Wayne overtakes Centerville in recovery process

No one from Wayne was certain when the Warriors last lost three straight boys basketball games. That’s why absorbing that dreaded hat trick stung so much.

“Those three L’s, you never see Wayne do that,” assured junior L’Christian “Blue” Smith. “It was all about getting regrouped and refocused and worrying about us only. We were worrying about a lot of things and it was self-brought. It’s a process. This is step one.”

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That would be a 42-38 defeat of visiting Centerville in a high school basketball showdown on Tuesday night that pushed both Greater Western Ohio Conference powers to the limits of their skill sets. The teams combined for 31 first-half points, mostly due to a Centerville offense that was stuck in neutral.

Play revved up in the second half, and as close games tend to be decided, this one lapsed into a free-throw shooting contest for most of the fourth quarter.

Centerville senior Keegan Saben’s free throw knotted it at 32-all with 3:56 remaining. Wayne answered by scoring its final 10 points on free throws: five by Smith, three by Deshon Parker and a pair by Darius Quisenberry. Three-pointers by Donnie Shelton and Adam Velasco kept Centerville close.

Those kind of clutch conversions were missing in Wayne’s recent successive losses to Springfield, Huntington Prep (W.Va.) at Flyin’ to the Hoop and the stunner, a 60-59 setback at home to Springboro.

Smith led Wayne (11-5) with 14 points. Quisenberry, the junior transfer from Tecumseh who was playing in only his fifth game, hit two 3-pointers and added 10 points. He also surpassed 1,000 career points in the first quarter.

“It’s a little different in what we have had here and what we’ve built here,” Wayne coach Travis Trice said. “It’s almost this invincible wall. It’s impossible to sustain that forever. The flip side is you have guys who are trying to mesh and guys who haven’t played varsity basketball.”

Wayne (4-3) is still playing catch-up in the GWOC National East, trailing leader Springfield (5-1) and even Centerville (5-2). Crossover games against GWOC National West teams also count toward divisional standings.

“I’m enjoying the process of getting this team together and learning,” Trice said. “It’s going to be a work in progress. We’re playing for the long term. That’s really what it’s about for us.”

That also can be said for Centerville (8-5 overall). The Elks also lost two games to Florida powers on a holiday trip and fell by six points each to unbeaten and No. 1 Moeller and Springfield .

Saben led Centerville with 10 points. Sam Lash added 8 points and Shelton 7.

Both Wayne and Centerville will be among the top seeds in the upcoming Division I sectional, along with Springfield, Northmont, Bellefontaine and Springboro. There also will be a regular season-ending rematch with Wayne at Centerville on Feb. 17.

“We’re not burning the house down yet,” Elks coach Brook Cupps said. “We’re all right. We’ve played a pretty tough schedule and all of those were close games and one or two possessions down the stretch. Hopefully, we’ll be in a better place later in the season.”


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