BEAT CENTRAL PLAINS BY 8

By William

ELYRIA – A solid three quarters powered the Elyria Christian boys to hold off a late rally by Central Plains and score a 41-33 win on Saturday in their substate finals, giving the Eagles a spot in the Class 1A Division II state tournament beginning on Tuesday.

The win gives the Eagles a 14-9 mark for the season as they now prep to battle Waverly on Tuesday in the first round of the state tournament. Waverly will bring a 12-9 record into the game after beating Southern Coffey County 72-41 on Saturday.

Elyria held a five-point lead at 13-8 at the end of the first quarter before pushing it out to an 11-point advantage at 20-9 at the halftime break. After taking a 13-point lead into the final quarter, the Eagles held off a late rally by Central Plains to gain the final eight-point victory and a spot in the state tournament.

“We played a physical, hard nosed Central Plains team today in the substate championship,” noted Eagle head coach Zach Goodrich. “There have been times this year where we have struggled against teams that are bigger and more physical than we are but tonight, I though we really matched their efforts and that helped us secure a trip back to the state tournament.”

Senior Zach Stucky led the Eagles with 12 points while also dishing out three assists, grabbing five rebounds and making four steals.

Kaden Aroum connected on a pair of three-pointers while just missing double digits with nine and Keyan Wiggers chipped in with eight points to go with a team leading seven rebounds.

Coach Goodrich concluded his reflections on the win by saying, “I have been encouraging Zach (Stucky) to shoot more than he has been, and I was pleased to see he led us in attempts tonight with 11. We need him shooting the ball to be successful. Kaden (Aroum) played a very complete game as he never fails to compete extremely hard and he sets the tone for our other guys to follow. I feel extremely proud and happy for Bret (Anderson), Kaden, Zach and Josef (Hobson) as they get to return to state where they competed as freshmen. These gentlemen have been great leaders for us during their high school careers and I am so happy that they will get to finish their time in an Elyria uniform at the state tournament.”

Central Plains at ELYRIA CHRISTIAN EAGLES

SCORING:                 Q1      Q2      Q3      Q4      FINALS

Central Plains          8          1          11       13       33

EAGLES                      13       7          14       7          41

Central Plains Team Stats: FG 14-46; 3PT 1-11; FT 4-11; AST 3; RBS 35; TO 14; STL 6; BLK 6; FLS 14.

ELYRIA CHRISTIAN EAGLES TEAM STATS: FG 15-35; 3PT 3-10; FT 8-16; AST 8; RBS 28; TO 10; STL 10; BLK 2; FLS 10.

ELYRIA CHRISTIAN EAGLES INDIVIDUAL STAT LEADERS:

Scoring (41): Zach Stucky – 13; Kaden Aroum – 9; Keyan Wiggers – 8; Bret Anderson – 4; Ben Unruh – 4; Josef Hobson – 3.

3-Pointers Made (3): Aroum – 2; Unruh – 1.

Assists (8): Stucky, Aroum – 3; Hobson, Unruh – 1.

Rebounds (28): Wiggers – 7; Stucky – 5; Anderson, Hobson, Unruh – 4; Dominick Lundberg – 1.

Steals (10): Stucky – 4; Aroum – 3; Anderson – 2; Wiggers – 1.

Blocked Shots (2): Aroum, Wiggers – 1.

{Elyria Christian Eagle Postings are SPONSORED by CrossDove Creations}