The final area boys basketball conference champion was crowned last night as Jac-Cen-Del defeated South Ripley on the Raiders Senior Night, 59-50. And like Edinburgh in the MHC and Connersville in the EIAC before them, the Eagles won the ORVC title in undefeated fashion.
As heard on WRBI, Jac-Cen-Del jumped out to a 10-nothing lead at South Ripley, but the host Raiders eventually got some shots to fall and trailed 18-13 at the end of the opening stanza.
Ripley’s late first frame momentum carried into the second as the game was tied at 26-26 at the half. The Raiders Nick Schwarte had 16 points by intermission, 12 of which came on four triples. Wyatt Day of the Eagles put in 10.
Jac-Cen-Del got back on track in the third quarter. Two late finishes at the rim by Caleb Simon and Day gave JCD a 44-35 advantage with a quarter to go.
South Ripley fought hard to tighten the score again, but Jac’s Justin Swinney hit a key three ball which seemingly took the steam out of the Raiders comeback bid. The Osgood guys coached by Clint Bohman went on to win by nine.
Swinney helped secure the ORVC championship with eight points in the final period and had 15 for the game. Day’s 20 were tops for the Nesters and Simon closed with 12.
Schwarte of Team Green had a game-high 22. Teammate Blaine Ward booked a dozen.
Jac-Cen-Del’s shooting was pretty balanced and consistent throughout. The Eagles hit 49 percent overall (22/45) including 8-of-20 from deep. South Ripley struggled to make the long ball managing just five trifectas on 30 tries and 35 percent shooting overall (18/51).
Rebounds and turnovers were nearly even. It was a clean game as both teams combined for only 14 miscues.
Jac-Cen-Del finished 6-0 in the ORVC, Southwestern Hanover was second at 5-1 and South Ripley placed third at 4-2.
The Jac-Cen-Del JV erased an 11-point deficit at the half and won 50-49.
The Eagles Caleb White hit both ends of a 1-and-1 with six seconds left for the game winning free throws. He finished with 20 points. Corbin White scored 11.
The Raider reserves got 15 points from Ethan Johnson and 12 from Gavin Binion.
We thank South Ripley AD Jeff Gorrell for the accommodations and hospitality. We thank coaches Clint Bohman and Tyler Theising for their information and time in our pregame show.