STOW: The Peters family reveled in Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy’s 24th victory of the season Saturday as Queen’s We Are The Champions blared over the loudspeaker.
Brothers Bob Peters and Michael Peters both scored in double figures, and their father, Jay Peters, coached CVCA to a 54-50 win over Buchtel in a Division II district final.
“It is not just about Bob and Mike,” Jay Peters said while holding the game ball. “This is a great group of kids, especially the seniors. As a dad and a coach, you’ve got to be very proud of your sons and their gutty play and stepping up at both ends of the court as everybody did.”
CVCA will play St. Vincent-St. Mary in a regional semifinal at 6:15 p.m. Thursday at the Canton Memorial Civic Center.
Bob Peters, a 6-foot-2 senior guard, led the Royals (24-2) with 18 points, five rebounds and three assists. Michael Peters, a 5-11 sophomore guard, scored 15 points.
“I start getting goose bumps a little bit,” Bob Peters said of winning with his brother and father. “It is just an indescribable feeling of joy and excitement that I get to come out here every day and play hard with my brother. He learns a couple of things from me every day and I learn a couple of things from him.”
CVCA made 14-of-19 free throws in the fourth quarter to secure the win. The Griffins (17-7) held the Royals without a field goal in the quarter.
“We have had a couple of games where we have shot a lot of free throws this season,” Jay Peters said. “I said to my assistant Jason [Herblet] after the game, ‘I don’t know how we won that.’ I don’t remember running much [offensively] because they were trapping and slashing in the fourth quarter.”
CVCA put together a 17-4 run to open a 29-17 lead with 2:14 to go in the second quarter. Junior reserve guard Marty Lee scored six of his eight points during the surge. The Royals’ spurt erased the Griffins’ 13-12 edge after one quarter.
“Marty Lee coming in and knocking in some big threes for us was huge,” said Bob Peters, with a championship medal and a large portion of one of the nets around his neck. “We clamped down on defense at the defensive end. Basketball is a game of runs and we went on a nice little run there. … They cut it close a few times, but we never let them get ahead.”
CVCA led 29-23 at halftime and 40-35 after three quarters. Buchtel got to within 52-50, with 17.8 seconds to go, but two free throws by Michael Peters pushed CVCA’s lead back to four points. Buchtel missed two 3-pointers in the closing seconds.
“This is probably one of the best feelings we have had all season,” Michael Peters said. “At the beginning of the season we dreamed of winning this district championship.”
CVCA senior Caleb Kleibscheidel had seven points and nine rebounds, and senior Alex Punka added six points and five rebounds.
Buchtel seniors Elijah Bell, Tyler Jones and Demonte Hicks all battled foul trouble and each scored 10 points. Jones fouled out with 1:59 to go.
“They controlled the tempo and then in the fourth quarter we started putting more pressure on them, and they started to turn the ball over,” Buchtel coach Stephen White said. “I think they got fatigued … but they hit some shots. The Peters kid hurt us. Monte Hicks brought us back. We were down [51-42 with 37.8 seconds to go] and then we were only down two points with around 20 seconds left, and we had a shot to win the game.”
Michael Beaven can be reached at 330-996-3829 or mbeaven@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the high school blog at http://www.ohio.com/preps. Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MBeavenABJ and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/sports.abj.
