DISTRICT SEMIFINALS … Wauseon senior Trey Parsons pulls in a pass for a fast break layup following a Central Catholic turnover on Thursday night. VIEW 206 PHOTOS OF THIS CONTEST FOR FREE AT WWW.THEVILLAGEREPORTER.COM
By: Nate Calvin
THEVILLAGE REPORTER
sports@thevillagereporter.com
MILLBURY (March 7, 2024) – The Toledo Central Catholic Fighting Irish entered tournament play with a record of 8-14, a record that is very deceiving.
The Irish completed their first season in the Detroit Catholic League, a league that is stacked with some of the best teams in Michigan and it considered by many to be one of the premier high school basketball leagues in the country.
That level of competition has served the Irish well as after rolling through sectionals, they punched their ticket for their fourth straight trip to the district finals after holding off Wauseon 65-59 at Lake High School on Thursday night.
An action packed first quarter saw the teams combine to shoot 14/24 from the floor with five triples as a step back trey from the left corner by Wauseon senior Tyson Rodriguez at the buzzer gave the Indians an 18-17 lead after one quarter.
A bucket in the low post by Rodriguez started the second stanza and he later added another three ball from the corner pocket to push the lead to 25-19, their largest of the night.
The Irish countered with a 5-0 spurt as Draden Wardrop recorded a steal and bucket and Sharad Vaughn III scored on an offensive rebound to make it 25-24 with 3:35 left in the half.
The back and forth continued the remainder of the quarter as Wardrop converted a three-point play to put TCC in front 30-29.
Nathaniel Stinner scored in the post to give the Indians the lead back before Cayden Kynard drilled a triple from deep on the left wing at the buzzer to put the Irish in front 33-31 at the break.
Buckets from Nicholas Stinner and Connor Keefer gave Wauseon their last lead of the night at 35-33 before Irish sophomore Manny Johnson began to take control.
Johnson started a 12-3 run by Central Catholic with jumpers from the foul line and top of the key before coming up with a steal and layup to give TCC a 41-35 lead.
Isaiah Brenneman capped off the run with a spin move and layup in the lane before Rodriguez knocked down a much needed three-pointer for Wauseon to trim the deficit to 43-38.
Another basket by Brenneman and an Isaiah Mack-Russell layup after an Indian turnover, their fifth of the quarter, put the lead at 47-40 heading to the fourth.
The teams exchanged field goals to start the fourth before Rodriguez hit his fourth long ball of the night to trim the Irish advantage to 51-45 with 6:00 to go.
D’Haron Flowers answered with a trey from the corner and Kynard dropped one from the right wing to increase the lead to double digits, 57-47.
Wauseon (14-10) wouldn’t go away though with Keefer getting a layup and then a fade away jumper in the lane to draw the Indians to within 57-51 at the 4:00 mark.
Brenneman would go spin cycle again for a layup and Johnson added two more buckets as the Irish hit their free throws down the stretch to close out the win.
Rodriguez finished the final game of his career with a game-high 20 while fellow senior Trey Parsons added 14.
Wardrop had 18 points to lead three players in double figures for the Irish (11-14) as Johnson added 16 and Brenneman tallied 10.
TOLEDO CC (65) – Johnson 16; Wardrop 18; Mack-Russell 5; Kynard 6; Brenneman 10; Flowers 5; Vaughn III 5; Totals: 20-6-7 – 65
WAUSEON (59) – Parsons 14; Rodriguez 20; Vajen 6; Keefer 9; Ni. Stinner 8; Patterson 0; Gype 0; Na. Stinner 2; Totals: 20-5-4 – 59
TOLEDO CC 17 16 14 18 – 65
WAUSEON 18 13 9 19 – 59
GAME STATISTICS
CENTRAL CATHOLIC: FG – 26/48 (54%); FT – 7/13 (53%; Rebounds – 21 (7 offensive); Turnovers – 7; WAUSEON: FG – 25/47 (53%); FT – 4/6 (66%); Rebounds – 23 (3 offensive); Turnovers -12
