Box Score Central State defense leads to 57-50 victory over Spring HillWILBERFORCE, Ohio – In a SIAC contest featuring two teams separated by over 700 miles, the Central State Marauders tightened their defense down the stretch in a 57-50 win over the Spring Hill Badgers on Thursday.
In a low scoring affair, neither team managed to gain much momentum or separation from the other. CSU guard
Sterling Gilmore came off the bench and scored two quick baskets and finished the half with 10 points. SHC's Welsey Pietri responded with 12 points of his own in the opening 20 minutes as Spring Hill led 38-37 at half.
"Sterling came off the bench and carried us in the first half," said CSU Head Coach
Joseph Price. "We made a few adjustments a halftime and emphasized to our guys to finish the game strong and play a smart second half."
Spring Hill managed to stay ahead by a slim margin in the opening minutes of the second half. Leading 30-29, Pietri hit from beyond the arc and sparked a 8-2 run. Two free throws from Jarrett Calhoun put the Badgers up 38-31 with 14:02 to play. CSU responded with a 12-0 run as a
Jeremy Brown layup put the Marauders up 43-38 at the 7:21 mark. After claiming the lead, CSU turned up its defense and forced 7 Badger turnovers in the final 7 minutes of the game. Despite their lack of ball protection, Spring Hill managed to cut the deficit to one, 51-50, with 1:49 to go after a deep three pointer from Sawyer Glick. A free throw from
Jeremy Brown on the other end put CSU back up two. On SHC's next trip down the floor, a Calhoun pass sailed out of bounds with 1:19 left on the clock. After a empty offensive possession, the CSU defense came up big with a stop on the other end and regained possession with just 23 seconds left. Forced to foul, the Badgers sent freshman guard
Tom Johnson to the line. Johnson calmly hit both free throws to give his team a 54-50 lead. Hosie Smith, Jr., sealed it for the Marauders with his defense, stealing the ball from Calhoun with 17 seconds remaining. Smith made the front end of his two free throws on the other end. While Smith missed the second attempt from the line,
Dymiere Finch corralled the offensive rebound and Johnson hit two more from the line as CSU snapped a five game losing streak.
"It was a great effort on both ends tonight," Price said. "We did a good job of rebounding and executing down the stretch. Having said that, we won't have much time to celebrate tonight's win as we are already preparing for Saturday's game against a very talented and well-coached team in Lemoyne-Owen."
The Marauder defense forced Spring Hill into 20 turnovers on the night, leading to a 13-7 edge in points scored off giveaways. Smith, Jr. helped anchor the scoring in the post as CSU outscored SHC, 28-18, in the paint. Gilmore, who finished with a team-high 14 points, led a Marauder bench that outscored the SHC reserves, 31-24.
In addition to Gilmore's performance, Smith, Jr. finished the game with 11 points and 6 rebounds. Johnson added 10 points and a team-high 4 assists as Central State improved to 7-11 overall and 6-7 in SIAC play.
Spring Hill fell to 7-14 on the season and 6-7 in the conference standings. The Badgers were paced by Pietri's 16 points.
Central State will return to the Beacom/Lewis hardwood on Saturday when the team hosts Lemoyne-Owen at 3 pm.
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