Cleveland Central Catholic's season ends with 50-48 loss to Lima Shawnee in D-II regional semifinal

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — Cleveland Central Catholic's season ended in a spot where the Ironmen won much of their basketball games: In the paint.

Central Catholic coach Jordan Duke looked at the stat sheet Thursday night, following his team's 50-48 loss to Lima Shawnee in a Division II regional semifinal at Bowling Green's Stroh Center.

It read:

• Sixteen-of-57 shooting, including 13-of-41 on 2-pointers inside the arc.
• A 19-7 edge for his team on the offensive glass.

"That's big," Duke said. "That says we missed a lot of shots. That's what the game came down to. The game's very simple: you've got to make layups, you've got to make free throws and you've got to rebound the basketball."

Central Catholic (16-10) took a 41-39 lead into the fourth quarter, and neither side scored for nearly six minutes. Shawnee sophomore George Mangas, who scored a game-high 17 points, supplied the tying basket with 2:39 left.

For the most part, the lack of scoring down the stretch came from Shawnee's use of a zone defense that forced Central Catholic junior point guard Tevin Jackson to stay on the perimeter and challenge his opponent to come out of it.

"We didn't think they were good enough to check us man-to-man," said Central Catholic senior forward Taryl Davis, who finished with 11 points and 12 rebounds. His offensive rebound in the final 30 seconds with Central Catholic down two points was thwarted on an offensive-foul call. The Ironmen still had a chance to beat Shawnee (24-2), but Trevon Wells' go-ahead 3-point attempt missed its mark.

Davis tried an offensive putback, but the ball flew out of bounds amid the collision. Officials put 0.3 seconds back on the clock. Central Catholic could not get off a shot, and Shawnee advanced to Saturday's regional final vs. Columbus South, a 61-54 winner earlier in the day vs. Norwalk.

"We made a couple of boneheaded plays and it cost us," Duke said. "As far as not getting the calls, that's happened all year long. Can't really hang your hat on that."

Central Catholic lost the lead for good on a basket by Shawnee senior Johnny Caprella in the final minute. Caprella scored 11 points to supplement Mangas' effort on offense, but 6-foot-5 sophomore Tyson Elwer altered the course of this matchup with 10 rebounds and four blocks.

Shawnee coach Mark Triplett credited his presence for allowing his team to run a diamond-and-one defense to stifle the Ironmen.

"He just cleans things up," Triplett said. "That allows us to do some things defensively."

Central Catholic's regional appearance comes after a year in Division I. The Ironmen last made it this far two years ago in Division II, but this time were placed in the North Ridgeville District, which sent them west instead of a customary trip to Canton.

The stage was not new for Central Catholic, but it is for Shawnee.

"Before this one, it's been 19 years since we made it to regionals," Elwer said. "It's been a heck of a ride. It's still not over."

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