BOYS BASKETBALL: Port Clinton wins first district game in 25 years

Port Clinton senior Allen Tigner could barely mouth the words when thinking about it.

“Twenty-five years ... We had to take care of it, and we did,” Tigner said.

Another monkey came off the back of the Redskins, a theme of the season.

Facing an 11-point deficit early in the second quarter, the state’s No. 4 team in the final Associated Press poll outscored Mansfield Madison 43-27 over the final three quarters of a 47-40 Division II district semifinal victory Wednesday night at Ashland University’s Kates Gymnasium.

It’s the first district win for Port Clinton since the 1984-85 season, as the Redskins improved to 22-0 while advancing to play in a district championship game against Bellevue (16-6) at 7 p.m. Saturday with a regional berth at stake.

Port Clinton held off a late rally at Bellevue on Jan. 24 to claim a 60-58 victory against the Redmen in the regular season.

“I was beginning to think a Port Clinton team couldn’t get it done down here,” Redskins coach Troy Diels said. “Credit the kids for battling back. We didn’t start off very well, but I knew we would start shooting the ball better at some point.”

The Redskins trailed 20-10 with less than three minutes left in the first half, but before the Rams (13-9) could react Port Clinton reeled off a 24-7 scoring run over the next 11 minutes to take a 34-27 lead into the fourth quarter.

Josh Francis scored eight points during the run while Allen Tigner added seven.

“We weren’t aggressive enough against their zone early. We were too content with just moving the ball,” Tigner said. “Coach Diels told us to just keep attacking it and quit respecting it so much. Attack and pitch it, and we’ll knock down open shots.”

After taking possession with a 38-30 lead at the 5:21 mark, Diels called for the Redskins to pull the ball out. They were able to burn about 90 seconds off the clock. The precise ball movement was capped off when Derek Colston stepped up for his only basket of the night, a deep 3-pointer from the wing for a 41-30 lead with 3:58 left in the game.

“With them sitting in a 2-3 zone, we were content to run some time off and shorten the game,” Diels said. “Derek hit a big, big shot there. That was huge. I think that’s when we started to sense it.”

Francis led Port Clinton with 16 points and 10 rebounds while Tigner added 14 points, nine rebounds and five assists.

The Redskins held a 39-24 rebounding advantage.

“We came out more ready to play in the second half,” Francis said. “The coaches were emphasizing at halftime we had to box out on the boards or we weren’t going to win, especially offensive rebounding.”