That edge, that constant pressure the Elks put on teams with their suffocating defense and multiple scorers, was more than Wayne could handle. Centerville won 84-56, sparked by a sellout crowd, Jonathan Powell’s 22 points, Gabe Cupps’ 20 and 10 apiece from Kyle Kenney and Collin O’Connor.
“I just think we did so well because we came out fight ready from the jump,” Powell said. “We had a game plan and we were ready to go.”
Centerville (9-1, 6-0 GWOC) hit Wayne (8-2, 5-1) in a series of waves. Cupps scored eight points in the first quarter and had an early steal he fed to Powell for dunk. The Elks led 17-7 heading to the second quarter.
Powell made two 3-pointers to help push the lead to 33-16. Wayne responded behind star guard Lawrent Rice to cut the Elks’ lead to 34-25. But Powell’s 3-pointer with four seconds left put the Elks up 39-25.
“I credit Centerville,” Wayne coach Nate Martindale said. “They’re very consistent, they’re very good at what they do, they’re very bought in together, they play for each other, they’re very unselfish. I told our guys they’re better than us today. My hope is that we’re able to grow from this.”
The third was more back and forth, but the Elks outscored the Warriors 26-14 in the fourth quarter. Then Martindale had a long talk locker-room talk with his team.
“In the fourth quarter, guys were kind of walking around, and that’s not Wayne basketball,” he said. “I don’t care what the score is, we’re gonna fight to the end, and that’s just not acceptable. That’s the first thing we addressed.”
Rice created shots for himself and led Wayne with 25 points, but no other Warrior scored more than seven. Centerville’s goal was to make the game as difficult as possible for Rice, who leads the GWOC in scoring at 23.4 points a game. As it has been in the past it was Centerville senior Emmanuel Deng’s job to guard Rice.
“If you don’t have Emann, who has the length and the versatility to be able to challenge shots and make it hard for him, it’s really, really hard,” Brook Cupps said. “But Emann has always been a decent matchup for Lawrent.”
As a unit the Elks are holding opponents to a league-low 47.8 points a game.
“We’re committed defensively and we’ve got a lot of guys that can really defend,” Brook Cupps said. “It’s hard to play against that because you never get a break. A lot of teams can deal with it for eight minutes or maybe 16 minutes, but to deal with that for 32 minutes that’s hard. It just gets tiring and you start making mistakes.”
Centerville’s edge may have been sharpened by the sellout crowd. Elks athletic director Rob Dement said over 2,500 tickets were sold. Brook Cupps said it was the largest crowd since the Elks upset Wayne in overtime on the last night of the 2015 season before the Warriors won the Division I state championship.
“I’m super grateful to play at a place where people support us and come out to the game,” Gabe Cupps said. “It’s awesome when you get to play with that amount of energy surrounding the game.”
About the Author