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Tuesday, 06 March 2007 |
 Wapakoneta?s B.J. Reed (4) and Derran Erb (40) battle for a rebound Friday night against the Shawnee Indians in the sectional final. Kyle Maus (24) and Drew Parker also are around the action. (Staff photo/ Kristin Reichardt)
By BRYAN CRAFT
Sports Editor
The Wapakoneta Redskins varsity boys basketball team will make a return trip to the district semifinal and match up against the Toledo Central Catholic Fighting Irish.
The Division II tournament game will be played at approximately 8 p.m. Wednesday at Anderson Arena in Memorial Hall on the campus of the Bowling Green State University.
The two squads met last season when the Redskins pulled out a 69-55 victory.
If Wapakoneta wins it will mark the third time in school history the Redskins went to back-to-back district title games. The last time it happened was 25 years ago when the 1981-82 and 1980-81 teams did it.
Wapakoneta (13-9) are led by 6-foot-7 senior center B.J. Reed with 15 points and 10.9 rebounds per game. Senior guard Randy Schmerge is averaging 10.4 ppg., 6.4 rpg. and 4 assists per game. Also adding support is junior guard Kyle Maus with 7.2 ppg. and 4 apg., while junior guard Zach Brown brings in 6.3 ppg.
“(We need to) take care of the ball,” Wapakoneta coach Scott Minnig said. “I think that in itself will be a big thing because they like to full-court man pressure and we’re just going to have to take care of their pressure.”
Minnig said that the Fighting Irish are well known to play a full-court smothering defense and that the Redskins need to be ready for that come game time.
“We need to handle their pressure,” Minnig said. “They do a great job of playing pressure defense. We need to get the ball inside offensively and look to take advantage of our size inside.”
Toledo lost 6-foot-5 center Rashad Burton off of last year’s team. He led them in the district semifinal with 16 points and 6 rebounds.
They do return 6-foot-6 senior power forward Sam Bastian, who scored 13 points and collected 7 rebounds last season. Also a concern on the Irish squad is junior guard Cory Lehman.
“They’ve got a few kids that are definitely of concern,” Minnig said. “Sam Bastian is a tremendous athlete that can play both inside and outside and really run the floor. He’s a definite concern. Cory Lehman is a tremendous shooter, as good as shooter we have faced all year. We’re going to have to make sure we’re guarding him very tightly.”
Bastian is averaging 16.3 ppg. and 9.4 rpg., Lehman brings in 12.5 ppg. and junior Matt Collins averages 10.7 ppg.
“Their other guards have a tremendous ability to break you down off the dribble and get to the basket,” he added. “As a whole we’re going to have our hands full.” |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 07 March 2007 )
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