Shelby trounces Vermilion to to win sectional
A balanced scoring attack and strong bench play led Shelby boys basketball to a 76-40 romp over Vermilion in a Division II Sectional championship game Friday night.
The host Whippets put five players in double digits, led by sixth-man extraordinaire Karsen Homan’s double-double. The 6-4 junior dropped in 14 points, grabbed 14 rebounds (6 on the offensive end), handed out four assists, had three steals and blocked a shot.
Casey Lantz led the Whippets in scoring with 15 points. Lantz also pulled down five rebounds, had three steals and dished out three assists.
Brayden Devito (14 points), Alex Bruskotter (11 points) and Issaiah Ramsey (11 points) also hit double digits.
Shelby’s head coach, Greg Gallaway, spoke about his sensational sixth man.
“Karsen Homan played phenomenal last night,” Gallaway said. “Fourteen points, 14 rebounds, and four assists off the bench is almost unheard of. His energy and toughness that he brings to our team is infectious.”
The Sectional Champs also went undefeated on their home court this year, going 10-0 in Shelby, and are now on a 15-game winning streak.
Gallaway spoke about the sectional championship and running a clean slate on their home court.
“We wanted to complete step 1 and finish undefeated at home,” he said. “I was proud of the way we came out of half and answered the challenge. We got back to playing our way and being aggressive too at the rim and forcing turnovers.”
Gallaway added, “When our scoring can be as balanced as it has been lately, we are a really tough team to defend.”
The state’s second-ranked Whippets improved to 21-2 on the year and will now face Mansfield Senior in a district semifinal matchup on Thursday evening in Ontario.
With the Whippets holding a 14-10 lead in the first quarter, Homan entered the game and helped propel the Whippets to a 10-2 run to finish the first quarter.
Homan hit a jumper, Bruskotter hit a layup and Lantz hit an and-one before Vermilion scored a layup to make the score 21-12. Devito then hit a layup and Homan made a free throw and grabbed an offensive rebound to end the first quarter scoring at 24-12.
Homan then stole a pass and found Bruskotter open for a three pointer to start the second quarter, forcing the Sailors to use a timeout.
Shelby then raced out to a 36-14 lead after Homan put back an offensive rebound and Bruskotter rattled off six of Shelby’s next seven points.
Vermilion fought back scoring the first half’s final 10 points, closing the lead to 36-24 after Riley Kearns drained a three-pointer at the buzzer.
The Whippets blew the game open in the third quarter, outscoring Vermilion 23-4.
Ramsey scored on an and-one.
Devito and Ramsey each hit a pair of free throws, Bryson Baker scored a layup and Lantz tapped in a nice inbounds pass to put Shelby up 46-24 with 5:45 left in the third.
After the teams traded baskets, Homan scored four straight, Lantz put back an offensive rebound and Devito hit four more free throws to put the game away after the third period, with Shelby holding a 59-28 lead.
Baker scored five for Shelby. Tanner Hartz, Andy Brubaker and Kaden Price all hit a bucket for the Whippets.
Shelby dished out 19 assists, Bruskotter led Shelby, handing out 6 assists.
Shelby shot 27/55 (49%) from the field and 19/23 (82%) from the foul line. Devito (7-7), Ramsey (4-4) and Lantz (1-1) were all perfect from the charity line.
Shelby outrebounded Vermilion 35-16. Homan led Shelby with 14, Bruskotter grabbed 6, Lantz 5, Ramsey and Hartz each pulled down three.
Top-seeded Shelby now turns their attention to a district semifinal matchup against cross-county rival, 5th-seeded Mansfield Senior. Senior defeated 4th seeded Bellevue 57-48.
The Whippet/ Mansfield Senior matchup will tip at 6 p.m.thursday Lexington/willard will be the second game of the split-session in Ontario, with tip around 8:15 p.m.
Shelby beat Senior earlier this year, 73-55 on the Tygers’ home court.
Gallaway spoke about the rematch.
“Mansfield has been playing great basketball as of late,” he said.
“This will be a different team than the team we played back in January,” Gallaway said. “They do a lot of things really well, and we have to be ready to go.”