Leopards March Forth in Tourney With Win Vs. Quakers
Louisville 51, New Philadelphia 44
The #8 Seed Louisville Leopards downed the visiting #24 Seed New Philadelphia Quakers 51-44 in the DI Copley Sectional Semifinals Wednesday Evening at LHS. With the victory, Louisville improves to 20-3 on the season and advances to host the #12 Seed Media Highland Hornets Saturday in the DI Copley Sectional Finals.
Jake Adams scored a career-high 17 points and made 5 three-pointers to lead the Leopards. Blake Hoover also racked up 10 and Drew Noble added 8 for Louisville.
With Jake Pukys out due to illness, Adams got the tournament start. He made the most of it scoring 11 
points and hitting 3 three-pointers in the opening minutes. Adams would have hit a fourth, but the officials determined that he had a toenail on the line. Nevertheless, the shot forced New Philadelphia to burn a timeout with Louisville ahead 15-4.
The Leopards would extend their advantage to 19-4, but the Quakers would storm back after that. New Philadelphia slowed the game down and went on a 13-2 run over the next eight minutes to cut the Louisville lead to 21-17.
The Quakers would get as close as 25-24 when Braden Young netted a three-pointer with 11 seconds left in the second quarter. However, the Leopards had an answer on the other end as Adams was money from the left corner to give Louisville a 28-24 as the first half buzzer sounded.
This gave way to a chess match in the third quarter as New Philadelphia edged Louisville in the period 14-13. The Quakers again got within one at the start of the final quarter, but baskets by Chris Libertore and Drew Noble gave the Leopards some breathing room at 47-42 with 4:58 left in the game.
New Philadelphia’s Michael Karl would score on a put-back with 4:23 remaining to get the Quakers back within one possession. However, the Leopard defense would shut them down the rest of the way to take the game. Joe Crank would score his only points of the game with two lay-ins and Noble slammed down a block on one of New Philadelphia’s final scoring opportunities to ice the win.
The Quakers were led by John Marshall who scored a team-high 12 points. Logan Bitikofer, Dylan Hagan, and Karl each added 9 as well for New Philadelphia who finishes the season 8-15. The win snaps Louisville’s 3-game losing streak against New Philly. The Leopards still trail the all-time series 8-10, but are 6-3 against the Quakers on their home court.
The victory also gives Louisville a 20-win season for the fourth time in school history (1991-92, 1992-93, & 2000-01 were the others). This is the Leopards first Division I tournament victory ever and their first tournament victory overall since they defeated Alliance 63-45 back in the 2011 DII Canton Sectional Semifinals. Known records now have Louisville Basketball at 49-78 in postseason play since 1932.
UP NEXT: The Leopards will next host the #12 Seed Highland Hornets in the DI Copley Sectional Finals on Saturday, March 7 at 7:00 PM.
Don’t forget to Subscribe to Our Posts for Free
Order Individual Player Highlight Video
