SCL, MAC and CCC postseason success
By Tim Langevin
What a ballroom blitz. What a bash of basketball this past weekend delivered as PRONOUNCEMENT WEEK thus endeth.
Two photo-finishes highlighted the boys D-IV district finals games Friday at UD Arena. Also, the Minster boys advanced to the regionals for the first time since 2005. And on Saturday, two SCL girls teams punched their own tickets to the Final Four in Columbus. A MVP special. Read all about it….
HOUSTON 62 LOCKLAND 56
Houston’s Jacob Benanzer was outstanding, scoring a career high 27 points. The 6′ 3″ senior guard was versatile, mobile, and hostile. In short, he was deadly. Entering the contest, Benanzer averaged 9.3 points per game. This night the JJ Reddick look alike was “bombs away”, converting 9-of-11 field goals, 4-of-5 from beyond the arc, and 5-of-6 from the foul line.
Houston coach John Willoughby simply said, “He can play with anybody. He got us going early and that was key.”
Benanzer said, “It’s hard to describe. It feels amazing. It felt good all game. It’s more than I can imagine.”
It’s more than a lot of folks could imagine as the Wildcats took it to a talented and athletic Lockland team right out of the lockerroom. Benanzer set the tone with a three from the corner and two foul shots as Houston jumped out to a 5-0 lead.
Dylan Wedlock broke the ice with a free throw, but Houston responded with a 10-0 run to take a huge 15-1 advantage. Travis Anderson bombed a three. Jacob Monnier scored in the paint. Anderson scored again off a steal and the layup and Benanzer bombed another three.
“I was glad to see we got off to a great start,” said Willoughby. “I knew no lead is safe against a team like Lockland. But we did a nice job of cutting off their penetration.”
The Panthers countered with the 1-2 punch of Wedlock and DJ Wingfield to cut the lead 17-10 after the first quarter. Wingfield stroked a 17-footer and scored again on an inside spin move and Wedlock added a three from the corner.
But like all game, whenever Lockland made a run, Benanzer retaliated with a key basket. This time it was a three and a bucket in the paint to build a 22-14 lead.
Houston led most of the way, but the Panthers took the lead 31-29 on a Wedlock three from the corner with 4:32 left in the third quarter. Wedlock finished the game with a team high 18 points.
But like all game, Benanzer tied it with a drive to the rack and then Anderson scored in the paint and the Wildcats never trailed again, extending the margin 53-43 on a nifty stop and pop from 10 feet out by Josh Redd.
Derek Estes, Redd, and Benanzer took the scary out of the game in the fourth quarter with clutch ball-handling and free throw shooting. The Wildcats drained 8-of-10 throws down the stretch and made 16-of-20 on the night.
Estes finished with eight points, including 4-of-5 from the line with four rebounds and three assists. But it was his heady floor play, not fore-play, that tamed the Panther press in the final minutes of the game.
Estes said, “This feels great. My brother was on the other district title teams that won three in a row. Now I got one. Last year and the year before we got knocked out in the first round. It all started with big win over Loramie.”
He added, “Our man to man help defense packed the middle and that slowed them down. Also, we had some turnovers in the end, but we passed well and looked up the floor.”
Anderson came up big with 12 points, eight above his season average. The senior guard was 5-of-10 from the field, including 2-of-4 from three-point-land.
Redd and Monnier each finished with seven points.
“Our rebounding was key, especially when they did make runs at us. We were able to hold on. We did a great job of passing over the press,” said Willoughby. “I was pleased with our defense. We went with a totally different scheme. Went back to help-man defense. Clog the middle. Against Loramie we played more of a deny-defense.”
Houston captured its fourth district crown in six years and improve to 18-5 overall. More important, the Wildcats have a date with Minster in the regional semifinals tonight at Trent Arena at 8:00 PM.
Minster beat Houston 66-63 during the regular season in late January.
Willoughby concluded, “Just look at the crowd. What a sight. Fun to play. that’s why this team plays so hard. They don’t want to disappoint the crowd.”
Yes indeed. That’s what makes small school basketball in this area so unique. Nothing against Lockland, but only a handful of spectators were present compared to the sea of red.
FRANKLIN MONROE 62 LEHMAN CATHOLIC 58
The second game was an instant classic with nine lead changes and four ties. But the highlight reel belonged to Lehman senior guard Tyler Steinke, who scored 23 points, including a flurry of 12 points just under three minutes to almost post a dramatic comeback.
However, no poetic justice to this cruel tournament story.
After Steinke dropped three threes and stroked a 10-footer, Lehman cut a 12-point deficit to 60-57 with 9.7 tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock left. The 5′ 7″ speedster caught the ball on the left wing, dribbled to his right, pump-faked from 22 feet out, drew the contact, and heaved it.
Foul. Steinke stepped to the line with a chance to tie it with three foul shots with 1.9 seconds left. Teammates Connor Richard and Joe Staley, standing at midcourt, couldn’t bear to watch and faced the other way.
Steinke calmly swished the first. He missed the second wide right. He missed the third intentionally with the hope of a tip in. It never happened and the Jets escaped with the win.
Lehman coach Isaiah Williams said, “Tyler has that iron will. Not to be denied. He’s strong and battles defensively. He made the key shots all season. He is my MVP.”
Tyler Schrodi and Van Spitler paced the Jets with 17 and 14 points, respectively, as (23-1) Franklin-Monroe advances to a regional semifinal contest against defending state champs Dayton Jefferson tonight at Trent Arena at 6:15 PM.
Speaking of poetic justice, Franklin-Monroe coach Marcus Bixler left Piqua two seasons ago with a 14-28 record to find greener pastures. He succeeded as the Jets have been on the rise since last season’s 13-10 mark.
Bixler said, “I’ve been lucky. This group has been fun all season. They work their butts off and do what we ask. They remind me of the Piqua kids. I just wish they could have experienced what these kids are experiencing. Very competitive bunch.”
Senior Nick Cordonnier added 12 points for the Cavs and junior Alex Baker tallied 10 points. Joe Staley scored nine.
Lehman finishes a roller-coaster season 12-12, but the first-year coach is optimistic about the future.
“We have one starter back in Alex baker and a slew of freshmen and sophomores. It might take awhile to get going, but we have all summer to work with them. I feel happy about next year. We got such a late start this season due to the football team’s success.”
MINSTER 66 SPENCERVILLE 59
Minster built double-digit leads throughout the game and sealed the deal in the fourth quarter from the charity stripe to preserve the win at the Wapakoneta district title game Friday.
The usual suspects were Ross Heitkamp with 23 points, Devon Poeppelman with 15 and Doug Huber added 14 points.
Chase Paxson was the ring-leader with four points and 10 assists.
It was the second time Minster defeated Spencerville this season. The Wildcats won 62-53 back in December.
And it will be the second time (18-5) Minster faces (18-5) Houston. Only this time it will be in the regional semifinals on a much bigger stage. The Wildcats beat the Wildcats 66-63 in late January. Minster that is.
ANNA 69 RICHWOOD NORTH UNION 45
Ready for take-off Lady Rockets?
Defense…Check. Full-court Press…Check. Inside Offense…Check. Outside Offense…Check.
Anna blasted another opponent and this time Rebecca Burch blasted out of the gym with a game high 27 points. Last year’s SCL Player of the Year set the mood with 16 points in the first half. The senior guard finished 11-of-17 from the field and canned 5-of-7 from the line.
Anna led 37-13 at the break and continued blasting from the perimeter in the second half.
Megan Fogt recorded another double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Natalie Billing added 11 points and Carrie Watkins tacked on nine.
Anna has totally dominated the D-III tournament landscape, winning six games by a margin of 38.2 points. This is a compliment. It’s like boys against girls.
Everybody knows about Fort Loramie’s disturbing loss to Harvest Prep in the state semifinals last year. But Anna has a vendetta to resolve, also. The Lady Rockets suffered a 41-40 regional semifinal loss to Versailles last year.
Anna improves to 25-1 on the year, their only loss a 64-63 verdict at Tippecanoe in early December. Since then, the Rockets have rattled off 21 straight wins.
Anna faces (23-2) Fort Recovery from the MAC Friday in the state semifinals at 1:00 PM at Value City Arena in Columbus. It will be Anna’s first state appearance since 1982 and second overall.
Fort Recovery has won 14 straight, including a stunning 56-50 win over state-ranked Columbus Africentric in the regional finals Saturday.
Tough game to predict because Anna and Fort Recovery beat common opponents Fort Loramie, Marion Local, and New Knoxville by similar margins. However, the Rockets beat Minster by 16 points and the Indians lost to Minster by two points.
FORT LORAMIE 66 TRI-VILLAGE 54
The second team to advance to the big dance from the SCL is the Lady Redskins. They will be making an encore appearance and looking to settle the score with Harvest Prep, that is if both teams prevail Thursday.
But first, Loramie needs to take care of business against (26-0) Shadyside. Game time is 6:00 PM. And (25-1) Harvest Prep needs to beat (23-2) Reedsville Eastern at 8:00 PM.
This game was tight the first half. Loramie led 23-22 after an explosive first quarter and 36-30 at half. But opened the third quarter with five steals en route to a 52-40 lead they maintained the rest of the way.
On a mission, Janel Olberding paced the scoring attack with 19 points. The senior leader added six assists and four steals to her performance. Clair Ruhenkamp posted a double-double with 10 points and 11 boards. But it has been Tessa Benanzer’s play of late, adding a new dimension to the Loramie offense. She scored 12 points, including two threes.
In all, Loramie converted nine threes for the game to offset the scoring of Kayla Linkous with 23 points for the Patriots.
Fort Loramie will be making its sixth trip to the state tournament, and the third under Loramie coach Carla Siegel, who has 228 wins in 12 seasons.
Senior Brooke Turner told the SDN, “Coach made us watch tape of the game at state last year. And it was tough to watch and tough to handle. We’re happy to be going back, but we’re not satisfied. We know what we have to do.”
| 
