Courtesy Union City Schools
Union City’s boys are in a familiar spot heading into tonight’s District 13A Tournament championship game.
The Golden Tornadoes will gun for their fourth straight district tourney title and seventh in the last eight years after thrashing Greenfield 78-36 in Tuesday’s semifinals.
Four of UC’s five starters scored in double figures, led by Taylan Tribble and AJ Blackman with 17 apiece. Neil Brown and Ben McMillan added 11 markers each as the Purple and Gold (18-7) sank 10 3-pointers in the convincing mercy-rule rout.
Standing in top seeded UC’s way of another title is No. 2 Bradford (19-9), which beat sixth seed Lake County in Tuesday’s other semifinal. The Twisters swept the Red Devils in two regular season meetings, winning by 14 and two points, respectively.
Tipoff is slated for 7:45 p.m. at Marty Sisco Gymnasium. The facility will be cleared and cleaned after the girls’ championship between UC and Greenfield, scheduled to begin at 5.
Advance tickets will be sold today at UCHS from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. for $6 each. A ticket must be purchased for each session if a person is to attend both games.
The Tornadoes, who beat G’field by 40 and 27 points in earlier meetings, dominated the ‘Jackets again the third time around Tuesday.
Tribble made a pair of treys and a deuce in the first five minutes and UC never trailed.
The Twisters outscored Greenfield 52-27 over the middle two frames behind a balanced attack. McMillan converted a rare 4-point play, then came through with an old-fashioned 3-point trip on back-to-back possessions.
Blackman had nine markers in the second period when Union City tripled its 14-9 first quarter lead. Brown capped the 28-point stanza with a 3-point play off a stickback chance at the buzzer to give the Twisters a 42-27 advantage.
Both Tribble and Blackman accounted for eight points apiece in the third canto when the home team officially turned the contest into a rout. Carter Walton’s two free throws finished off a 19-6 flurry late before Tribble hit from medium range to make it 66-36 after three.
Tornado reserves finished up the final eight minutes and outscored the ‘Jackets 12-0.
Malaki Brooks’ long triple at the six-minute mark put a running clock in motion.
Greenfield will take a 7-14 record into Wednesday’s consolation game against 8-15 Lake County.
