Ottawa-Glandorf’s Grant Schroeder (3) looks to shoot between Emmanuel Christian’s Jacob Sims, left, and Kayden Lightner during the Titans’ 70-49 win in a boys basketball Division III regional semifinal at Bowling Green State University’s Stroh Center on Wednesday night.
BOWLING GREEN – Ottawa-Glandorf’s 70-49 win over Toledo Emmanuel Christian in a Division III boys basketball regional semifinal Wednesday night was a land of plenty for the Titans.
Plenty of Colin White (36 points). Plenty of contributions from the rest of the Titans. And plenty of talent on the team it dominated and sent home with a 21-point loss.
O-G (23-3) led the entire game. It went up 23-6 by the end of the first quarter, had a 36-19 lead at halftime and led by as many as 26 points early in the fourth quarter
Emmanuel Christian (22-4) had its moments, but O-G hand many, many more.
The first quarter was like a Colin White sampler, with almost all his talents on display to be enjoyed.
The 6-6 senior hit all seven of his shots in that quarter on several drives to the rim, a 15-footer and a 3-pointer. He had a steal, which led to the first of his four dunks, and he blocked a shot. He finished the game 12 of 15 on field goals, 11 of 11 on free throws and pulled down six rebounds.
Caden Erford scored 14 points and Grant Schroeder had 10 points. Nate Miles III, a 6-5 sophomore who some recruiting analysts rank in the top five sophomores in Ohio, and Jalen Brown led Emmanuel Christian with 19 points.
The Titans will play Castalia Margaretta (24-3) in the Division III regional championship game at Bowling Green State University on Saturday.
Margaretta defeated Worthington Christian 69-59 in Wednesday’s other regional semifinal, led by 6-4 sophomore Julian Washington’s 26 points, 23 of them in the second half.
Ottawa-Glandorf coach Tyson McGlaughlin said, “Obviously, it was a big win for our guys tonight. I thought we came out with the right mindset. I thought our guys played extremely hard. You get to this level and everybody you play is extremely talented.
“Nothing was easy. The Miles kid is a special kid who has a bright future. They’re obviously talented. We knew we had our work cut out for us but I thought our guys really rose to the occasion.
“Twenty-two (White’s number) is pretty good,” he said, with intentional understatement, “but it’s (also) the Grants (guard Grant Schroeder) and the Daves (center Dave Westrick) and and the Alex Wagners last week – different guys stepping up at different times.”
McGlaughlin emphasized that point by bring Schroeder (10 points, two assists) and Westrick (two offensive rebounds for buckets and six rebounds), along with White, to his post-game press conference.
Schroeder said, “I definitely felt more aggressive, like in driving, knocking down my shot and passing the ball to the people who were open.”
While the offense got most of the attention during O-G’s fast start, McGlaughlin also liked what he saw defensively in the early going.
“Defensively we were swarming around and made things tough on them,” he said. “We wanted to get our crowd involved. That’s a huge advantage for us. To get off to a good start and get them active, that’s something we thought could really play into our hands. I’m not sure if Emmanuel Christian has seen a crowd like that. You have to use everything you’ve got.”
White talked about the chemistry the Titans showed in a win which puts them one victory away from a fourth consecutive trip to the state tournament.
“We’ve been playing together for a long time. It’s been a lot of years. So that chemistry we have is contagious. If we’re passing it around, if everybody is passing it around, we’re getting the best shots possible. Tonight we knocked them down,” he said. “A lot of guys can hit a lot of shots. We can come at you in many different ways.”
Ottawa-Glandorf shot 56 percent on field goals (25 of 44), was 16 of 17 on free throws and had a 28-18 rebounding edge. Emmanuel Christian shot 43 percent (19 of 44).
Ottawa-Glandorf 70, Emmanuel Christian 49
Score by quarters:
Ottawa-Glandorf 23 13 19 15 — 70
Emmanuel Christian 6 13 18 12 — 49
OTTAWA-GLANDORF
Grant Schroeder 10, Grady Toumazos 4, Dave Westrick 4, Colin White 36, Caden Erford 14, Ross Maag 2. Totals: 25-16-70.
EMMANUEL CHRISTIAN
Kayden Lightner 6, Jalen Brown 19, Nate Miles 19, Antwoine Mister 3, Zalieya Usrey-Martin 2. Totals: 19-7-49.
Three-pointers: OG — Erford 2, White 1, Schroeder 1; EC — Brown 3, Miles 1.
Records: Ottawa-Glandorf 23-3; Emmanuel Christian 22-4
