Leopards Ice Comets 54-42 to Advance to Districts – Boys Basketball
#2 Louisville 54, #7 Coventry 42
The #2 Seed Louisville Leopards Boys Basketball Team defeated the #7 Seed Coventry Comets 54-42 in the DII Canton Sectional Finals Friday Night at Louisville High School. With their fourth straight victory, Louisville improves to 16-7 on the season and advances to play the #3 Seed Copley Indians in the District Semifinals at Canton Memorial Fieldhouse on Thursday, March 5 at 7:00 PM.
Collin Chambers scored 9 of his game-high 24 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Leopards. Scotty Gronow also scored 9 points in the fourth and finished with 13 and Dakota Hoffman added 6 for LHS.
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Louisville only trailed once throughout the entire contest and it came at the outset. Down 2-0, the Leopards got buckets from Gronow and Chambers to take a lead they would never relinquish. Colton Jones flushed home a three-pointer from the left corner after that and LHS was rolling out to a 7-2 lead. Two possessions later, Chambers hit home a three-ball from that same corner and later produced a steal and score. The Louisville lead was double digits at the end of the first at 16-6.
The Leopards slowed the game in the second quarter looking to preserve their 10-point lead and give their starters a rest. The Comets chipped away at the deficit by starting the second quarter on an 8-2 run to cut the Louisville lead to 18-14. LHS answered with back-to-back layups by Chambers that came with assists from Gronow each time. Hoffman also hit a three-pointer from the right corner in the waning seconds of the first half to cement a 25-17 Leopard lead at the break.
Coventry again rallied at the start of the third quarter with a 6-0 run to cut the Louisville lead to 25-23. Again, the Leopards had an answer as Chambers drove to the hole twice to put the Leopards up 29-23 a little over midway into the third. The two teams exchanged baskets for the rest of the period and Louisville clung to a 34-28 lead heading into the final stanza.
The combination of Chambers and Gronow took over for the Leopards in the fourth quarter. Gronow drove to the hoop for three straight Louisville lay-ins with two coming off passes from Chambers. Gronow returned the favor by driving into the lane and kicking out to Chambers on the left wing. He buried the wide open three-pointer giving the Leopards their largest lead of the game at 44-32 with 4:23 left to play.
From there, Louisville effectively milked away the clock with quality passing and successfully made 8 of 8 free throws to put the game ice. The Leopards would finish 12 of 13 (92%) from the charity stride for the night. Conversely, the Comets made just 1 of 5 free throw attempts for the evening.
Coventry (14-10) was led by La’Greer Surles who scored 8 of his team-high 13 points in the second half. Ronnie Thompson also dropped in 9 and Dev Pauley hit a pair of three-pointers in tacking on 8.
UP NEXT: The #2 Seed Leopards will next take on the #3 Seed Copley Indians on Thursday, March 5 in the DII Canton District Semifinals at Canton Memorial Fieldhouse.
DII Canton Sectional Final Boys Basketball Scores
#1 Triway 72, #8 Akron East 62
#5 Akron Buchtel 46, #4 Fairless 44
#2 Louisville 54, #7 Coventry 42
#3 Copley 78, #6 Northwest 59
DII Canton District Semifinal Boys Basketball Schedule
(All Games at Canton Memorial Fieldhouse)
Wednesday, March 4
#1 Triway Vs. #5 Akron Buchtel, 7:00
Thursday, March 5
#2 Louisville Vs. #3 Copley, 7:00
VARSITY STATISTICS
LEOPARDS 54, COMETS 42
Team 1-2-3-4–TOTAL
Coventry 6-13-9-14—42
Louisville 16-9-9-20—54
COMETS: Surles 6 1-1 13, Thompson 4 0-2 9, Pauley 3 0-0 8, Ray 3 0-0 7, Duty 2 0-2 5. TOTAL 18 1-5 42.
3-Pointers (5): Pauley 2, Duty Ray, Thompson
Team FT:
LEOPARDS: Chambers 9 4-5 24, Gronow 5 3-3 13, Hoffman 2 1-1 6, Pukys 2 0-0 4, Jones 1 0-0 3, Burick 0 2-2 2, Noble 0 2-2 2. TOTAL 19 12-13 54.
3-Pointers (4): Chambers 2, Hoffman, Jones
Team FT: 12-13 92%
Fouls: 14-6 Coventry
Turnovers: 15-10 Coventry
Records: Louisville 16-7, Coventry 14-10
