Lucas Cubs complete quest for fifth straight Mid-Buckeye Conference boys basketball title

LUCAS — The Lucas Cubs gave Daltin Gorrell a reason to smile down on Friday night.

After an 80-56 win over Mansfield Christian, the Cubs clinched their fifth consecutive outright Mid-Buckeye Conference championship on the same night they honored Gorrell, a Lucas eighth-grade student who passed away last Friday after complications with an enlarged heart and leukemia. Sporting green warm-up shirts, Gorrell's favorite color, the Cubs proceeded to honor him in the best way possible. By playing with full hearts and winning a championship in the process.

Lucas junior Aidan Culler led the Cubs with 18 points while senior Corbin Toms added 14, junior Logan Toms had 11 and senior Jadon Walter added 10 giving the Cubs four players in double figures. It was the third undefeated league championship in five years.

"It is great because we haven't gone undefeated in the league since my freshman year so it was great to do that along with Logan and Corbin (Toms)," Culler said. "I thought we did a great job coming together tonight so we could close out this league title. This is special."

The Flames came out of the gate and popped the Cubs in the mouth with a 6-0 run to start the game. Lucas responded with a timeout, a nice tongue-lashing from coach Taylor Iceman and a 40-12 run to close out the first half with a 40-18 lead.

"I could hear Iceman over on the bench screaming at us to get things going," Culler said. "We just have to learn to not come out of the gates slow especially in games like this. We need to be the ones to hit teams in the mouth right away and run away with it from there."

The Cubs took an 18-9 lead after the first as Culler set the tone with nine points in the opening eight minutes. The Cubs then dropped 22 points in the second to break the game wide open. The Cubs knocked down seven 3s on the evening from five different players including Logan Toms and Andrew Smollen with two apiece.

"We kind of came out asleep," Iceman said. "We have been playing well out of the gate the past few games and I think they just assumed it would happen. I had to get on them a little bit just to wake them up and they did. We have been shooting it so well and that makes life so much easier. When we get guys going to the rim and also make teams have to come out and guard our shooters, it makes it very tough."

While the offensive explosion was impressive, it was on the defensive end where the Cubs were most proud. Logan Toms drew the tough assignment of guarding All-Ohio guard Amarr Davis of the Flames. He proceeded to hold Davis scoreless in the first half and just five points through three quarters before Toms sat out the entire fourth quarter. Davis finished with 13 points. Griffin Baker scored a team-high 15 while Brock Rentzel added 11.

"Logan does such a great job," Culler said. "He guards us all in practice and it is a nightmare because he is so difficult to get around. He is such a great player and defender. I had high confidence in him that if we could provide the help, he could do his job and lead us to a win."

It was a matchup of the reigning co-Mid-Buckeye Conference Players of the Year and with the league voting right around the corner, Toms made a case for who should take home the award this year.

"Logan can go out and score 25 a night if he plays assertive and sometimes, I have to get on him to do that," Iceman said. "But every night, he is guarding the best player on the other team. I wasn't paying too close attention, but I looked up at the board at halftime and Amarr hadn't scored yet. He is a very good athlete and that tells you what kind of defender Logan is. I'll take Logan every night of the week."

Toms learned a thing or two from the first meeting between the two teams just more than two weeks ago. He also knew what was on the line on Friday night. If the Cubs lost to Mansfield Christian (12-5, 7-2), that would put the Flames in a tie for first place and would have likely forced a share of the league championship.

Toms doesn't like to share.

"I just came into the game knowing Amarr is their best player and that he is such a great athlete and last game, I didn't keep him in front very well so I wanted to give him a step and contain him," Toms said. "I had great help from my teammates and that was the plan. Give me help because he is a great player, but also take pride in my defense. That is how I have been my entire life."

And that was how he was on Friday night.

Lucas (15-3, 10-0) improved their MBC record over the last five seasons to 48-2.

"These guys on this team have only lost two league games their entire high school careers," Iceman said. "I don't care who you are playing, it is not easy to do. High school kids go out and have bad nights and you always drop a game here or there, but these guys are the definition of consistency. I have said it every year I have been coaching, I have winners on this team. They love to compete and hate to lose. To go four years and only lose two games in the league is very impressive."

Now, the Cubs turn their focus to tournament prep as they await the draw on Sunday and a rugged Division IV district tournament. They will enjoy the MBC title for a night, but then it is back to work as they travel to Willard on Saturday.

"It is definitely awesome and is always our first goal on the list, but we feel like after we won the MBC, we still ended our season earlier than we wanted and didn't meet our own expectations so we have that fire still," Toms said. "We are looking forward to that chance."

jfurr@gannett.com

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Twitter: @JakeFurr11

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Lucas Cubs won the Mid-Buckeye Conference Boys Basketball Championship