Senecas pull away from Raiders

After starting the game down 8-0, Lakota fought back to eventually claim a 15-14 lead at the 5:15 mark of the second quarter.That's when Calvert's Logan Ritzler was fouled while make a deep three-point shot from the left wing. The Seneca senior converted the and-one opportunity—making it a four-point play to go up 18-15. Calvert (14-7, 10-4 SBC River) never trailed from that point on as it stretched that lead into a 58-48 victory on Senior Night."He's done a great job all year of leading, and leading by example, with their shooting, driving to the basket" Calvert coach Jon Otterbacher said of Ritzler—who led all scorers with 25 points.The game started with Calvert's Vincenzo Lyons and Ritzler putting on a show. First, Lyons found an open Ritzler for a three from the right wing then Ritzler returning the favor and passing to an open Lyons—who knocked down a three from the top of the key. Then, Ritzler found Lyons wide open down low for an easy basket off the glass.It was only a couple minutes into the game, and Calvert was up 8-0.That was when the Raiders showed some life, and Grant Scherger scored inside off an inbounds pass from under the hoop.Lakota's King Beard grabbed a defensive board, and Scherger scored inside on the fast break before Avery Shilling scored off a short bankshot as well to quickly make it 8-6 in favor of the Senecas.Calvert responded quickly with senior Logan DeMoss converting a layup off dribble penetration. A couple minutes later, DeMoss scored again on a fast break layup.The next trip down the floor, King Beard put back an offensive board, and sophomore Kash Beard made one-of-two foul shots to get Lakota (13-9, 9-5) within three points at the end of the first quarter: 12-9.Calvert's Ritzler hit a jumper from the foul line to start the second quarter, but King Beard immediately made an inside post move for a contested bucket. A minute later, Kash Beard scored off a layup. On the next Raider offense, Shilling banked it in to get to the Raiders' only lead of the game.After Ritzler's four-point play, Shilling got to the free throw line and sank two to make a one-point game.From there, the Senecas went on a 9-0 run. Senior Max Herbert hit a turnaround jumper, Grady Otterbacher netted a three from the right wing, Ritzler split a screen to score inside, and Ritzler finished the run with a steal and a coast-to-coast layup to push the Senecas' lead to 10 points.Lakota's Kash Beard made a trey from the right wing to end the half down, 27-20.The Raiders fought back though, and Shilling made a bucket while drawing contact on the opening possession of the second half. His foul shot swished, and teammate King Beard followed that up with a bank shot on the block to get within three points of Calvert. That's the closest Lakota would get though.The Senecas then went on a 10-2 scoring run. Lyons started it when he scored while putting back an offensive rebound. Sophomore Tucker Coleman scored down low, but the Raiders answered right away when Shilling euro-stepped in the lane to get a bucket in traffic.That's when Ritzler nailed a three from the top of the key followed by a three by DeMoss from the left corner. All of a sudden, Calvert is up by 11 with 2:30 left in the third period.Lakota senior King Beard was able to finish a fast break layup before the Senecas' Ritzler dribbled around the Raider defense before going baseline for a layup. Lakota freshman Ruger Kelbley made a free throw at the end of the quarter to go into the fourth with Calvert leading, 39-29.A three from the top of the key by Ritzler to start the final chapter followed-up by a putback from DeMoss erased any hopes Lakota had of coming back.That being said, the teams swapped buckets back and forth most of the remainder of the game.Shilling made a three that was answered by a layup off the dribble from Ottenbacher. Shilling dribble-penetrated as well for a layup, but then Lyons converted from close.Coleman made one-of-two shots from the charity stripe before Kelbley made a three. An offensive foul by the Senecas set up a stepback trey from Shilling. The score was 49-40 in favor of Calvert just four minutes to play.Coleman again made a single free throw, and after a Ritzler rebound, Calvert's DeMoss hit one-of-two foul shots. Lakota's Shilling—not to be outdone—hit half of two free throws himself. Finally, Ritzler nailed four straight foul shots on back-to-back trips down the floor. King Beard scored in the lane, but when Otterbacher tacked on another free throw, the Senecas went ahead by 13."I thought we did a good job of putting them in ball-screen situations and getting them to move," Coach Otterbacher said. "Our continuous ball screen was really putting them in difficult situations." Otterbacher said the Senecas just grinded on Lakota's big man—King Beard—inside. "We made his life hard to get anything easy," the coach finished. Aside from Ritzler's 25 points, DeMoss chipped in 10 for the Senecas.Lakota's Shilling finished with 22 points and King Beard scored 10."It was physical, and I knew It was going to be physical in here," Lakota coach Adam Gnepper said. "They played really good defense, and we knew it was going to be a challenge. I thought we didn't move the ball well enough on offense. We sort of got stuck trying to throw it in to King (Beard)."