[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Cincy

3/6/06

West at its best on defensive end

No. 1 team rolls to sectional title

BY MARK SCHMETZER | ENQUIRER CONTRIBUTOR
After Lakota West turned in what coach Mike Mueller considered sluggish performances in its first two tournament wins, he decided to get his team back to basics.

For the Firebirds, that means defense, and the approach paid undreamed-of dividends.

Lakota West, the top-seeded team in its Division I district tournament and The Enquirer's area coaches'poll champion, put a stranglehold on Glen Este in their sectional championship game at Xavier University's Cintas Center Sunday afternoon.

The Trojans could manage just two points in the first quarter and two more in the third as the Firebirds rolled to a 59-22 win.

"We went back to our way - smart pressure," Mueller said. "Solid, fundamental man-to-man defense. We felt like they weren't great ballhandlers and we could get some pressure on them."

Lakota West (21-2), which finished the regular season ranked eighth in the Associated Press Division I state poll, advanced to a district championship game against Fairborn next Saturday at University of Dayton Arena.

Senior center Vince Cook scored 13 points and had eight rebounds to lead the Firebirds. His classmate, 6-foot-8 Josh Chichester, sparked the defense with four of Lakota West's eight blocked shots. The Firebirds had four blocked shots before the Trojans (15-7) finally scored on senior guard Kyle McCalla's acrobatic layup with 1:50 left in the first quarter.

Lakota West already had scored 10 points by then. The Firebirds ended up forcing 18 turnovers and outrebounded the Trojans 46-22.

"We just couldn't score," Glen Este coach Tom Jutze said. "We couldn't put the ball in the basket. It's a credit to their defense."

Said Cook: "We've been focusing on defense in practice. If we just play offense with anybody, we're neck-and-neck."