WILLARD, Ohio — Ryan Payne is best known for his work on the glass, but opponents who overlook the St. Peter’s senior forward at the offensive end of the floor do so at their own peril.
Payne poured in 13 points and the second-seeded Spartans thundered into Friday’s district championship game with a 72-59 win over Wynford in the late game of Tuesday’s semifinal doubleheader at Robert L. Haas Gymnasium.
St. Peter’s (22-3) will play top-seeded Sandusky St. Mary Central Catholic for a berth in the Sweet 16 at 7 p.m. Friday at Willard High School. St. Mary advanced with a 48-42 win over Colonel Crawford in Tuesday’s opener.
“Ryan is just a solid player. He does all the little things,” St. Peter’s coach Joe Jakubick said. “If you’re not going to guard him he’ll hit shots. He’s going to force you to guard him.
“A lot of times he only gets three or four shots a game. But if you let him have shots, he’ll step up and hit them.”
The 6-foot-2 Payne was the beneficiary of some nifty passing.
“We do a good job of sharing the ball and we were hitting shots,” Payne said. “It really just opened it up for me. We play very unselfish.”
Pick Your Poison: The Royals (15-10) focused most of their defensive attention on sophomore standouts Mason Campbell and Jared Jakubick, opening things up for Payne, point guard Tyson Kent and swingman Kyle Osgar. Kent scored 10 of his 16 points in the first quarter, while Osgar had six of his 14 in the opening period as St. Peter’s built a 22-16 advantage.
“We tried to run more of a triangle-and-two on their two really good guards,” Wynford coach Jason Engel said. “We just weren’t able to keep the ball out of the paint and the really killed us on the boards.”
Separation: The Spartans began to pull away in the second quarter, outscoring the Royals 19-9. Campbell scored eight of his team-high 23 points in the period.
“They were face guarding me and Jared, so we just had to get it to the open man,” Campbell said.
Turning Up the Heat: Trailing 41-25 at the half, the Royals clawed back into the game thanks to a fullcourt press. Winford outscored St. Peter’s 18-13 in the third and trailed 54-43 going to the fourth.
“Our backs were against the wall,” Engel said. “We told our guys we had nothing to lose at that point.”
Jack Reed kept the Royals within striking distance, scoring 21 of his game-high 28 points in the second half. Reed’s 3-pointer with 5:17 remaining in the fourth cut St. Peter’s advantage to 58-49. Wynford
Rematch: St. Peter’s beat St. Mary 71-64 on Dec. 28. It was one of just three regular season losses for SMCC.
“The first game was very intense and fun,” Campbell said. “We’ve got to come ready to play.”
