Saben comes through in the clutch to lift Centerville past Sidney

It had been a frustrating night for Centerville High School senior Keegan Saben.

Saben entered the fourth quarter of the Tuesday night’s game against Sidney with a big goose egg next to his name in the scoring column.

Then, Saben got busy.

The 1,000-point scorer scored 11 of Centerville’s 16 fourth quarter points, including the game winner as time expired in a 52-50 Elks win.

“I didn’t play my best game,” said Saben, who eclipsed 1,000 career points in Sunday’s win over Cleveland Heights at Flyin’ to the Hoop. “I had to play through a lot of contact, but I just tried to keep out of my own head.”

The two teams swapped the lead three times and were tied twice in the final quarter, the last when Isaiah Bowser tied the game at 50 for Sidney with 1:22 remaining.

Centerville worked for the last shot, and there was no question who would take the last shot.

“I didn’t think we executed well the possession before that, but we knew where the ball was going,” Cupps said after Centerville improved to 7-4. “It is tough for us to win if (Saben) doesn’t score.”

Centerville worked the final 1:22 off the clock by throwing the ball around the perimeter before Saben settled in with the ball and 30 seconds left.

After looking for an opening to get to the basket, Saben saw enough of a hole to step up and then sink a step back jumper from just inside the three-point line.

“I made my mind up I was going to take the step-back jumper,” Saben said. “It felt good coming off my hand and luckily it went in.”

Saben almost didn’t get a chance to get the final shot off.

Sidney had fouls to give, but word didn’t make it to the defense to foul.

“We probably should have fouled,” Sidney coach Dave Willoughby said after his squad fell to 9-3. “If we would have fouled with six seconds left, it would have made them reset quick. We just couldn’t get it out there to them in time.”

Sidney led for most of the night, taking a 11-7 lead after the first quarter and clinging to a 20-18 lead at the half and a 39-36 lead heading into the final quarter.

Centerville tied the game 39-39 on a 3 by Sam Lash to open the fourth quarter, but Sidney jumped back to a 43-41 lead despite hitting just half of its six free throws.

“We made good plays offensively,” Willoughby said. “We just didn’t connect on our free throws when we needed to.”

Saben went on a 7-0 run of his own midway through the fourth to give the Elks a 48-44 lead with 3:28 remaining, but the Jackets tied it at 50-50 setting up Saben’s game winner.

“That was a grind,” Cupps said. “I thought we had some good shots early that just didn’t go down and we had to play from a hole there on out. I think our guys just did a really good job of sticking with it.”

Bowser led Sidney with 18 while Andre Gordon finished with 17. Centerville was led by Lash and Saben with 11 each.

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