CAMDEN — Jake Green had the best offensive game of his high school career to lead Preble Shawnee’s boys’ basketball team to a 73-46 win over Oakwood in the championship game of the Preble Shawnee Holiday Tournament.
In the consolation game, Tri-County North outlasted Twin Valley South 64-57, in overtime.
The tournament was held on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 27-28.
Green scored 27 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to earn the tournament’s Most Valuable Player award. He had 16 points and four rebounds in the Arrows opening round 53-48 win over Twin Valley South the previous night.
“Jake Green had two big games in a row. He’s really been big for us,” Shawnee coach Dale Spitler Jr. said.
Shawnee got off to fast start, racing out to a 17-9 lead over the Lumberjacks, who shot just 32 percent from the field for the game.
While Oakwood struggled to score, the Arrows shot 55 percent from the floor, including making 21 of 30 shots in the paint.
“Obviously, that’s a goal we have each year. It’s been several years since we’ve won it,” Spitler Jr. said. “We knew that Oakwood was playing well. We know they had some good scorers. We knew that we would have to get up into the 60’s to even have a chance because they were going to put up some points.”
Spitler Jr. said his team’s performance was better than expected and it was the most complete game they’ve played this season.
“We always say there are three of four games that you play better than you’re supposed to and three or four games you play worse than you’re supposed to,” he said. “This is definitely the best one that we’ve played this year.”
Oakwood cut the lead to 18-15 early in the second quarter only to see the Arrows go on a 10-0 run to regain control and led 32-22 at the half.
Shawnee opened the third quarter with a 17-7 run to push its lead to 47-29. The Arrows still led 51-39 after three.
Oakwood never got closer than 12 the rest of the game as Shawnee extended its lead to as much as 28 (71-43) in the final quarter.
Darren Rubin lead the ‘Jacks with 17 points and Daniel Hu added 12. Both were selected to the all-tournament team.
“Rubin is one of the best shooters around. We had a variety of different defenses ready for tonight. He’s just a smooth player and their other guys are good too,” Spitler Jr. said.
Shawnee junior Bryce Singleton had a huge game scoring 24 point and pulling down nine rebounds to earn a spot on the all-tournament team.
North survives South in OT
In the opener, North and South battled back and forth, with North finally pulling away in the overtime session.
North held a 16-12 lead after the first quarter, but South regrouped to take a 29-24 lead into halftime.
North regained the lead 38-36 after three.
Over the final eight minutes of regulation, there were five lead changes and five ties.
A South three-pointer tied the game at 53-53 with 25 seconds left to force overtime.
In the overtime, North made 5-of-7 shots and took the lead for good on a 3-pointer from Luke Eby with 3:27 to play. A basket by Wyatt Royer two minutes later made it a 60-55 game.
For North, junior guard Dylan Stinson scored a game-high 27 points, with 19 coming in the second half and overtime to earn a spot on the all-tournament team.
Eby finished with 15 and Cooper Cole chipped in with 10.
For South, Cole Petersen led the way with 25 points, 19 in the first half.
Ryan DeLong added 16, with 13 coming in the second half and overtime.
Shawnee (4-4) returns home Friday, Jan. 3 to host Milton-Union.
North (-4) is scheduled to travel to Miami East on Friday and will host Brookville on Saturday, Jan. 4. The Panthers will also host Covington on Tuesday, Jan. 7.
South (0-8) will visit Covington on Jan. 3 and will host Valley View on Saturday. On Jan. 7, South will travel to Bethel.
21 of 30 in the paint.
