Junior guard Tom House scored 20 points, sophomore guard Gabe Cupps added 17 and 6-foot-7 junior forward Rich Rolfs just missed a double-double with nine points and 13 rebounds while helping the Elks to their third straight district championship.
“We knew they were really good and well-coached,” Centerville coach Brook Cupps said of Mason. “Their shots just weren’t falling in the first half. We knew they had the ability to make shots. They showed that in the second half.”
“We just prepared in practice the whole week, " the 6-5 House said. “We wanted to take them out of what they like to do.”
Senior guard Trey Killens scored 11 points to lead Mason (18-6), which didn’t get many second chances as Centerville finished with 17 defensive rebounds, led by Rolf’s eight.
“Coach pointed out that, in all of Mason’s wins, they’d outrebounded their opponents,” House said. “We worked all week on boxing out and relying on each other.”
“They’re 6-7, 6-7 and 6-5,” Mason coach Greg Richards said of Centerville’s height advantage. “They’re longer than us, and they’re young. They’re not going anywhere.”
Forward Tre Johnson was the only senior in Centerville’s starting lineup.
“We knew it would be a tough matchup,” Richards added. “When you get to this level, they always are.”
Centerville (22-3), ranked fourth in the final Associated Press Division I state poll, is scheduled to face No. 5 Elder Wednesday at 8 p.m in a regional semifinal at Princeton High School. Elder advanced with a win over La Salle in Saturday’s first game.
The Elks have won 12 straight games since at 74-66 loss to Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary’s on Jan. 30.
Centerville piled up a whopping 14-3 rebounding advantage on the way to a 21-9 halftime lead. Mason, which had won six straight going into the game, was shooting for its first district championship since 2011, but the Comets didn’t log a single offensive rebound in the first half while the Elks finished with 10 defensive rebounds. Mason didn’t score until Michael Molnar found enough space to score on a layup with three minutes left in the first quarter and finished the first half 4-of-15 from the field.
The Elks’ rebounding superiority was summed up when Rolf grabbed an offensive rebound and scored on a short jump shot as time expired before halftime.
Centerville kept up the pressure in the second half, shooting 11-of-15 from the field on the way to finishing 20-of-32 (62.5 percent) for the game.
The Elks got a scare when Gabe Cupps fell to the floor midway through the fourth quarter and was pounding his hand on the court in obvious pain, but it turned out to be a cramp that was taken care of during a timeout. He returned to shoot his free throws
“Yeah, that was quite a scare,” Brook Cupps said. “He does a lot for us.”
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