The Buccaneers and their five perimeter players couldn’t contain Wildcats senior center Darius Harper, a 6-foot-9 Miami University recruit who had 15 of his game-high 20 points after halftime.
Springfield turned a two-point deficit at intermission into a 75-59 victory. Junior guards Michael McKay and Danny Davis chipped in 19 and 15, respectively, for the Wildcats (8-2, 1-1 GWOC Central).
Samari Curtis had a team-high 17 points, Rocky James 12, Danny Naylor 11 and Ray James 10 for the Bucs (7-2, 2-0 GWOC South).
“He’s unreal,” Anderson said of the 270-pound Harper. “Danny is giving up 100 pounds against that kid and doing his best. … He’s a horse. For a big kid, he’s got good feet. And you’ve got to get out on Davis and McKay. You’ve got to pick your poison.”
The meeting with Xenia had Springfield coach Isaiah Carson concerned with a divisional showdown at Wayne coming Friday.
“Before the game started, I wanted to warn our guys. Even though Xenia is in a different division, they were 7-1. That’s a good basketball team,” Carson said.
“It was a trap game when you’ve got a rival Friday and you’re just coming off a big win against Columbus Northland. I think we started a little bit slow — I was right about my assumptions. But luckily, there’s two halves in a game.”
The Wildcats, leading 46-41 late in the third quarter, switched to a 2-3 zone and forced back-to-back turnovers. Harper scored inside, and Davis swished a 3-pointer for a 51-41 lead going into the fourth period.
“I thought Isaiah made a great move going to the zone,” Anderson said. “We got stagnant. We attacked well against their man in the first half. But when he switched to the zone, we did a lot of individual stuff one-on-one.”
A more efficient zone offense would have helped, but that wouldn’t have solved the dilemma of defending Harper.
Among his 20 points was his first dunk of the season.
“I just crashed the boards more and got more offensive rebounds,” Harper said of his second-half surge.
The Wildcats, who went 20-8 last season and lost to Wayne in the Division I regional finals, have higher aspirations this year.
“I don’t think we should lose any more,” Harper said. “We’re very talented. We play together. We’ve just got to keep it rolling.”
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