We expected a good game Wednesday night in Aurora and we got just that. Two EIAC and Dearborn County boys basketball rivals went at each other for 32 minutes. After the final horn sounded, East Central had defeated host South Dearborn 51-46.
As heard on WRBI, the Knights led throughout the first half. It was 15-5 at the end of the first quarter sparked by 10 points from Ryan Willoughby.
The Trojans made up a little ground in the second quarter but still trailed 23-18 at intermission. Five different St. Leon players scored either three or four points by the break. After Ryan Willoughby’s 10, teammate Eli Hoffmann followed with eight.
SD’s lead was down to one by the end of the third, 32-31 as East Central’s Cooper Hoog buried a pair of threes.
Then in the fourth, a three-point play by the Trojans’ Carson Pieczonka and a field goal by teammate Caleb Mergenthal gave the Red and Black a five-point advantage which proved to be too much for the Knights to overcome. Five points was also the final spread.
While Mergenthal’s field goal helped establish that fourth quarter lead with about 2:40 to play, it was his 7-of-8 free throw shooting in the closing quarter which went a long way in helping to win it.
Caleb Mergenthal finished with 13 points, Cooper Hoog scored 11 and Carson Pieczonka and Ryan Selhorst both put in nine. For SD, Hoffman had a game-high 21 and Ryan Willoughby scored 14.
The Trojans improved to 2-1 in the EIAC. The Knights fell to 1-3. EC outscored SD 24-14 on two-point buckets while the Knights outscored the Trojans at the line 17-12. The St. Leon lads also had a plus-10 advantage in rebounds (26-16).
We thank South Dearborn AD Ryan Walston and media coordinator Steve Giesting for the accommodations and hospitality. We also thank coaches David Disbro and Matthew Coleston for their information and time in our pregame show.