Mathias' late surge powers Elida past Coldwater

ELIDA - Coldwater made its second-half charge.

And when it did, Elida's Bo Mathias was there to answer.

Mathias scored all 22 of his points in the second half to help Elida hold off Coldwater 54-49 Saturday at the Elida Fieldhouse.

Elida led 21-10 at the half, but Coldwater came back to get within six after three quarters. The Cavs then pulled ahead several times in the fourth quarter.

But Mathias' 16 points in the final quarter was the difference.

"I needed to be more aggressive (in the second half) and get to the foul line," Mathias said. "I had to get a few shot fakes and get it to the basket.

"In the fourth quarter, I saw we were struggling getting shots, so as the senior leader, I tried to do my part, put the team on my back and see what could happen."

Mathias' 3-pointer from the top of the key gave Elida the lead to stay, 46-44, with 2:46 to play. He also hit 11 of 13 from the line in the fourth quarter.

"It was good to see Bo get aggressive, offensively, and assert himself a little bit more," Elida coach Denny Thompson said. "And he got the free-throw line, which is something he has to do."

Elida stands 4-4, while Coldwater is 4-3.

Coldwater outrebounded Elida, 27-24. But the Cavs struggled to shoot 31 percent from the floor, while Elida hit 52 percent.

Michael Knotts scored 12 points, while Reggie McAdams added nine points and six rebounds for Elida.

Eric Lefeld, Coldwater's 6-foot-7 junior, led the Cavaliers with 16 points and eight rebounds. Zach Siefring scored 10.

Lefeld's 5-footer brought the Cavs within 51-49 with 46 seconds left. Reggie McAdams' free throw pushed the Elida lead to 52-49.

With 12 seconds left, Coldwater's Joe Thomas missed a 3-pointer, and Desmond Ragin got the rebound for Elida.

"We got a good shot and we had a chance at a stickback, it just wouldn't go," Coldwater coach Mike Kanney said.

Elida played man-to-man almost the entire game and made Lefeld work just to touch the ball. When he did, the Bulldogs sent at least one defender at him to bottle him up.

Lefeld seldom was able to set up shop on the blocks and pound the ball at the basket.

"There wasn't one possession when we weren't supposed to bring people to Lefeld," Thompson said. "We were going to make them make shoot 3s before we were going to let Lefeld get loose."

Kanney said, "They had three guys around him all the time and that opens up other people and finally we hit some shots."