Continental escapes against Arlington Sentinel Staff
ELIDA - Continental needed a lift to stay ahead of Arlington. The Pirates were only up two on the Red Devils with time winding down in the third quarter.
Enter Chase Ordway. The senior guard drilled a 3-pointer in the final seconds of the period, putting the Pirates in front 29-24.
The shot provided a shot of energy for fifth-ranked Continental, which managed to hold off Arlington 39-35 in a Division IV district semifinal Tuesday night at the Elida Fieldhouse.
"The shot was huge. It gave us the momentum we needed. I had a good look and hit the shot."
Continental (21-2) will advance to play Putnam County League rival Kalida Friday night in a district final. The Wildcats took down Ada 59-44.
Continental head coach Kevin Homier said his team didn't play its best game of the year. Part of that had to do with the fact that it was looking ahead to a potential matchup with Kalida, the 2009 state runner-up.
"When you know Kalida could be your next opponent, it's hard to convince kids not too look ahead," Homier said. "We didn't play our best game, but I'm hoping we are going to do that in our next game."
Continental led 22-11 at one point in the first half, in part because Arlington struggled to shoot the ball. The Red Devils (15-7) went almost 11 minutes without a field goal in the opening half.
The Pirates led 22-16 at halftime and were 15-of-31 from the field. Ordway pumped in 15 points and hit on both of his 3-point attempts.
John Spitnale and Damon Schmidt each scored 7 points.
The Red Devils were paced by Zane Leonard, who dropped in 12 points. Kevin Rogers clicked for 11 points.
But the Pirates were able to control the tempo and the boards, out-rebounding the Red Devils 21-15.
Homier said that was a key to the win.
"Rebounding was going to be the key to winning this game," Homier said. "We knew if we didn't rebound we were going to get beat."
The Pirates only turned the ball over 7 times. They are moving on in the tourney, but Homier said his team didn't bring the kind of intensity and energy one would expect from a state-ranked team.
"We weren't able to get much inside against them and I thought we did a poor job of finishing inside when we had chances," Homier said. "I also thought we played tight and didn't play with a lot of emotion. We need to change that for Friday."
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