For one half, the Eisenhower Knights went toe-to-toe with the Warren County Tip-off Tournament giant that is the Warren Dragons.
In the second half, the giant bounced back.
The Dragons closed the game with a 48-12 run and advanced to yet another Warren County Tip-off Tournament final with a 74-39 victory Friday at Warren Area High School.
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Times Observer photo by Allen Seybert
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Eisenhower’s Ryan Williams, left, drives into the paint while deing guarded by Warren’s Mark Davis during a boys basketball game at the Warren County Tip-off Tournament Friday at Warren Area High School.
Warren and Sheffield - a 71-21 winner over Youngsville in the other boys semifinal - will play in the title game at 8:30 p.m. Saturday. The Knights will face county rival Youngsville in the 5:30 p.m. consolation game.
"It felt to me like we started sluggish on the defensive end," said Warren coach Jeff Berdine. "It took us until the second half to turn things around. We were way too loose on the defensive end. We needed to come out with a little more focus in the second half, and that's what we did."
Warren led 32-27 at halftime, but trailed 27-26 with 2:12 left. Berdine said the Dragons didn't do a good enough job running offensive set plays in the first half, scoring most of their points in transition.
Warren outscored Eisenhower 41-12 in the second half.
"Jack Daley, in the second half, did a good job of scoring off of set plays," said Berdine. "I thought we were balanced; Mark Davis had 10, Preston McMeans 19, Daley 10, Kory Thomas 12 - four guys in double-digits and one guy with eight."
McMeans and Davis added seven rebounds each, and Matt Sandberg had five assists.
The Knights, playing in their first game under longtime girls coach Dave Allenson, got 13 points from Aaron Lundmark and an additional 11 from Josh Deppas.
WARREN (74): Mark Davis 5 0-2 10, Austin Jerman 2 0-0 4, Matt Sandberg 3 0-0 7, Andrew Hammersley 0 0-0 0, Kory Thomas 5 2-2 12, Drew Lobdell 0 0-0 0, Hank Morrison 4 0-0 8, Preston McMeans 7 5-7 19, Jack Daley 4 2-2 10, Grayson Foley 0 2-2 2, Austin Schwanke 1 0-0 2, Ryan Gustafson 0 0-0 0, Colin Fantaskey 0 0-0 0, Cody McGraw 0 0-0 0, Jacoby Passmore 0 0-0 0, Tanner Stanz 0 0-0 0, Totals: 31 11-15 74
EISENHOWER (39): Josh Deppas 4 0-0 11, Aaron Lundmark 4 5-6 13, Nathan O'Brien 2 0-0 4, Andrew Onoratti 1 0-0 2, Ryan Williams 1 3-4 5, Colin Shine 1 0-0 2, Joe Rutsky 0 0-0 0, Ricky Zortman 0 0-0 0, Jarrett Johnson 0 0-0 0, Carter Farrell 1 0-0 2, Totals: 14 8-10 39
Warren 16 16 24 18 - 74
Eisenhower 15 12 5 7 - 39
3-pointers: W- Sandberg; E- Deppas 3.
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Sheffield 71, Youngsville 21
Never in doubt.
Sheffield didn't give Youngsville a chance to hang around in Friday's season opening Warren County Tip-off Tournament boys semifinal at Warren Area High School, scoring 24 first quarter points and cruising to a 71-21 victory over the Eagles.
The Wolverines would go on to add another 22 points in the second stanza, leading 46-13 at intermission.
"Just an all-around solid team effort," said Sheffield coach Todd Fitch. "Everybody on the roster and played and hustled the entire game. We were crashing the boards hard and diving on the floor for every loose ball. That's the type of game I want to see us play all season."
Sheffield will face Warren in Saturday's 8:30 p.m. championship game. The Wolverines will be looking to end the Dragons' perfect record in the annual season opening tournament. The Eagles will hope for better results in the 5:30 p.m. consolation game against Eisenhower.
The Wolverines featured a balanced scoring attack in the win getting double-digit scoring efforts from Ike Nearing with 15, Josh Anderson with 11 and Mark Sprandle with 10. Nick Bonavita added eight points and Dylan McNeal scored seven.
Youngsville had trouble finding the bucket all evening and Coll Dininny's seven points was a team best. James Frazier and Tom Chapman added four points each.
YOUNGSVILLE (21): James Frazier 1 2-2 4, Coll Dininny 3 1-4 7, Broc Horn 0 2-2 2, Tom Chapman 1 2-4 4, Rocco Gatta 0 0-0 0, Dan McLaughlin 0 1-4 1, Colin Lehnen 1 1-2 3, Nick Barrett 0 0-0 0, Cory Jones 0 0-0 0, Totals: 6 9-18 21
SHEFFIELD (71): Ike Nearing 6 3-3 15, George Fitch 1 2-4 4, Kalil Slaughter 3 0-3 6, Nick Bonavita 4 0-0 8, Mark Sprandle 4 0-0 10, Josh Anderson 5 0-0 11, Brendan Winslow 2 0-0 4, Chris Pederson 1 0-0 2, Tyler Fitzgerald 0 0-0 0, Dylan McNeal 3 1-2 7, Noah Heeter 0 0-0 0, Nic Confer 0 0-0 0, Luke McCracken 1 2-2 4, Travis Peterson 0 0-0 0, Brandon Kipp 0 0-0 0, Totals: 30 8-14 71
Youngsville 6 7 4 4 - 21
Sheffield 24 22 13 12 - 71
3-pointers: Y-None; S- Sprandle 2, Anderson.