Boys basketball: Ottawa-Glandorf works overtime to make state

BOWLING GREEN — Ottawa-Glandorf appeared in control of its Division III boys basketball regional championship game against Wayne Trace for most of the second half, but the Titans had to survive a basketball version of a Category 4 storm to finally get a 62-55 double-overtime win over the Raiders on Saturday afternoon at the Stroh Center.

The win sends O-G (24-3) to the state basketball tournament for a third consecutive season, where it will play Columbus Africentric in a Division III semifinal at 10:45 a.m, Saturday at the University of Dayton Arena.

Ottawa-Glandorf turned a 26-25 halftime lead into a nine-point lead by the end of the third quarter and was up by seven points, 47-40, with a minute and a half left in the game.

But that’s when the storm hit and the Titans did their best imitation of the Weather Channel’s Jim Cantore hanging on against the latest tropical storm he’s been sent out into to report on.

“Wayne Trace was better than we were today. It is what it is. They were better than us today,” Ottawa-Glandorf coach Tyson McGlaughlin said. “But these guys didn’t want to go down without a punch. We didn’t get down, we didn’t get frustrated, we didn’t get discouraged. We continued to fight.”

O-G led 47-44 in the final seconds of regulation before Wayne Trace’s Tyler Davis hit a 3-pointer to tie the game with seven seconds left on the clock.

Wayne Trace took a 51-48 lead in the first overtime. O-G clawed back into the lead at 53-52 but Wayne Trace tied it at 53-53 by the end of that OT.

The Titans dominated the second overtime when they scored seven unanswered points in the first three minutes and Wayne Trace could manage only a pair of free throws.

Colin White led Ottawa-Glandorf’s scoring with 17 points, 15 of which came in the fourth quarter and the two overtimes. He also led the Titans in rebounds with 11. Caden Erford had 16 points and Theo Maag had 14 points.

“I thought we did a tremendous job on Colin White. But when the game was on the line he took it over,” Wayne Trace coach Jim Linder said.

Kyle Stoller scored 19 points and Brooks Laukhuf had 16 points to lead Wayne Trace (21-7).

After those two players combined for 29 of Wayne Trace’s 34 points in a regional semifinal win over Canton Central Catholic some people doubted the other Raiders’ ability to score against O-G’s defense. But their other three starters contributed 19 points on Saturday.

If the second overtime was the ultimate decisive moment in the game, the third quarter was No. 2 on the list of turning points.

It started when Wayne Trace had to call a timeout 19 seconds into the second half to avoid a 5-second call, then was whistled for a 5-second call immediately after the timeout.

The Raiders’ next six possessions produced an airball, another shot that didn’t even hit the rim, a traveling violation, another shot that didn’t reach the rim, one made free throw, and a turnover. O-G’s lead went from 26-25 to 35-26 during the first 5:10 of the third quarter.

“In the locker room at halftime the coaches said we were going to need the best defense we’ve had all year. We came out and did what we could and tried to give it our best on the defensive end,” Erford said.

Linder said, “They wear you down, they really wear you down and not only does it wear you down physically, it wears you down mentally.”

But he said the Raiders “got our second burst of wind” after that. And that’s when the Titans found themselves in the eye of a storm.

“This is the fourth time in a row we’ve played them, if I’m not mistaken, three times in the district. Each time we’ve closed the gap a little. We thought we closed it enough today but we didn’t quite get the break we needed,” Linder said.

McGlaughlin said, “I think this is what high school basketball is all about. This isn’t a 2023 or 2022 battle or rivalry. This goes back. This is a long-standing rivalry.”

Ottawa-Glandorf was the Division III state runner-up last season when it won 53-48 over Africentric in its semifinal and lost 48-45 to Cincinnati Taft in the state championship game. Two years ago it was beaten 58-52 by Cleveland Lutheran East in a Division III state semifinal.

Returning to the state tournament this season was always a goal for the Titans.

“At the beginning of the season we all had a goal. The first goal was winning the WBL and we did but the true goal was to get back to Dayton and we have some guys who were going to do anything in their power to get back and I think that’s what we did today,” Erford said.

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Reach Jim Naveau at 567-242-0414.

Jim Naveau
Jim Naveau has covered local and high school sports for The Lima News since 1978 and Ohio State football since 1992. His OSU coverage appears in more than 30 newspapers. Naveau, a Miami University graduate, also worked at the Greenville Advocate and the Piqua Daily Call. He has seen every boys state basketball tournament since 1977. Reach him at [email protected] or 567-242-0414.