“I’m not out here trying to put up points,” said Weingartner, who finished with 23. “I’m just trying to win games and play some team basketball. We’re all bonding together and we have a good team.”
Make that two good teams. Centerville was coming off its only loss, an overtime job in the finals of a Bristol, Tenn., holiday tournament. Centerville improved to 9-1 overall and 3-0 in the Greater Western Ohio Conference Central Division.
Fairmont (8-1, 2-1) needed a big game from GWOC scoring leader Kei’Vante Tanner and had to shut down Weingartner. The Firebirds got neither.
“They expose things that you don’t do well,” Fairmont coach Blair Albright said. “This is something we need to learn from. I knew, irregardless, we were going to get a real answer for where we are at this point.”
Centerville put a defensive clamp on Fairmont’s up-tempo game, especially in the second quarter. The Elks led by 10 at halftime and 15 after three quarters.
Clayton Schmerber added 12 points for the Elks and teamed with Kyle Fedewa to mostly check Tanner. Mitch Balser added 11 points for Centerville.
Senior guard Tony Atria led Fairmont with 23 points. Darius Dunson added 10.
“They’re very good at doing what they do, which I respect a lot,” Elks coach Brook Cupps said. “That’s something we value.”
Both programs are part of a big turnover in GWOC head coaches the last five seasons. Cupps is in his third season with the Elks and has won 15 and 16 games each of the last two seasons. Albright is a lock to better the 9-14 record the Firebirds posted in his debut last season.
“This is a great rivalry,” Albright said. “We’ve been on the wrong side of it for a little bit too long. We’ve got to get out of that. There’s some things there mentally, some obstacles, that we need to overcome.”
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