Photo by Kim North Monroe Central’s Caedyn Silva (14) passes over top of the double team defense by Malvern’s Rodney Smith (11) and Drake Hutchison during the first half of Tuesday night’s Ohio Division VI East District semifinal tournament game at a packed Harrison Central gymnasium in Cadiz. The Seminoles advanced to the district finals for the second consecutive season with a 63-47 decision over the Hornets.

CADIZ — It’s no secret that the game of basketball consists of scoring runs by each team. The key is which team can withstand those runs.

Monroe Central jumped out to an early lead and had an answer every time No. 3 Malvern made a charge Tuesday night for a 63-47 Ohio Division VI Eastern District boys basketball tournament semifinal inside a packed Huskies’ House’ at Harrison Central High School.

The second-seeded Seminoles (21-3) set up a rematch with top-seeded Hiland which ousted No. 4 Caldwell, 57-42, Tuesday night at New Philadelphia High School. The site for Friday’s 7 o’clock district championship contest will be Cambridge High School. The Hawks won last year’s matchup, 54-43, at ‘The Hangar’ inside Union Local High School.

“We talked about their ability to go on runs,” second-year Monroe Central head coach Mason Lang said of the Hornets. “They are a very good defensive team. They take advantage of turnovers and they run out in transition really well.

“We talked about killing those runs by scoring on our own end when we did get defensive stops,” Lang added.

Deadlocked at 2, Monroe Central (21-3) went on a 7-0 run and scored 16 of the final 22 points of the quarter for an 18-8 advantage. The talented senior tandem of Tucker Howell and Chance Allen led the way with six points each, while sophomore Cooper Howell added four.

“We talked about getting off to a fast start. It’s a lot easier to play when you’re ahead,” Lang added.

After the Hornets (20-5) pulled to within five, 20-15, the Seminoles reeled off eight unanswered as a layup by the younger Howell made it 28-15. They took a 29-21 advantage into the locker room at the half.

Malvern got to within six twice early in the third quarter — the last at 32-26 — but a 9-0 surge by Monroe Central all but sealed the deal as the margin ballooned to 41-26 on Tyler Whitacre’s lone bucket of the night with 3:05 on the clock.

“That’s the sign of a good team,” veteran Malvern head coach Dennis Tucci said. “They made us take shots that we didn’t want to and we picked the wrong night to play our worst game.”

Tucker Howell showed why he is a District Player of the Year candidate with a game-best 27 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals. In addition, his knowledge and court awareness is savvy.

“Tonight people saw what Tucker is capable of when he plays all four quarters,” Lang noted. “He’s one heckuva basketball player and we’re lucky he is on our team.”

Tucci agreed.

“He’s pretty damn good,” he said of Tucker Howell.

Allen also drew kudos from his head coach.

“Chance played well on the offensive end of the floor. He also did a good job on defense.”

Cooper Howell scored eight points, collected seven rebounds and drew praise from his head coach for his defensive work on IVC North Player of the Year Rodney Smith who was held to seven points, more than 10 under his season average.

“He really stepped up on the defensive end and held a pretty good player in check.”

Despite the win, the Seminoles turned the ball over 18 times and missed 10 of 22 foul shots.

“Malvern thrives on turnovers. They are a really good defensive team. We knew they would force some turnovers, but I thought we had a lot of unforced turnovers where we probably should have shot the ball instead of trying to make that extra pass. It shows that we’re not selfish, but at the same time, we want to avoid those situations.”

When asked about Malvern, Lang said, “they are a very good, well-coached basketball team that we have a lot of respect for. We’re excited to be playing.”