Jayce Daniel scores in the final minute as part of a 12-0 Sidney run that put Butler away. (Press Pros Feature Photos By Julie McMaken Wright)
In a battle of the Miami Valley League’s first-place teams, Sidney owns the second half and scores the final 12 points to knock of struggling Butler by 18.
Veteran columnist Jeff Gilbert writes Ohio State football and OHSAA sports for Press Pros Magazine.com.
Vandalia, OH – Sidney’s winning performance Friday night began where only coaches see the good stuff that is coming. And the rough stuff.
The practice floor.
John Willoughby implored his team this week to do one thing better Friday night than when the Yellow Jackets lost at home to Vandalia Butler on December 27.
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Play harder.
And it started in practice. Willoughby’s players mixed it up so hard that Julius Spradling and Kaleb Lee went to the trainer’s room with bloody noses.
“That’s the first time all year we had that type of thing going on,” Willoughby said. “So our key is if we’re playing tough, playing smart, playing together, we’re pretty good. We’re trying to teach them we got to be tough when we play no matter what we do.”
And all those tenacity-infused practices spilled out all over the Butler hardwood in the second half. Sidney’s fly-around defense stymied the Aviators and created numerous layups to win going away 60-42 in a battle of the Miami Valley League’s two first-place teams.
Julius Spradling is fouled while trying to score by Butler’s Tomarri Moore.
“The practices really help,” senior point guard Julius Spradling said. “We’re playing even more physical, and we just gotta take the practice into the game. And we’re really getting better at that.”
Spradling showed toughness after a two-point first half and lots of misses near the rim. He came out focused in the second half, finished with 10 points and spearheaded the defensive effort.
“In the locker room, we all got on each other, telling us we just got to pick it up, play together,” Spradling said. “I got great teammates. They kept telling me to keep playing, keep playing, keep shooting, the shots will fall.”
A’zon Steele hit two 3-pointers in the critical third quarter and hit his average with 17 points. Jayce Daniel attacked the rim repeatedly and scored 18 points, making eight of nine free throws.
Sidney (14-3, 13-3 Valley Division) trailed 28-24 at halftime. But the Yellow Jackets’ defense changed the game in the third quarter. It allowed them to outscore Butler 13-4 over the final six minutes for a 42-37 lead.
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Butler hung around and trimmed a nine-point deficit to 48-42 with 2:37 left. But the pace, which had already affected Butler’s offense in the second half, became too furious. Sidney continued to press and double team the ball. Butler was forced to press and gamble to make a run at the lead.
A’zon Steele makes a reverse layup for the Yellow Jackets for two of his 17 points.
“It’s game situations and it’s hard to simulate,” Butler coach Andy Holderman said. “It was a pretty physical second half. When there’s calls or no-calls, your players have to react and be able to go through that adversity no matter what the call is. That was basically a tournament style game. And we had to look at it as that.”
The late-game math angled in Sidney’s favor like a giant greater-than sign. The Yellow Jackets forced turnovers, beat the press and scored the final 12 points, all on layups.
“Our defense got going just because the run and jump sped them up,” Willoughby said. “It’s tough for kids to know when they should shoot the ball, and when they should hold the ball when they’re being pressed.”
Butler led the entire first half and kept the pace manageable. But when the game got faster, the Aviators struggled. Leading scorer Julius Rusk, the Aviators’ 6-foot-4 wide and athletic post player, was not the factor he was when he scored 21 points in the teams’ first meeting. Rusk scored all seven of his points in the first half. T.J. Green led Butler with 10 points.
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“Part of the reason to press a little bit is because then they can’t get set up and run their pick and roll and look for him on the roll all the time,” Willoughby said. “When you’re pressing, it takes them out of their offense. That was a key to the game.”
Sidney’s 6-2 Ethan New banged with Rusk the entire game and yielded little ground.
Julius Rusk was swarmed by Sidney’s Ethan New (3) and Tanner Snider for four quarters.
“For our bigs, Ethan’s our toughest guy,” Willoughby said. “He’s not going to back down from anybody. He’s a great position defender, and, therefore, he’s ready to rebound. And he was tough tonight on the boards, too, against a really, really, really good player.”
Butler (14-4, 13-3) lost for the fourth time in five games and fell a game behind Tippecanoe in the Miami Division. The Aviators have battled injuries, sickness and were without injured third-leading scorer Charlie Neely.
“In no way or shape, was that an 18-point game,” Holderman said. “We’re going to build on this. We played harder than what we did last game. Last couple of games have been a little bit of a struggle. Not really sure what to pin that on. But I thought we played harder tonight. But the execution at the end and in the second half was few and far between.”
While Butler looks to regain the groove that led to a 13-0 start to the season, Sidney might have found in practice this week what it needs to be ready for the Division II tournament. The Yellow Jackets want to keep winning and maintain their hold on the No. 1 seed in the Southwest District’s north bracket.
“The whole practice before this game was we needed to be tougher than the first time we played because they just destroyed us on the boards,” Willoughby said. “They were more physical, and we weren’t gonna let that happen again.”
Even if it meant some bloody noses.
Sidney point guard Julius Spradling scored eight of his 10 points in the second half.
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