Johnson leads LCC comeback to beat Lima Senior

LIMA — Tre’on Johnson does this all the time in practice, his teammates say.

It was Lima Senior’s bad fortune to be there when he did it in a game.

Johnson, a 5-foot, 9-inch junior guard scored 18 points —10 of them during a huge fourth-quarter comeback — when Lima Central Catholic beat Lima Senior 63-57 in this year’s edition of their annual boys basketball rivalry game on Tuesday night at LCC.

Ty O’Connor scored 20 points and pulled down 10 rebounds to lead the Thunderbirds (12-2) over Lima Senior (3-10) for the third straight season.

Billy Taflinger had 13 points and eight rebounds and John Kidd scored 12 points for LCC. Tyler White’s 23 points led Lima Senior and Jerry Hutchins scored 11.

Johnson’s 4-for-4 shooting in the fourth quarter, including two 3-pointers, helped LCC come back from nine points down, 51-42, in the final eight minutes. He finished the game 7 of 11 on field goals.

“He’s always had it in practice. We were waiting for it to show in a game and he shined at a big moment,” O’Connor said about Johnson.

LCC coach Frank Kill talked about a “domino effect” when Johnson’s shots fell one after another and said, “He really came alive for us with 10 points in the fourth quarter and really sparked us.”

Lima Senior appeared to have the game going its way much of the night. The Spartans led 34-27 at halftime and added two more points to their lead in the third quarter.

But their 28-percent shooting in the second half, including 2 of 11 in the fourth quarter, meant they were set up for an implosion if LCC could just locate the detonator button.

The Thunderbirds, who outscored the Spartans 21-6 in the fourth quarter, took the lead for good at 58-57 on a drive for a score by Taflinger with 2:28 to play. Then they locked up the win with some defense and John Kidd and O’Connor combining to hit 5 of 6 free throws in the final 29 seconds.

LCC, ranked No. 6 in Division III in this week’s Associated Press poll, bounced back from a 62-51 loss at Bath last Saturday night that broke an 11-game winning streak.

“The feeling we had on Saturday just multiplies the happiness I have for our team now,” Kill said. “This was a redemption game for us. Everybody talked about Saturday being a redemption game, but this was a redemption game for us. We didn’t panic, the team stuck together.”

Lima Senior coach Shawn Allen saw a bit of panic in his team’s performance late in the game.

“We didn’t play well with the lead. We acted at times like we were behind,” Allen said. “I thought for three quarters we played about as well as we can, but this isn’t a three-quarter game.”

O’Connor, a 6-3 senior post player, got 14 of his 20 points in the second half and hit his last five field goal attempts.

“It was a big game to bounce back,” Johnson said. “Every time we play Lima Senior it’s going to be a packed crowd and a big game.

“It’s always special to hit big shots. My teammates got me open tonight.”

O’Connor said, “Everyone looked forward to this game after what happened last Saturday. Everyone knew we had to get hyped up for this game and everyone in Lima was going to be here to watch.

“It’s definitely the biggest game of the year and after how tough the loss was for us last weekend, it’s really big for us. To bounce back like that sends us in the right direction again,” he said.

LCC played without sophomore guard Darius West who is on a two-game suspension for “team issues,” Kill said. “It was taken care of inside,” he said.