay put the Tigers away in the third quarter.

Lay hit all five of his attempts from the field, and pulled down four boards, and Koby tossed in six more points to help give the Senecas a 62-36 cushion at the end of the third.

Lay got backing in the scoring column from Koby and Wise, who both finished with 13 points. Smathers scored eight and Smith seven.

The Senecas had junior Tony Mass in the lineup for the first time since he went down with a knee injury on Dec. 21. He finished with four points and three assists in a limited role. Mass occupied the wing spot rather than his usual point guard position.

Benner finished with 14 points and nine rebounds to pace Seneca East (3-10, 1-5). Preston Hicks also scored 14 for the Tigers.

"We had two things we wanted to do coming in," coach Mass said. "Defensively, we wanted to take away their penetration. And after the first quarter we accomplished that. Offensively, we wanted to make sure we attacked the inside 'cause we felt we had a size advantage in there, and they play physical and put a lot of pressure on the outside.

"I don't think Doug wanted us to stand out there and shoot 3's tonight, so the way we played in the post was big."