Elk's defense stifles Savior

dayton daily news
By Eric Frantz
January 16, 2006

Centerville shuts down New York school to earn 60-51 win

VANDALIA | At the beginning of the high school boys basketball season Centerville resembled a MASH squad. Injuries were numerous and wins weren't. Now healed, it's the Elks opponents who are hurting. "At the start of the season we were miserable," Centerville coach Jim Staley said. "We thought we had a good team coming into the season and we really got thrown off early by guys not practicing. The thing that carried us early was defense.

Sunday, Centerville's late defensive surge made the difference in an impressive 60-51 win over Our Savior New American (N.Y.) at the Flyin to the Hoop basketball invitational at Vandalia Butler's Student Activities Center. Down 38-30 early in the third quarter, the Elks responded by allowing just 13 points over the game's final 14 minutes en route to the decisive win. It was Centerville's second consecutive victory over an out-of-state team at the FTTH. Last year the Elks defeated Reserve Christian (La.) 71-50. Our Savior – winners of the last three FTTH tournaments – came in averaging over 70 points per game. "(51 points) is unusually low," Our Savior coach Reverend Ronald Stelzer said. "We can't be outstanding all the time." Centerville has been outstanding of late.

The win was the Elks fifth straight and improved their overall record to 8-3. Centerville's three losses are all by two points. Defensively, the Elks entered Sunday allowing just 39 points per game and Our Savior's 51 was the most by a Centerville opponent this season. Led defensively by senior Kyle Couvion, the Elks limited Boston College recruit Daye Kaba to two points. Senior Timothy Ambrose (being pursued by Villanova and St. John's) led the Pioneers with 20 points, while Tyvon Williams chipped in 14. An alley-oop to Ambrose gave Our Savior its 38-30 lead with six minutes left in the third. That's when momentum shifted.

"We fell into kind of a pattern at the beginning of the second half where we were running up and down the court and not getting anything out of it," Staley said. "We're athletic, but that tempo certainly was to their advantage." Slowing the pace, Centerville surged ahead thanks to notable efforts from David Imbrogno, Justin Johnson and Alan Kavanaugh. Imbrogno scored a game-high 22 points (including 9-of-10 free throws), while Johnson added 12. Kavanaugh came off the bench to drain four 3-pointers. A basket by Ryan Verson with 2:50 left in the third quarter gave the Elks the lead (39-38) for good. Centerville, which closed the third quarter on a 14-2 run, received 11 points from Imbrogno in the fourth, including five free throws in the final 40 seconds to clinch it.

"Centerville is a very well coached team that plays smart and together and when they get a lead they are very hard to overcome," Stelzer said. "I told our kids before the game to do themselves a favor and not get behind. We didn't do that." Contact Eric Frantz at 862-9305 or e-mail eric@miamivalleysports.com