COLUMBUS — While Mother Nature was putting on a light show with thunderstorms outside of the Bishop Ready gymnasium, inside the Silver Knights were putting on a show of their own, trouncing Fredericktown 80-41 on Wednesday night.
The victory sends third-seeded Ready into Saturday’s 7 p.m. Division V Central District final against top-seeded Africentric at Mount Vernon Nazarene University.
The Silver Knights hit 10 treys and controlled the game throughout, staring with a 19-7 first-quarter advantage.
Freddies’ coach Derek Dibling was aware of the sharpshooters his team faced.
“It was a fear of ours going in. You kind of have to pick your poison with them,” Dibling said. “We thought we would take our chances with their outside shot. They found it and the 10-point lead became a big lead.”
The lead remained steady at 32-20 entering halftime. The Silver Knights stretched the gap in the second half.
“I was proud of our effort for three quarters,” Dibling said. “I’ll tell you what, they could have very easily quit midway through the first but they dug in and battled and I’m proud of them for that.”
Ready’s 6-foot-6 senior Henry Larger led all scorers with 28 points. Kayden Schaffer, Marko Small and Zay Taliaferro also hit double figures for the home team.
Carson Reinhart was the only Freddie to crack twin digits with 13.
Fredericktown finished the season with an 18-7 overall record, including a Knox-Morrow Athletic Conference championship.
“It’s hard to reflect on all the good that comes from a season like this, when you are looking at defeat I want to take some time to reflect and yeah, it was a good season. We checked a lot of boxes,” Dibling said.
“At the end of the day, these guys are super coachable and I enjoy being around them.”
1,000-point club
One of the true highlights for the Freddies this season was 6-5 junior Gavin Toombs, who hit the 1,000 point mark for his career earlier this year.
Toombs was reluctant to take credit for the milestone.
“A lot of hard work, my teammates, coaches and family (were all part of it),” Toombs said. “You know 1,000 points is an individual record that everyone remembers, but you have to put in the fact that you have amazing teammates that come along with it.
“Sharing the ball, setting screens to get you open and, you know, just doing their job well (all comes into play),” Toombs said.
With a senior season looming next year, how many points can he get?
“You can’t put your mind on that at the beginning of the season, it’s definitely more team goals you want to accomplish, but I feel like if you are accomplishing your team goals your individual goals will come along with it,” Toombs said.
Dibling said the Toombs is all about team.
“He just loves basketball, he loves being with these guys he literally would run through a brick wall for them,” the coach said. “He has a zest for life and he understands teamwork and that is what makes him so special.”