WEEPING WATER — Ashland-Greenwood got the right mix of offense and defense Thursday to knock off No. 6 Lincoln Christian 67-61 in the C1-3 boys basketball subdistrict final at Weeping Water High School.
Freshman Cale Jacobsen scored a career-high 30 points and senior Nicholas Schulz added 24 as the duo combined for eight three-pointers to pace the No. 10 Bluejays’ offense.
Defensively, coach Jacob Mohs said his team did what it needed to do to Christian’s two leading scorers, Justin Bubak and Caleb Canfield.
“We felt if we could slow one of those two guys down down the stretch, it would give us a chance to win,” Mohs said.
The Bubak situation took care of itself early on as the junior picked up three fouls in the first two minutes of the game and sat until the second half. He scored just seven points on the night and couldn’t find a rhythm.
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Canfield was a different story. The senior scored 29 points, including five three-pointers, four of which came in the fourth quarter as Christian tried to erase a nine-point deficit.
But the Bluejays hit 6 of 11 three-pointers in the second half and knocked down 12 of 15 free throws in the fourth quarter, a scoring clip that was too much for the Crusaders to overcome.
Jacobsen scored 19 of his points after the break.
“We tried to mix some things up, play some zone, play some man, face-guarded him some,” Lincoln Christian coach Gary Nunnally said of trying to guard the freshman.
“There were a number of times where we needed a defensive rebound,” Nunnally added. “We had them stopped and we didn’t get the rebound. So then if you’re trying to come back and you’re just exchanging baskets, it’s not going to work out.”
Thursday’s win, which puts the Bluejays (18-6) in a district final, marks a stark turnaround for a program that went 3-19 last season.
“We knew coming into today that this would be an absolute dogfight,” Mohs said. “Coming into the year, this was certainly a goal that not a lot of people thought we could get to based off of last season, and I think we’ve surprised some people.”
Jacobsen credited his coaches for this season’s success.
“We’ve got to keep working hard and trusting our coaches because they’re geniuses. We love them and they love us,” he said.
Christian dropped to 17-9 with the loss.