Benedictine serves notice to district with 75-69 boys basketball win at No. 21 Gilmour

GATES MILLS, Ohio — Neither Benedictine nor Gilmour wanted to show much. They could meet again in two weeks for a district boys basketball semifinal.

Two of the top three seeds in the Division II Stow District featured senior guards Davin Zeigler of Benedictine and Gilmour's C.J. Charleston putting on a show Friday night in their regular-season finale. Charleston scored 42 points, but Zeigler had 22 and a 75-69 win.

That victory has Benedictine feeling better about its postseason chances. A rigorous regular season gave Benedictine injuries, illness and more losses than coach Rob Stircula liked.

He feels better, knowing where his team (12-9) stands now.

"It's good that it's over, and we're on to the second season," Stircula said. "We bookended our season really well, five to start and four to end it in a row."

Stircula is still without junior wing Andy Barba, whom he expects back soon, but Kevin Bishop's return was a welcome sight. The 6-foot-5 senior missed five games this season, plus a portion of the preseason because of injury. An illness kept Bishop out of Benedictine's previous three games. He didn't return to school until Tuesday.

"I actually forgot that he was playing because he's been on the bench so long," Zeigler said. "He came in and made a couple of good plays and gave us that energy to get over the hump."

Bishop drew a couple of charges, grabbed four rebounds and scored eight points. He capped the night with a fourth-quarter putback that extended Benedictine's lead for some insurance at Gilmour (17-5).

"It feels good to be back," Bishop said. "It feels good to have these wins."

Add the Lancers, ranked No. 21 team in the cleveland.com Top 25, and Benedictine closed its regular season with a win streak that included Villa Angela-St. Joseph and Harvey. Gilmour and VASJ won two of the North Coast League's three divisions, and the Lancers already had their division sewn up before Friday's crossover game.

VASJ won the NCL Red Division, which includes the Bengals.

"They're made to do well now," Gilmour coach Dan DeCrane said. "With their schedule that they play, their side of the NCL is really good and they're starting to play some good basketball."

Neither team wanted to show too much, though. Stircula said he implemented a vanilla game plan. DeCrane said he simply wanted his team to play its style: attack the basket with Charleston, who can create openings for the 3-point shooters around him.

"He played a hero game," DeCrane said of Charleston, who exchanged a few dunks with Zeigler. "I think the big thing we learned from the (Willoughby) South game is we have to attack the basket, and he did that."

Willoughby South handed Gilmour a 52-48 loss Tuesday, giving the Lancers a two-game losing streak before they enter the Stow tournament as the No. 2 seed.

"The coaches told us all week to make a statement," Zeigler said. "Show them why you're not third seed and why you should have been the No. 1 seed, so we tried to make a statement the whole night."

Benedictine jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead. Gilmour missed its first four shots and converted only four 3-point field goals in the opening quarter. The hosts kept it close and took their first lead on Charleston's three-point play — a drive to the basket that tied it and a free throw to go up one — midway through the third quarter. The lead teetered back and forth for a few possessions.

Then, Zeigler charged toward the basket and threw down a one-handed slam over a defender. Benedictine's lead grew to 10 points, and Gilmour never fully recovered.

Statement delivered.

"We've got to have the toughest schedule in Division II," Stircula said. "Yeah, we got the three seed, but if you put a lot of those teams in that district on our schedule, I don't know if they come out with 12 wins."

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