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Galva rode balanced scoring and a 21-of-24 effort from the free throw line Tuesday night to dispatch of Princeville 64-49 and advance to semi-final action in the Lincoln Trail Conference tournament.
The Cats (16-5, 5-1) will face Stark County on Friday night after placing four players in double figures – Jake Warner with 17, Brady Landis, 15, Kile Mott, 13, and Austin Ingels, 10 – and hitting all but three of their two dozen charity shots in the GHS gym.
“I thought we played very well at times, and not very well at other times, and Princeville played some good minutes,” Galva Coach Chance Jones said after the game.
Galva, seeking its first LTC tournament title in several years, led 11-10 after the first period and 25-19 at halftime.
But they took control at the start of the second half. The Cats reeled off a quick 8-0 run, including two buckets by Brady Landis, to jump to a 33-19 lead before the Princes’ Josh Avery answered with a 3 with 5:14 left in the third period.
A buzzer-beating 30-footer by Avery at the end of the third period kept it close, 39-31, but not for long. A 16-5 run gave Galva its largest lead – 19 points at 55-36 – with just 3:11 in the game.
The Cats hit 13-of-15 free throws in the fourth quarter to salt the game away.
“That’s huge,” Jones said of the Cats’ free throw shooting. “The guys are getting it done. It was a problem we had to address at the beginning of the year, and you can tell they want it and are starting to realize how important it is.”
Avery was the lone Princeville player in double figures. He had a game-high 19 points.
The Cats, who are the third-seeded team in the tournament, will face a tall order on Friday, taking on a Stark County team that’s both big and much improved from when Galva beat them earlier this season. Game time is 7:30 p.m.
“They have, like always, some big kids,” Jones said of the second-seed Rebels. “We have to come out and compete the whole game, like we have been, and we’ve got to keep them off the boards.
“They’re absolutely a better team than when we played them earlier.”
Galva rode balanced scoring and a 21-of-24 effort from the free throw line Tuesday night to dispatch of Princeville 64-49 and advance to semi-final action in the Lincoln Trail Conference tournament.
The Cats (16-5, 5-1) will face Stark County on Friday night after placing four players in double figures – Jake Warner with 17, Brady Landis, 15, Kile Mott, 13, and Austin Ingels, 10 – and hitting all but three of their two dozen charity shots in the GHS gym.
“I thought we played very well at times, and not very well at other times, and Princeville played some good minutes,” Galva Coach Chance Jones said after the game.
Galva, seeking its first LTC tournament title in several years, led 11-10 after the first period and 25-19 at halftime.
But they took control at the start of the second half. The Cats reeled off a quick 8-0 run, including two buckets by Brady Landis, to jump to a 33-19 lead before the Princes’ Josh Avery answered with a 3 with 5:14 left in the third period.
A buzzer-beating 30-footer by Avery at the end of the third period kept it close, 39-31, but not for long. A 16-5 run gave Galva its largest lead – 19 points at 55-36 – with just 3:11 in the game.
The Cats hit 13-of-15 free throws in the fourth quarter to salt the game away.
“That’s huge,” Jones said of the Cats’ free throw shooting. “The guys are getting it done. It was a problem we had to address at the beginning of the year, and you can tell they want it and are starting to realize how important it is.”
Avery was the lone Princeville player in double figures. He had a game-high 19 points.
The Cats, who are the third-seeded team in the tournament, will face a tall order on Friday, taking on a Stark County team that’s both big and much improved from when Galva beat them earlier this season. Game time is 7:30 p.m.
“They have, like always, some big kids,” Jones said of the second-seed Rebels. “We have to come out and compete the whole game, like we have been, and we’ve got to keep them off the boards.
“They’re absolutely a better team than when we played them earlier.”
