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Versailles
senior Ethan Bruns scores during a game played at Versailles
this season. Bruns
led all in scorin in the Tigers distrit title game
Thursday with 14 as Versailles moved on the the regional
semi-finals
next Wednesday with a 62-34 victory over Hamilton Badin. The regional
semi-finals will be
played at Trent Arena in Kettering. CNO File Photo
by Dylan Knoop
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Versailles puts
it to Badin
Tigers win district title
By George Starks
DAYTON- To sum up in one word the Versailles Tigers 62-34 win over
Hamilton Badin Thursday in the district title game, that word would be
‘Domination’.
Make no mistake about it.
When one team puts five players in double figures, pulls down seven
more offensive rebounds than the opposition with 38 rebounds total and
has only eight turnovers, more often than not, that team will post a
victory.
Led by Ethan Bruns with 14 points, Bruns yanked down three offensive
boards in the first half to lead the Tigers offense.
“This feels really good,” said Tigers coach Scott McEldowney. “The kids
played really well tonight and the scoreboard shows it. This is the
third time in the last four years for us and last year was really tough
for us to take with a 14 point lead going into the fourth quarter. Our
rebounding was excellent. We talked about that before the game and with
our size advantage we had to take advantage of that. We had several
points off second chance rebounds. I don’t know how many but I know
there was several points scored off those rebounds.
“It was nice to see Ethan and Zach (Niekamp) have nice offensive
games,” McEldowney continued. “We have to have everyone step up and
want the ball in their hands and take that big shot. The further we go,
the tougher it’s going to get just having two, so everybody has to do
it.”
What has become the rule for Versailles in the sectionals, remained in
tact at the district level. The Tigers jumped on the rams early and
never let up. Holding a 12-8 lead after one, the Tigers went on the
prowl, out -scoring the Rams 18-4 in the second quarter, taking a 30-12
lead at the break.
“Our defense was excellent and our shot selection was outstanding
tonight,” said McEldowney. “Our defense ran them ragged and we shut
them down.”
To go along with Bruns and Niekamp’s 10, Mitchell Campbell netted 14,
while Chad Winner had 11 and Kyle Ahrens 10, all in support.
“I think Mitchell scored most of his in the first half,” McEldowney
stated. “He is so unselfish and I don’t think anyone really cares who
gets the job done. They just want to keep moving on. They don’t care
who’s hands the ball is in and I think that says a lot about the
character of the kids.”
The Tigers may have cut the nets down but there’s work to be done if
Versailles wants to go to Columbus.
“The kids are happy but they’re not satisfied,” McEldowney pointed out.
”It was a big win but not an emotional one. I don’t think the kids
really know what kind of season they are having.”
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