Ottawa-Glandorf’s Levi Unterbrink tries to get the ball away from Cincinnati Princeton’s Dorian Williams during Saturday night’s game at Lima Senior. See more high school basketball photos at LimaScores.com.
Don Speck | The Lima News
It was almost the comeback of the year.
Ottawa-Glandorf was 15 points behind at halftime and 15 points behind after three quarters against Cincinnati Princeton in the Coach Q Holiday Classic on Saturday night at Lima Senior and still had three shots in the final seconds that would have won the game.
But Princeton hung on for a 53-52 boys basketball decision over the Titans who couldn’t quite overcome a slow start.
“That was a really good battle for us. Princeton is a phenomenal team. They’re extremely physical and athletic. They were able to ride us for 32 minutes. Our guys did a better job of embracing that contact and trying to make plays in the second half,” Ottawa-Glandorf coach Tyson McGlaughlin said
“Our guys just kept fighting. That’s a credit to them. At halftime I said, ‘I don’t care what happens here but I want to be the more physical team in the second half.’ I thought our guys played with a little more urgency. They played really hard. But it’s hard to tell them after that game they fell a little bit short because they did everything they needed to do to win that game.”
One scoring drought might have been manageable for O-G. But two of them made it tough.
Ottawa-Glandorf was outscored 10-2 in the final two minutes of the first quarter, then put only two points on the scoreboard in the first seven minutes of the second quarter.
But O-G still almost pulled out the win. It got an open outside shot and two offensive rebound follows in heavy traffic in the lane on its final possession.
Princeton (6-1) built a 32-17 halftime lead. In the first two quarters the Vikings hit 50 percent of their shots, made three 3-pointers, forced 9 turnovers and had a 16-14 rebounding edge. O-G shot 35 percent on field goals (8 of 23), including 3 of 13 on 3-pointers.
O-G went out to an 11-6 lead in the game’s first five minutes before Princeton’s defensive pressure began to cause problems for the Titans (4-2).
Colin White’s 19 points led Ottawa-Glandorf. Theo Maag had 12 points and 13 rebounds and Caden Erford scored 12 points.
O-G pulled to within one point, 53-52, on a drive by White with 33 seconds to play, then got Princeton’s Dorian Williams to miss two free throws set up their final attempt. Kevin Ordano led Princeton with 19 points.
In other games on Saturday in the invitational, Mason defeated Columbus Linden-McKinley (no score reported), Cincinnati Woodward won 96-69 over Cleveland East Tech, Dayton Dunbar beat Chandler Park (Mich.) 79-61, and Perrysburg was an 81-74 winner over Columbus Walnut Ridge in overtime.
Reach Jim Naveau at 567-242-0414.
