TIPTON — Seeking its fourth sectional title in five season, Tipton’s boys basketball team understands the importance of peaking at the right time.
The Class 2A No. 8-ranked Blue Devils shut down Lewis Cass’ offense throughout, and blew the game open with a 10-0 run over the first two minutes of the second quarter en route to a 64-33 win over the Kings on Tuesday night in The Inferno to improve to 18-3 on the season.
Ahead of a key matchup with 3A No. 9 Western here Friday, the Blue Devils have won four in a row since a 55-43 loss to Northwestern on Feb. 3
“We’re just trying to improve ourselves and work on the things that we think will help us win down the road and make a long tournament run,” said Tipton junior Mike Crawford, who led the Blue Devils Tuesday with 20 points. “We did most of those things right [Tuesday] night, but we still have some things that we need to improve, and we’ll get back to work [today].
“It’s getting down to tournament time, and every possession counts. Any possession could win us a game or lose it for us. We take every possession as an important one.”
After taking a 13-6 lead after the first stop, Tipton bolted out of the gates in the second period with the help of a stingy defense. Crawford got the rally started with a steal and breakaway dunk. Blake Hoover followed with a steal, and dished to James Altherr for a breakaway layup. Crawford kept the Devils hot with a steal on the ensuing possession that wound up in Hoover’s hands for a breakaway layup.
Crawford’s trey from the right wing put Tipton up 23-7 with 6:03 to play in the first half. Cass (9-11) had yet to attempt a field goal in the stanza.
“[Tuesday] night was probably our best all-around effort [of the season],” Tipton coach Brad Dickey said. “We were able to play 12 players, and they all defended well and rebounded to the best of their abilities. I thought we shared the ball really well and converted well at a high rate.”
When Cass did get a shot off, second chances were a rarity. The Kings were held to just eight attempts from (3 of 8) the floor in the second quarter as Tipton’s lead swelled to 31-13 by the half with the help of 16 from Crawford. The Blue Devils out-rebounded Cass 15-9 in the first 16 minutes, and forced the Kings into five turnovers in the second quarter.
Cass coach Jon Kitchel put it simply: “That was an old-fashioned whoopin’. We couldn’t hit the bucket. They ran that flex offense and lulled us to sleep on defense. We were stagnant on offense, and they did a good job of keeping us to one shot. That was it, and unfortunately [the shots] weren’t falling [Tuesday] night. It was just a whoopin’.”
Tipton started the second half on a 13-2 surge and built as much as a 30-point lead on three occasions as four players reached double figures.
Crawford finished the night with 20 points on incredibly efficient firing. He went 9 of 11 from the field and connected on his only 3-point attempt for a hellish 82-percent clip from the floor. Senior Brady Dolezal finished with 14 points and a game-high seven rebounds, while Altherr and Hoover both added 10 points.
Sophomore Blake Hadley led Cass, which finished 12 of 44 from the floor in its regular season finale, with 13 points, and Jordan Miller added seven.
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