Preble Shawnee (17-5) wasted no time using its obvious size advantage by pushing the ball inside to Will Pope. The 6-foot-4 senior pounded the glass for 16 first-half points to help his team build a 36-19 halftime lead.
“We’ve really been able to jump up early on both teams we’ve played (in the tournament),” said Preble Shawnee coach Roger Ellis, who was the coach in 2002 when the Arrows won 16 games before losing to Bellbrook in the D-II sectional finals.
“I really liked a lot of things we did,” he continued. “I thought we got out in transition and opened the floor up for some easy baskets. We got a little sloppy in the third quarter when we tried to over pass. We should have taken the shots instead, but the idea is to get to the next game and we’re there.”
Dylan Brown stepped to the offensive forefront in the second half for the Arrows. He finished with a game-high 19 points, 17 of them coming in the final two frames.
“They manhandled us,” Blanchester coach Mark Short said. “Sometimes somebody is just better than you are. If I wouldn’t have been on the other side, I would have enjoyed watching them play.”
Blanchester (14-7) collected back-to-back 3-pointers from Bryson Lewis and Nash Ballinger midway through the second quarter to spark it briefly, but the Arrows quickly blew out that spark by not allowing the Wildcats to score for the remaining 4:08 of the half.
“We tried to make some runs, but as soon as we got in it, they took us right back out,” Short said. “That’s the sign of a good team, and they showed us how good they are.”
Ellis also credited his team’s defensive effort in only allowing 40 points.
Codie Cromer and Ballinger each had nine points to lead the Wildcats. Mark Moore scored nine points and Willy Barnhill added eight for Preble Shawnee, which will return to UD Arena on Friday for a 9:30 p.m. tipoff with the East Clinton-Anna winner.
Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2852 or sweaver@coxohio.com.
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