#1 St. Peter’s continued their perfect season with a hard-fought 54-49 win over #2 Colonel Crawford to claim the Division IV Willard District Championship.

 

It’s the third consecutive trip to regionals for the 26-0 Spartans who had to hold off an explosive Eagles (20-5) rally to cut down the nets. St. Peter’s led at the half 20-17 extending their advantage to nine early in the third quarter before Crawford sophomore guard Cameron McCreary nearly willed his squad to victory. McCreary scored all of his team-best 22 points in the 2nd half helping bring the contest to a tie early in the fourth quarter where the sophomore dropped 13.

 

The combination of senior guard’s Elijah Cobb (18 pts, 6 rebs) and Jared Jakubick (25 pts, 4 rebs) was too much for the Eagles to overcome, however, as Jakubick went 10-10 from the free throw line in the 4th, scoring 12 pts in the frame to knock Crawford out in the district finals for the second year in a row. Senior guard Brody Martin put up 11 points in his final game wearing an Eagles uniform and sophomore Jordan Fenner contributed with 12.

 

The state #1 ranked Spartans will next move on to the Canton Regional to face an unlikely challenger in East Canton who survived the Struthers District as a #7 seed.

 

The Spartans and Hornets will meet at the Canton Fieldhouse at 8 pm on March 13th for a spot in the Regional Championship.