WILLARD — The first half belonged to Crestview. Seneca East owned the second — and the game.
The fourth-seeded Cougars roared to a double-figure lead, but couldn’t fend off the No. 2 Tigers in a 65-48 loss in the Division VI district semifinals at Willard’s Robert L. Haas Gymnasium.
Third-quarter mayhem
Crestview (13-11) led 32-24 at the half and 37-24 after Daniel Wells connected on a 3-pointer early in the third quarter.
But the Tigers (18-6) responded with a stunning 17-0 run and took a 41-37 advantage on an Ayden Perkins layup wit 2:17 to play in the third period.
Crestview’s Karter Goon stopped the bleeding monetarily with a layup of his own to make it 41-39.
Yet the Tigers closed the quarter with five straight points and when the dust finally settled, Seneca East held a 46-39 margin heading to the final eight minutes.
“We were up (13) in the third and looking pretty good,” Crestview coach Ben McClay said. “They went on a big run and made some adjustments.
“Unfortunately we just couldn’t withstand that run.”
Seneca East outscored Crestview 22-7 in the third quarter.
“They were comfortable in the first half and their role players played really well,” Seneca East coach Anthony Langhurst said. “We turned the page in the second half and then our role players played really well.”
Foul trouble
Making matters worse, Crestview’s Karter Goon picked up his fourth personal foul on a charge less than a minute into the fourth quarter.
“The big key was Goon getting that foul,” Langhurst said. “We’ve been a team that takes charges. That was obviously a turning point for us.”
Good then bad
The Cougars dominated the opening 16 minutes of play.
Crestview led 19-15 after the first quarter and opened the second stanza on a 9-2 burst to open a 28-17 gap on a Drew Spoerr layup with 2:57 showing in the half. The Cougars enjoyed 32-21 bulge after a Kaden Kissel layup with less than a minute remaining in the second quarter.
“They played really well in the first half,” Langhurst said. “They took advantage of our mistakes.”
Balanced attack
Only five Tigers scored, but four of them reached double figures. Landyn Hicks led the way with 17, while Jaron Depinet had 16. Luke Mason added 15 and Brady Bloom had 10.
Spoerr topped Crestview with 16. Goon and Wells scored 13 points apiece.
Senior farewell
Crestview will lose five seniors. The group includes Goon, Spoerr, Wells, Lane Robinson and Max Durbin.
“They were great,” McCray said. “They were exceptional kids. It’ll be tough moving forward with them not around.”
