Ottawa-Glandorf’s Colin White slam dunks against Margaretta’s Julian Washington during Saturday’s Division III regional final at BGSU.
Richard Parrish | The Lima News
BOWLING GREEN — Ottawa-Glandorf booked its fourth consecutive trip to the state tournament with a 57-43 win over Castalia Margaretta on Saturday night in the Division III regional championship game at Bowling Green State University’s Stroh Center.
It’s almost becoming as much a part of the yearly school schedule at O-G as parent-teacher conferences or eighth-grade class trips are at some schools.
Colin White, a four-year starter who led Ottawa-Glandorf with 26 points against Margaretta, is the only Titan who has been part of all four of those trips to Columbus and Dayton.
“It’s special. Not a lot of people get to experience that one time, never mind four times,” White said.
“It’s going to be a special feeling to get down there this year. It’s a new group of guys every year. But playing with these guys for however long, it’s just going to be special going down there with them. Four years is pretty cool,” he said.
Ottawa-Glandorf (24-3) will play Canal Winchester Harvest Prep at 5:15 p.m. Friday in its state semifinal at the University of Dayton Arena.
O-G took the lead in the first minute of the game against Margaretta and never was behind. The Polar Bears stayed close in the first half and were down by only five points, 28-23, at halftime.
But the Titans applied more pressure defensively and on offense in the second half and led by 10 points or more for the final 11 minutes of the game.
“I’m extremely proud of our guys. Huge win. Unbelievable atmosphere. To have a sellout crowd and have these guys follow up with a great performance I think it is a testament to our guys, to our seniors, to our communities, just showing out all day today,” Ottawa-Glandorf coach Tyson McGlaughlin said.
Caden Erford, who along with White was described by McGlaughlin as “the heart and soul of what we do,” scored 13 points after being held scoreless in the first quarter.
“We said from the beginning it’s not about the final destination, it’s about the journey. And we’re going to make this journey as memorable as possible. Win or lose tonight, there is no way I would say this was a failure. These guys — this is what high school sports is about. When I coach, I want guys like this where they put everything on the line. That’s what I told them. Before the game I told them there’s one thing I want, I want maximum effort, leave it all on the court. These guys epitomize that.”
A familiar position
BOWLING GREEN — LCC has been no stranger to a second-half deficit this postseason.
The T-Birds played under the same circumstances one week ago in the district finals against Marion Local.
On Friday night at the Stroh Center in Bowling Green, LCC trailed again heading into the fourth quarter against Toledo Christian just like they did against the Flyers.
But with the help of another brilliant closing effort, LCC secured a 63-60 victory over Toledo Christian and officially punched their ticket to the state tournament in Dayton next week.
Toledo Christian closed out the third quarter on a 10-2 run, culminated by a putback as time expired from Conye Gaston to give the Eagles a 49-48 lead.
Gaston’s shot appeared to be a huge momentum-shifter, but once the fourth quarter started, LCC went on a 7-0 run, led by veterans Billy Bourk and Carson Parker, to take a 55-49 lead.
“That stretch shows how tough-minded our kids are,” LCC coach Sean Powell said. “At that point, there’s nothing we can really tell them. They’re a little down because of our mistakes, but in the fourth quarter, we had to take all of that back. Because of our leadership, we were able to do that.”
Toledo Christian made it a two-point game on three different occasions in the fourth quarter.
With 1:49 to go, Kalon Butler converted a three-point play to cut LCC’s lead to 60-58.
LCC turned the ball over on its next two possessions, giving Toledo Christian its best chance to tie the game came with 30.2 seconds left, but when Tyler Criss rebounded a missed shot to keep the Eagles’ possession alive, officials spotted his foot on the baseline.
When LCC got the ball back, Jordan Priddy broke the press and took the ball all the way to the hoop for a successful three-point play, sending LCC’s half of the Stroh Center into a frenzy.
LCC’s first game in Dayton is Friday at 10:45 a.m. against Berlin Hiland. Richmond Heights and Russia meet in the other D-IV semifinal at 2 p.m.
The winners will play in the Division IV State Championship game on Sunday at 10:45 a.m.
One man show
BOWLING GREEN — Beckett Bertke had a game for the ages and Shawnee nearly had a comeback to remember before being beaten 59-50 by Shelby in a Division II boys basketball regional semifinal Thursday night at Bowling Green State University’s Stroh Center.
Bertke, a 6-5 sophomore, scored 41 points on a night when many of the things that took Shawnee to 19 wins and to the regional were disrupted by Shelby’s height and aggressive defense.
He hit 17 of 32 shots, led his team in rebounds with 12, and was the only Shawnee player to score in the first half when he had all 16 of the Indians’ points.
Shawnee was never able to recover from that slow start but it did cut a 12-point Shelby lead to two points, 43-41, with a 10-0 run in the last minute and a half of the third quarter and the first two minutes of the fourth quarter.
Alex Bruskotter, a 6-7 guard who has signed with Wright State, responded by scoring three out of Shelby’s next four buckets and soon after that, the Whippets’ lead was back to 10 points with three minutes left in the game.
Bruskotter led Shelby’s scoring with 17 points. Brayden DeVito scored 13 points and Casey Lantz had 12 points.
“They’re really good at coming out and being the aggressors,” Shawnee coach Mark Triplett said. “I kind of preached to our kids all week that they come out and punch you. You’ve got to be ready to fight. We got down 23-7 and that’s a really bad place to be in any game but especially against a team like that.”
Triplett called Bertke’s performance “one of the more impressive high school games I’ve ever witnessed.”
“Forty-one (points) and 12 (rebounds) in a regional game. Are you kidding me? Against a team of that caliber? He put us on his back and gave us a chance. Our kids rallied around him and scrapped. They don’t care who’s scoring, they just want to win. He was sensational, I don’t know what else to say,” he said.
Plenty to go around
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 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
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.
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.
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.
“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 the Alex Wagners last week – different guys stepping up at different times.”
Consistently running
BOWLING GREEN — LCC coach Sean Powell has preached consistency to his team all year long.
His practice standards this week are the same ones he set during the first week of the season, and one of the main points of emphasis has been that if things aren’t perfect, his players will run.
On Monday at practice, LCC spent its first seven minutes running. That was a sign of things to come.
On Tuesday night in the Stroh Center, LCC ran again, especially in the first quarter, and that set the tone for a fast-paced 65-44 victory over Old Fort in the regional semifinals.
“They did a lot of pressing and trapping, so what you don’t want to do is get into a brawl where they can punch you first,” Powell said of LCC’s fast start. “If a team is going to press us, then we look to get up and down the floor early. Try and get a two or three-possession lead and then play the way we want to play.”
LCC had its first two-possession lead just over two minutes into the game, and with 3:13 left in the first quarter, the T-Birds had a three-possession lead at 14-6, but they didn’t seem satisfied with that.
LCC closed the first quarter on a 13-2 run, including a rim-rattling alley-oop from Carson Parker to Willie Foster, which put an exclamation mark on a 20-8 lead.
Old Fort never trimmed the deficit back under 10 and LCC’s lead grew as high as 24 points in the second half.
Jordan Priddy had a game-high 20 points with seven rebounds and four assists. Carson Parker added 13 points, seven rebounds, three assists and four steals. Willie Foster chipped in 13 points, five rebounds, and three steals.
An uncharacteristic ending
BOWLING GREEN — Pandora-Gilboa coach Mike Lee called his team’s start on Tuesday night “uncharacteristic.”
That was an accurate description for the Rockets, a sound offensive team, who didn’t get its first points until the 2:05 mark of the first quarter.
Although Pandora-Gilboa managed to fight its way out of that early hole and even take a second-quarter lead, a disastrous third quarter, which included an 11-0 run from Toledo Christian and a 1 for 13 shooting slump was the ultimate demise of the Rockets in a 51-43 regional semifinal loss at the Stroh Center at Bowling Green State University.
Pandora-Gilboa concluded its season at 23-3.
“We broke down in a couple of possessions where we didn’t rotate as well as we had earlier,” Pandora-Gilboa coach Mike Lee said of Toledo Christian’s run. “Then we got a little stagnant while they were active. We tried to survive as much as we could toward the end of the third, but they made it incredibly difficult on us with their quickness and ability to get to the rim.”
Aiden Harris scored a game-high 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Rockets.
Xandyr Hesson and Karter Koester each scored 13 points for Toledo Christian.
BOYS BASKETBALL RESULTS AND SCHEDULE
Friday
Division IV Regional Final
LCC 63, Toledo Christian 60
Saturday
Division III Regional Final
Ottawa-Glandorf 57, Margaretta 43
Friday
Division IV State Semifinal
LCC vs Berlin Hiland, 10:45 a.m.
Division III State Semifinal
Ottawa-Glandorf vs Canal Winchester Harvest Prep, 5:15 p.m.
Sunday
Division IV State Championship
TBD, 10:45 a.m.
Division III State Championship
TBD, 2 p.m.
GIRLS BASKETBALL RESULTS
Saturday
Division III State Championship
Columbus Africentric 58, Ottawa-Glandorf 47
