Catholic Central’s Benji Rook drives with the ball during Wednesday district semifinal game against Frontier. - Andrew Grimm

Catholic Central senior standout Benji Rook appears to be one of those such players. 

After watching Frontier storm back from a double-digit deficit to take its first lead of the game early in the fourth quarter, the Crusaders needed someone to make a shot and get some momentum back. 

That someone was Rook. The program’s all-time leading scorer drained 3s on back-to-back possessions to put the Crusaders back on top, and they held on from there, fending off the Cougars for a 51-47 victory in the Division VII East District semifinals at Buckeye Trail Wednesday. 

Rook finished with 11 of his team-leading 18 points in the fourth quarter. 

Catholic Central’s Camden Bradley attempts a layup in front of Frontier’s Caleb Kirkpatrick and Kason Huff. - Andrew Grimm

“That’s who he is,” Central head coach Don Ogden said of Rook. “That’s the type of kid he is — when things are on the line and you need a clutch shot, he wants the ball and he produces. 

“I could not be prouder of these guys. It was a great game, thank goodness we came out on top.”

The top-seeded Crusaders (21-3) had led by as many as 10 in the opening half and nine early in the third quarter, but No. 3 seed Frontier (13-9) was not going to go away easily. 

The Cougars, led by a big performance from Avery Powell, battled back within two going to the fourth quarter and a Powell triple, one of his four in the game, just shy of two minutes into the final quarter put them on top briefly. 

Rook, who also tallied three rebounds and two assists, made his big shots at the other end, however, to make that lead short lived. While the margin did get trimmed to a single point in the final 15 seconds, the Crusaders never surrendered the lead again. 

GOING UP — Catholic Central’s Rahim Mitchell attempts a shot while Frontier’s Avery Powell tries to block during Wednesday’s Division VII East District semifinal at Buckeye Trail High School. Central prevailed, 51-47. - Andrew Grimm

“I watched them a couple times, they hung with Heartland Christian in the OVAC championship game and were winning it at one point, and Heartland beat us, so we knew they were going to be a tough opponent,” Ogden said. “I knew we had our work cut out for us and it was going to be a tough battle. Roger (Kirkpatrick) has been around a long time and is a great coach, they have a lot of talent.

“I thought at some times we made some mistakes and took some chances we didn’t need to, but we found a way and did just enough.”

Camden Bradley also reached double digits for Central with 11 points and a team-high seven rebounds. 

Powell, a junior who reached the 1,000-career point mark in the loss, netted a game-high 20 points with seven rebounds for the Cougars. Jacob Bowersock netted 18 points and also had seven boards. 

Central got off to a fast start, scoring the first six points of the game and leading 14-4 at the end of the first, but Frontier got its offense going in the second quarter and clawed all the way back before the Crusaders’ late push thwarted the comeback. 

Central did miss eight free throws in the fourth quarter, aiding the Frontier comeback bid, but made 15 of 24 at the line on the night, missing just once in the first three quarters. 

The Crusaders advance to take on No. 2 seed Bishop Rosecrans Saturday in the district championship game. That game will be played at the ECO Center in St. Clairsville with the opening tip set for 7 p.m.

Rosecrans defeated River 60-37 in the other semifinal on Thursday night. 

Central won the lone regular season meeting between the teams, 58-51, in overtime on Jan. 25. 

“It’s huge for these guys to get to play for a district trophy,” Ogden said. “They’re seniors, they know there’s no next year and we’re here, so we need to capitalize on the chance we have Saturday night.” 

OHSAA Division VII

East District Semifinal

at Buckeye Trail High School

No. 1 Catholic Central 51, No. 3 Frontier 47

F 4-15-14-14 – 47

C 14-9-12-16 – 51

FRONTIER (13-9): Powell 8 0-0 20; Kirkpatrick 0 0-0 0; Bowersock 8 2-3 18; Huff 2 0-0 6; King 0 0-0 0; Kephart 0 3-4 3. TOTALS: 18, 5-7; 47.

CENTRAL (21-3): Rook 5 5-6 18; Mihalyo 0 0-2 0; Pergi 2 3-6 7; Rohde 2 2-2 6; Bradley 3 5-7 11; Mitchell 3 0-1 6; Krupp 1 0-0 3. TOTALS: 16, 15-24; 51. 

3-POINT GOALS: Frontier 6 (Powell 4, Huff 2); Central 4 (Rook 3, Krupp). ASSISTS: Frontier 8 (Kirkpatrick 2, Bowersock 2, Kephart 2); Central 7 (Rook 2, Pergi 2). REBOUNDS: Frontier 25 (Powell 7, Bowersock 7); Central 24 (Bradley 7). STEALS: Frontier 4 (Powell, Kirkpatrick, Bowersock, Huff); Central 4 (Pergi 2). BLOCKS: Frontier 1 (Powell); Central 1 (Rohde). TURNOVERS: Frontier 10; Central 10.