Canton, Ohio - On Wednesday night the Lake Catholic Cougars faced off against the Lutheran East Falcons. Whoever won this game would go up against Cuyahoga Heights in the Division III Regional final on Saturday night at the Canton Fieldhouse.
To start the game, Lake Catholic’s Peyton Budrys-Rini ran in transition, and made an up-and-under layup. Later on Aidan Fitzgerald hit an and-one for the Cougars and hit the free throw.
Lutheran East’s TJ Crumble blocked a shot, and his team regained possession afterwards. The momentum started to shift towards the Falcons, as the score at the end of the first was 18-13 with Lutheran East leading.
To start the second quarter, Lutheran East hit another 3-pointer right away going up by eight. However, Fitzgerald hit another and-one stopping the Falcons run.
Both sides started to play a bit of zone defense, which seemed to work out for both teams. To end the quarter, Lake Catholic’s Cross Nimmo made an and-one and the score was 28-22, Lutheran East.
To start the third, Lutheran East kept turning the ball over, but luckily for them Lake Catholic couldn’t convert on those transition opportunities. After his team drew a charge, Lutheran East’s Ronald Taylor hit a 3-pointer in the left corner for the first points of the second half.
Lutheran East started this quarter on an 8-0 run, with a lot of their shots taken were from behind the arc. The score was 39-25 at the end of the third with the Falcon still holding a comfortable lead.
To start the fourth, Lutheran East continued their hot streak knocking down another early triple. Also, Lutheran East’s Jesse McCulloch got an offensive board leading to a put-back layup.
To sum up the game, Lutheran East blocked a shot, and Nelson Johnson threw down a one-handed dunk in transition.
Lutheran East prevailed 61-36. Ronald Taylor had 21points for Lutheran East while Budrys-Rini had 14 for Lake Catholic.
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