02-23-10
BY JACK BULLOCK
FARINA - On Tuesday night the Odin Eagles advanced to the semifinal round of the Farina South Central Class 1A Regional by doing the things they have done well all season.

Coach Mike Finckbone’s club dominated the glass; jumped out to an early lead and kept the Cougars from having any chance at making a rally.

Behind Tyler Parrish and his 26-points to lead all scorers – Odin improved to 20-6 on the season with a 70-53 win.

The Eagles will face Louisville North Clay on Thursday night in the second semifinal game of the tournament.

North Clay dumped Sandoval in the other quarterfinal on Tuesday night, 63-34.

Parrish and his teammates jumped out to an easy first quarter lead and then removed the drama with a 9-0 run to close the first half and then a 13-1 sprint to begin the second half.

The 22-1 total pushed the Eagles to a 45-16 advantage with 5:01 left in the third quarter.

Coach Finckbone saw his team shoot poorly from the field but still manage to win convincingly by forcing South Central into 18 turnovers (13 in the first half) and hitting enough early shots to take control of the tempo.

“I told the kids before the game that they (South Central) would come out strong – hosting their own regional on their floor,” Finckbone explained. “We just wanted to survive that first storm and then get our press going. Once we started shooting the ball better and got the press going we were fine.”

Behind a pair of 3-pointers by Parrish and Spitler – Odin took the lead from the outset and never trailed.

When Parrish hit his third shot of the quarter with :03 left on a drive in the middle of the lane – the Eagles led 14-5.

Parrish added another 3-pointer from the top of the arc early in the second quarter.

Teammates Minor and Travis Schaffer each scored after South Central turnovers with Minor’s bucket coming in transition on a nice pass from Parrish.

When Schaffer scored on an offensive rebound of his own missed shot with 5:04 left – South Central needed a timeout at 21-9.

“Tyson (Minor) has really picked himself up these past few ballgames and Spitler is starting to shoot the ball better than he has,” added Coach Finckbone. “Once we put those pieces together hopefully we can get to that (championship game) which is where we want to be.”

South Central made a brief move in the second quarter with baskets by Fischer Tharp and Nathan Hill.

Hill found the mark on a 3-pointer from the right wing to close the gap to just 23-15.

Odin’s run to end the half and begin the contest finished the Cougars.

Spitler canned a 3-pointer in transition and Minor and Parrish each scored on fast breaks to push the score to 32-15 at intermission.

Odin’s largest lead of the game came at the end of the third quarter when Spitler hit back-to-back 3’s to give the Eagles a 60-29 bulge.

The final score doesn’t quite explain the dominant performance from Odin as the Cougars would score the games’ final 12-points with reserves from both teams “moping up.”

Spitler hit five 3-pointers in the contest for 15-points while Minor finished with 16.

South Central’s Tharp added 25-points to his freshman resume while Colby Bushue added 11.

“He (Tharp) is a player and he is going to get better,” Finckbone said. “Those kids (South Central) are going to get better. He (Coach Sturgeon) is doing a good job with them.”

The Cougars shot the ball well (21-of-42) but couldn’t overcome the turnovers.

“We certainly struggled tonight and it was pretty much the same story – just a different day,” said South Central head coach Matt Sturgeon. “Offensive rebounds really hurt us tonight. They (Odin) crashed the boards pretty well and they have a little bit more size than what we do. Turnovers tonight hurt us. We handled their press pretty well but in the half-court we just made some bad decisions. Part of that is due to our youth. Overall we can’t be too disappointed because we fought hard in the second half.”

Odin launched a lot of shots and finished 29-of-71 from the floor overall.

The Eagles committed just six turnovers in the win.

“I don’t know what we shot for the game but it had to be ugly,” said Coach Finckbone. “But it is a win and anytime you get a win in the regional it means that you are moving on and that is what you want to do. We had a few kids sick tonight but you can’t use that as an excuse. Overall we are just happy to be moving on.”

South Central (53) – Snow 0 0 0-0 0, Bushue 4 1 0-0 11, Donoho 2 0 0-0 4, Hill 0 1 0-0 3, Harpster 0 0 0-0 0, Harmeier 2 0 3-4 7, Tharp 10 0 5-5 25, Cain 0 0 0-0 0, Gillett 0 0 1-2 1, Tate 0 0 00 0, Under 1 0 0-0.
2FG-19, 3FG-2, FT-9-11, PF-10.
Odin (70) – T. Parrish 8 3 1-2 26, Spitler 0 5 0-0 15, Cluck 1 0 2-2 4, Minor 8 0 0-2 16, Schaffer 4 0 1-3 9, Keller 0 0 0-0 0, Finley 0 0 0-0 0, Hodge 0 0 0-2 0, Worlds 0 0 0-0 0, A. Parrish 0 0 0-0 0, Coates 0 0 0-0 0, Chapman 0 0 0-0 0, Soper 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-21, 3FG-8, FT-4-11, PF-11.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.