TROY — Botkins had some defensive problems late in regular season and did again in a Division IV sectional semifinal on Saturday, but its offense more than made up for it.

The Trojans started each half strong and beat Bellefontaine Calvary Christian 55-39 in a first-round tournament game at Troy High School’s Trojan Activities Center. They advance to face Triad in a sectional final on Wednesday.

The win was the 100th career win for Phil Groves, who is in his third season at the program’s helm. He coach Botkins’ girls for three years before taking over the boys program.

“It’s a great honor,” Groves said. “I’ve coached a lot of good players that have made me look good. I appreciate the opportunity to coach at Botkins.”

The Trojans lost three consecutive games in which they gave up 59 or more, but they finished the season with a 52-37 win over Anna last Friday and a 34-23 win over New Knoxville on Saturday.

“We had a great defensive weekend last weekend, but we’ve just got to do a little bit better job moving forward,” Groves said. “You’ve got to defend, and you’ve got to rebound. I thought we rebounded okay tonight. We just gave up too many easy baskets off their back screens. You take those seven, eight baskets away, it’s a total different ball game.”

“Defensively, we have work to do still, but this is a good first win,” Groves said. “Our guys played hard tonight.”

Botkins (17-6) quickly built a 9-2 lead in the first few minutes, but Calvary Christian played even the rest of the first half.

The Spartans pulled within 24-18 with about three minutes left in the second quarter, and neither team made a basket over the next two minutes. JJ Meyer drove inside and made a shot off the glass with about 30 seconds left to lift Botkins’ lead to eight points at halftime.

“We got off to a good start, then got in foul trouble, went to our bench and lost some of our intensity,” Groves said. “Ultimately, we didn’t execute our game plan as well as we would have liked. Our kids battled through the full course of the game, and in the end, we pulled it out down the stretch.”

The Trojans quickly ran away in the third quarter. They scored the first eight points to take a 34-18 lead and led 45-29 heading into the fourth.

“We knocked down some shots when we needed to,” Groves said. “… We had balance, and ultimately, I think that’s what we need to have in order to be successful.”

Jordan Herzog led Botkins with 19 points, all in the first three quarters. Collin Doseck scored 15 and Meyer finished with 10.

Botkins, which is the Dayton D-IV sectional’s No. 4 seed, advances to face No. 22 Triad (5-17) in a sectional final on Wednesday at Troy. The Cardinals have lost six games by five points or less, including a 57-53 loss to Lehman Catholic on Dec. 29.

“I’ve seen them live now twice,” Groves said. “They are the best five-win team I’ve seen ever. …They’re athletic, they get after it. We’ll have to play well to win.”

Calvary Christian finishes 13-6 overall. Wyatt Schlatter led the Spartans with 17 points while Philip Davie scored 15.

“They’re a fundamentally sound team and they run their chin offense effectively, and they’re well-coached,” Groves said. “We knew they’d be very disciplined offensively. We’ve just got to get better defensively.”

Southeastern 68, Houston 52

The No. 9 seed Trojans led from the start and ended the Wildcats’ season in the first sectional semifinal on Saturday in Troy.

Houston, which was the Dayton D-IV sectional’s No. 19 seed, finishes 4-19 overall. The Wildcats will lose two seniors to graduation in Rusty Vondenhuevel and Ethan Krieger.

Junior guard Skylar Bowman led Houston with 19 points, 17 of which came in the second half. Krieger scored 14.

The Trojans led 17-6 at the end of the first quarter, 32-21 at halftime and 45-36 at the end of the third.

Southeastern (16-7) advances to face No. 7 Lehman Catholic (16-6) in a sectional final on Wednesday in Troy. Lehman took a first-round bye.

Reach Bryant Billing at 937-538-4818, or follow @SidneyOHSports on Twitter and @BryantBillingSDN on Facebook.