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Zehner adds 8 points, 9 rebounds as Cavs avenge regular season loss
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
BOURBON — Shot ready.
Culver junior Mason Herbert loves coach Kyle Evans and assistant coaches Adam Neace and A.J. Neace, and when asked for the best advice they ever gave him, he said “shot ready.”
Herbert was ready to shoot against Oregon-Davis in a Class 1A, Sectional 50 quarterfinal at Triton Wednesday, hitting four 3-pointers and scoring a game-high 17 points as the Cavaliers beat the Bobcats 37-28 to avenge a regular season loss.
Culver improved to 7-15. Oregon-Davis finished 3-19.
Auston Zehner added eight points and nine rebounds for Culver.
Conner Danford led O-D with nine points, but O-D was held scoreless over the final 3:12 by Culver’s zone pressure.
In the fourth quarter, O-D had one field goal as compared to seven turnovers.
Meanwhile, Herbert made five of six free throws over the final 54.7 seconds to put the game away. He outscored the entire O-D team 8-4 in the fourth quarter.
“They’re all just great coaches,” Herbert said. “That’s what really does it.”
The game was rough and tumble and intensely played, and it might have teetered on two plays that Culver junior reserve forward Shane Shuman made in the final minute of the third quarter.
First, Shuman grabbed Ethan Keller’s air ball from the weak side and on a putback with 54 seconds left in the third quarter to give Culver a 25-24 lead.
On Culver’s next possession, Keller penetrated and tried to find Shuman with a bounce pass towards the right block. The ball was deflected and Shuman dove to the floor for the loose ball to beat an O-D defender to it. Then, while lying on his back, he blindly threw a pass out to the top of the key where Emiliano Ortiz drove into the lane and dropped in a five-footer with three seconds left to get the lead to 27-24.
“That’s just Shane,” Evans said. “He makes those plays all the time, and that’s why we love him to death because he’s going to make those extra-effort plays. He’s never going to give you the prettiest play, but he’s going to give you the gritty play and make those types of plays. That was actually huge for us to start that run.”
Herbert’s 3-pointer and a King layup off a Keller assist capped off the 9-0 run and gave Culver a 32-24 lead.
Culver lost to O-D 53-52 in their regular season meeting in Hamlet on Jan. 26. In that game, Ethan Huitt, Caleb Seese and Danford all scored in double figures and combined for 35 points. In this game, none of them scored in double figures, and that threesome combined for only 14.
Culver also had a 39-34 rebounding advantage, including a 15-10 edge in offensive rebounds.
“Danford, he’s a heck of an athlete, so he’s going to make plays, and he’s going to hit shots from time to time, but as far as individuals are concerned, we were more concerned about more Huitt than anybody else, not Danford or Taylor. Huitt’s the one that kind of killed us last game, so he was our main focus. … We executed really well,” Evans said.
As for O-D, they played a 3-2 zone for much of the first quarter but stuck with a man-to-man for most of the final three quarters.
Herbert’s two first-quarter treys helped Culver out to a 10-3 lead. He later hit a momentum-turning 3 in the third quarter that gave Culver a 21-20 lead after O-D had switched to a man.
“Just my teammates setting good screens and coming off hitting 3s,” Herbert said. “That’s what pretty much did it. And getting box outs.”
Triton 51, Trinity Greenlawn 34
Ashton Oviedo hit three 3-pointers in the first quarter and scored 13 points, and Tyson Yates and Bruce Johnson added nine each to lead Triton past Trinity Greenlawn in Wednesday’s first quarterfinal.
Junior guard Josh Rose scored 15 points for Trinity Greenlawn (15-8), who was playing their first ever IHSAA state tournament game after gaining full admission to the body this year.
Jacob Palmer added nine.
Triton improved to 16-7. The Trojans have won at least one sectional game in eight straight seasons.
Triton led 13-2 after one quarter, and Trinity Greenlawn never got closer than nine the rest of the way.
Triton will play Culver at 8 p.m. Friday in the semifinals. Triton beat Culver 60-34 on Jan. 14 at Culver in their regular season meeting. Triton has won the last five meetings between the teams.
Culver 37, Oregon-Davis 28
OREGON-DAVIS (28) (3-19)
Cameron Taylor 1 0-0 2, Layne Fisher 3 1-2 7, Caleb Seese 1 0-0 3, Conner Danford 4 0-0 9, Carson Matthew 2 1-2 5, Ethan Huitt 1 0-0 2, Cashton Swanson 0 0-0 0, Trevor Campbell 0 0-0 0, David Wieger 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 12 2-4 28
CULVER (37) (7-15)
Ethan Keller 0 0-0 0, Emiliano Ortiz 2 1-2 5, Mason Herbert 4 5-6 17, Marquez Anderson 0 1-3 1, Auston Zehner 3 1-2 8, David Hite 0 0-0 0, Oliver Morgan 0 0-0 0, Joey Pizur 0 0-0 0, Jalen King 1 0-1 2, Shane Shuman 2 0-2 4
TEAM: 12 8-16 37
Three-point field goals:
Oregon-Davis 2 (Danford, Seese),
Culver 5 (Herbert 4, Zehner)
Total fouls: Oregon-Davis 13, Culver 12
Turnovers: Oregon-Davis 20, Culver 15
Score by quarters
Oregon-Davis 5 8 11 4 – 28
Culver 10 7 10 10 – 37
Triton 51, Trinity Greenlawn 34
TRINITY GREENLAWN (34) (15-8)
Josh Rose 6 0-2 15, Peter Loughran 0 2-2 2, Jacob Palmer 3 1-2 9, Teddy Skendzel 1 0-0 2, Henry Lee 3 0-0 6, Ethan Fletcher 0 0-0 0, Gavin Cullinan 0 0-0 0, Gabe Hunsberger 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 13 3-6 34
TRITON (51) (16-7)
Cole McKinney 1 5-7 7, Ashton Oviedo 4 2-3 11, Cole Shively 1 3-4 5, Bruce Johnson 2 5-5 9, Tyson Yates 4 0-0 9, Chandler Westafer 0 0-0 0, Caden Graham 4 0-0 8, Connor Large 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 16 15-19 51
Three-point field goals:
Trinity Greenlawn 5 (Rose 3, Palmer 2),
Triton 4 (Oviedo 3, Yates)
Total fouls: Trinity Greenlawn 15, Triton 8
Turnovers: Trinity Greenlawn 16, Triton 12
Score by quarters
Trinity Greenlawn 2 6 10 16 – 34
Triton 13 10 9 19 – 51
