Boys basketball: Trotwood-Madison holds off Springfield

Finding a 1,000-point scorer was a good idea. Carpenter was fouled trying to shoot with 1.1 seconds left. He calmly made both free throws and the Rams escaped Springfield with a 55-53 victory Tuesday night.

“We were looking for that penetration like that because I knew the next time they fouled us we were going to shoot free throws anyway,” Pullen said. “I knew we could spread them out. Ja’Carious made a good decision. He wasn’t the one who really was supposed to handle the ball at that moment, but he did a great job for a sophomore to get into lane, then make the good pass.”

Carpenter’s four years of varsity experience told him where to be.

“I just made myself available,” he said. “I knew my man was going to help when Ja’Carious drove middle, which he did. He made a good pass and we got the foul called.”

Carpenter, who scored 16 points, stepped to the line like the seasoned high school athlete he is and showed the same poise he does standing in the pocket and throwing passes with blitzers in his face.

“I did that before, so that kind of took the pressure off,” he said. “I just relied on my work.”

The Rams (12-4) played short-handed and shorter than usual. The 6-foot-8 duo of Jermiel Atkins and Shawn Haley were out. Atkins, who starts, will be back for the next game. They were missing a combined 12.7 points, but more importantly 12.9 rebounds because Springfield scored important second-chance points and twice on alley-oop plays that the height wasn’t there to defend.

The Wildcats (2-12) closed the third quarter with a 15-2 run to take a 43-36 lead.

“The guys just really shared the ball organically, did a good job finding one another, finding crevices, made some shots,” coach Matt Yinger said. “We were getting stops, so we felt good about ourselves on the offensive end.”

The Rams responded to tie the score at 43 two minutes into the fourth quarter. Then freshman guard C.J. Wallace, who averages 9.8 points and has a season-high of 30, took over for the Wildcats. He scored their next nine points, all on 3-pointers, to push Springfield to a 52-46 lead with 3: 12 left. Wallace made 4 of 5 3-point shots for the game and scored 16 points.

“C.J. has been an impact player for us from day one as a freshman, so we trust him, we believe in him, he’s not afraid of the moment,” Yinger said.

The Wildcats, who also got 12 points from senior Cabrae Byrd, managed only one more free throw and failed to keep the Rams off the offensive glass. The Rams forged the final tie on a 3-pointer from Marlon Howard Jr. (15 points), and putbacks by freshman Darius Dennis and Carpenter.

“We just nickeled and dimed our way a little bit here, a little bit there,” Pullen said. “We just proved a little toughness that we had right down the stretch just to get ourselves back in it and give us the opportunity.”

Springfield has been short-handed all season. Two sophomores, Charles Cunningham and Zayvion Banks, were lost for the season and were potential starters. Banks to an ACL knee injury in May, Cunningham to an unexpected surgery before the season. Cunningham was the team’s top returning scorer. Another early-seson injury and a personal decision not to play cost the ‘Cats two other varsity players.

Yinger, in his first year as head coach, has coached in the program for several years. He loved Tuesday’s valiant effort, and he knows what it takes to compete for Greater Western Ohio Conference and district titles. He’s stressing to his players to trust the process.

“You don’t rebuild a culture overnight,” he said. “Guys are buying in and are working hard. I think tonight’s a perfect example of that. We’ve been in a lot of games where we are winning a halftime or just slightly down at halftime or we’ll win the second half, not the first half. We talk a lot about figuring out how to be consistent. When we all get on the same page and play together and play the right way and play the Wildcat brand that we preach and teach, we’re a solid program. We just got to find a way to get over that hump.”