Waldron tried to slow the pace and stay efficient while attacking Class A, No. 10 Jac-Cen-Del Friday night in the first semifinal game of Sectional 60 at Southwestern High School.

Missed opportunities led to quick transition points for an experienced Eagles squad that slowly pulled away and defeated the Mohawks, 74-60.

Four players scored in double digits  to propel the Eagles to their first sectional championship game appearance in six years.

Wyatt Day led the way with 20 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals. Caleb Simon finished with 17 points, six rebounds and six assists while Matt Dickman and Devin Grieshop added 13 and 12, respectively.

Jac-Cen-Del’s depth and experience, four seniors were in the starting lineup Friday, was too much for Waldron to overcome.

“It is a tough matchup for sure,” said Waldron head coach Beau Scott, who led the program to its first winning season in seven years. “I don’t think we executed defensively nearly as well as we wanted. In transition, they did a really good job and Day is so tough to guard because it seems like he makes the right decision every play and that’s hard to guard.”

Jac-Cen-Del (19-5) will face Hauser (11-13) in the sectional championship game tonight at Southwestern. The Jets defeated Oldenburg Academy, 61-28, in the second semifinal contest Friday.

Waldron (12-11) took an early 4-3 lead on close-range scores from Lucas Mitchell and Bryce Yarling but the Eagles used a 7-0 run to get a 10-4 lead it never relinquished.

Mitchell and Yarling, both juniors, scored all 13 first-quarter points for Waldron while five different Jac-Cen-Del players scored to build a 20-13 lead at the break.

That balanced scoring was something Waldron could not match.

An 8-0 run to start the second quarter extended the Eagles’ lead to 28-13 before Yarling hit his first three-pointer of the game. A 6-2 run by Waldron to close out the first half cut the lead to 34-24.

Mitchell opened the third-quarter scoring with a 3 from the top of the key to make it 34-27 but Jac-Cen-Del went on a 10-0 run to deny the Mohawks any momentum.

“We wanted to try and control the pace and slow it down a little because we know they like to run,” said Scott. “At times, that looked OK but we missed a couple ones we normally get and it seemed like they were already back on the other end scoring.”

The Eagles’ lead doubled to 20 points after three quarters and Waldron never threatened again.

Mitchell finished with a game-high 26 points and added seven rebounds and three assists.

Yarling scored nine of his 17 points in the fourth quarter to push his career scoring total to 991 points.

Bryant Becker, one of Waldron’s two seniors, had seven points, five rebounds and four assists in his final game.

Fellow senior Caden Sheaffer had two points, one rebound and one assist before injuring his right knee in the fourth quarter and missing the rest of the game.

Waldron shot 43% from the field in the loss and was 8 of 20 from the 3-point line but Jac-Cen-Del was better at 59% from the field and 46% from the arc.

The Mohawks return a pair of dynamic scorers in Mitchell and Yarling but must build depth around them to become a sectional threat in 2023. There are plenty of players to develop as a large freshman class arrived this year and allowed Scott to have a varsity, junior varsity and freshmen team this season.

“We have a long offseason,” said Scott. “I think we will have plenty of options beside (Mitchell and Yarling) next year. Those two are good at sharing the ball and trusting their teammates. We trust all of our guys to shoot and make plays.

“Our young guys, our freshmen, we are really excited about them. It seems like each one has one thing that they are really good at. We are trying to harness that and develop that and gain confidence with these guys. That comes from spending hours in the gym.”

Jac-Cen-Del 74, Waldron 60

WA: Mitchell 9-16 5-6 26, Yarling 7-17 1-4 17, Shaw 0-3 0-0 0, Sheaffer 1-4 0-0 2, Becker 3-9 0-0 7, Lindsey 2-4 0-0 6, S. Jones 1-1 0-0 2, Bennett 0-0 0-0 0, Adkins 0-0 0-0 0, Kellems 0-0 0-0 0, Douglas 0-0 0-0 0, M. Jones 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 23-54 6-11 60.

JCD: Day 9-14 1-2 20, Wilson 1-5 0-0 2, Hoffman 1-2 0-1 2, Swinney 3-8 0-0 8, Simon 7-8 1-2 17, Grieshop 4-7 4-4 12, Dickman 4-5 4-7 13, Groth 0-0 0-0 0, White 0-0 0-0 0, Hodgen 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 29-49 10-16 74.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

WA (12-11)   13  11  14  22  --  60

JCD (19-5)     20  14  24  16  --  74

Three-point field goals: WA 8-20 (Mitchell 3-6, Yarling 2-4, Sheaffer 0-1, Becker 1-5, Lindsey 2-4); JCD 6-13 (Day 1-2, Wilson 0-1, Swinney 2-5, Simon 2-3, Grieshop 0-1, Dickman 1-1). Rebounds: WA 21 (Mitchell 7, Yarling 3, Shaw 3, Sheaffer 1, Becker 5, Lindsey 1, Jones 1); JCD 23 (Day 4, Wilson 2, Hoffman 2, Swinney 2, Simon 6, Dickman 6, Hodgen 1). Assists: WA 10 (Mitchell 3, Yarling 1, Sheaffer 1, Becker 4, Bennett 1); JCD 12 (Day 3, Simon 6, Grieshop 3). Steals: WA 2 (Becker 1, Lindsey 1); JCD 7 (Day 3, Grieshop 3, Dickman 1). Blocks: WA 1 (Mitchell); JCD 3 (Day 1, Swinney 1, Dickman 1). Total fouls: WA 10, JCD 11. Turnovers: WA 10, JCD 7.