Sizzling start leads to Arlington rout of South Central

LIMA – It took Arlington several years to win its first district basketball championship game.It took the Red Devils only a few minutes to win their latest.Ayden Cavinee daggered South Central's defense with three first quarter 3-pointers, 6-foot-10 senior center Calvin Willow was a dominating presence inside and Arlington's trapping press and "no-3" zone dictated tempo and pace from the opening tip as the Red Devils routed South Central 73-36 in a Division VII district final at Lima Senior."We've been fortunate to be in a lot of district finals over my career," said Jason Vermillion, who guided Arlington to the Division VII state semifinals last season and has amassed over 450 wins in his 27 years as Red Devils' head coach."It took us a while to break through, but I think we have a group that understands how chemistry leads to so much success. When you have good teams but don't have chemistry you can be stopped on a given night. Right now, though, I think our guys are really well connected."So well connected, in fact, that Arlington has rattled off 18 straight wins in earning a second straight trip to the regional semifinals at Bowling Green State University. That happens Tuesday when the 22-3 Red Devils face Montpelier (23-2) in the second game of a Division VII doubleheader. Pettisville (16-9) squares off against Kalida (14-11) in Tuesday's opener, with the winners returning Saturday at noon to decide who wins the regional title and the ticket to the state tournament that goes with it.Vermillion was a bit concerned about the quick turn-around between Thursday's semifinals and Saturday's championship game.A stunning first quarter, possibly Arlington's best eight minutes of basketball this season, made that a moot point.Trailing 3-2, Cavinee buried back-to-back 3-pointers to put Arlington up 8-3.When Trenton Heacock converted a basket off a steal created by Arlington's trapping press and Willow scored on an inside lob the Red Devils had doubled up South Central 12-6.Tanner Back answered for the Trojans, but Willow laid one in, Heacock put back an offensive rebound, and the Red Devils again had doubled up the Trojans, 16-8.The final four minutes of the first quarter were a blur, all of it wearing the home whites of Arlington.Cavinee drilled his third 3-pointer of the period, Heacock had a driving scoop-and-score in transition and Willow, double- and triple-teamed all night, finally got his defender on his hip, spun and two-hand flushed a dunk that forced South Central coach Dallas Yost, his Trojans trailing 23-8, to call his second timeout of the first period.It didn't help.Following the timeout, Lukas McIlroy and Cavinee scored off steals and Heacock converted two free throws, capping a 13-0 run that had Arlington up 29-8 by the end of the quarter.Willow would convert 7-of-8 free throws and score nine points and Drew Metzger and Hunter Rausch drilled 3-pointers during a 22-12 second-quarter that built Arlington's lead to 51-20 at the half."That was huge," Vermillion said of Arlington's sizzling start."We learned some things when we played here Thursday. We did not shoot the ball real well, so having Ayden hit those 3s early, and Hunter (Rausch) and Drew (Metzger) hitting 3s (in the second quarter), that was big."South Central topped 90 points twice this season and averaged over 60 a game. There was no coming back from that huge halftime deficit on Saturday, though."We are a team that can score points in a hurry, but not today," Yost said."It's not that we're not capable; it's because of how good a team they are, how well they're coached and how good they are defensively."Their press bothered us. We had 12 turnovers in the first half and it seemed like they scored on each and every turnover we had."They got hot on 3s, which we knew would be problematic if you have to double and dig on their big man. We were kind of hoping they don't make those (3s). Unfortunately, they made a bunch of them in the first half and it just really snowballed on us real quick."In the first half, Willow had 17 points, eight rebounds and five blocks. The 6-10 senior, who played only a minute or two into the fourth quarter, almost had a triple-double, finishing with 21 points, 10 rebounds and seven blocks."That fast start was great, it was phenomenal," Willow said."All the guys were working hard and we were hitting our shots."Heacock had 12 points in the first half and 17 overall. Cavinee finished with 11 points, all in the first quarter."We knew if (South Central) came out strong it was going to be a tough game," Cavinee said."That's why that start was so important. Our energy at the start got us going; that's why I think we started off so well."Heacock agreed. "Ayden hits those 3s, then Cal has that dunk …. That got us going," he said."We're always active, always moving."Especially on defense.South Central did make four 3-pointers in the first half. But many of the Trojans 3s were hurried due to Arlington's quickness, and shooters that shoot quickly do not usually shoot well."Agreed," Vermillion said"We wanted to make sure that we imposed our will and do what we do defensively so we could get this done."Consider it mission accomplished. SOUTH CENTRAL (12-13)June 3-12 2-2 13, Paynter 1-5 0-2 2, Back 1-2 0-0 2, Chaffee 6-13 0-3 13, Olney 1-6 0-0 3, Viock 1-3 0-0 2, Hall 1-4 0-0 3, Kitk 0-0 0-0 0, Knoll 0-2 0-0 0, Ayers 0-1 0-0 0. TOTALS: 14-47 2-7—36.ARLINGTON (22-3)Metzger 1-5 1-2 4, Rausch 2-7 0-0 5, Heacock 7—9 2-2 7, Cavinee 4-8 0-2 11, Willow 7-8 7-8 21, Cochensparger 2-5 0-0 4, M. Wenner 0-0 0-0 0, Steffan 2-2 1-1 5, McIltoy 1-1 0-0 2, J. Wenner 2-2 0-0 4, Sterrett 0-0 0-0 0, Fenstermaker 0-1 0-0 0. TOTALS: 28-48 11-13—73.South Central 8 12 9 7—36Arlington 29 22 11 11—733-POINT GOALS: South Central6-19 (Viock 0-2, Hall 1-2, June 3-6, Paynter 0-1, Knoll 0-1, Chaffee 1-1, Olney 1-6, Ayers 0-1); Arlington 6-21 (Metzger 1-3, Rausch 1-6, Heacok 1-2, Cavinee 3-7, Cochensparger 0-3, Fenstermaker 0-1).REBOUNDS: South Central 19 (June 3, Chaffee 3); Arlington 35 (Willow 10, Metzger 7).TURNOVERS: South Central 18; Arlington 8.