Reed Platfoot finds space inside for the Tigers, who used his scoring down the stretch to shake off a Sidney Lehman comeback (PressPros Feature Photos by Sonny Fulks and Julie McMakin Wright).
They had a commanding halftime lead, and fought off a determined comeback by Lehman in the third quarter. Jackson Center advances to the regional round of the tournament with a 48-41 district final win.
Dayton, OH – They’ve been in this position before…plenty of times under former coach Scott Elchert. But Saturday’s 48-41 win over Lehman Catholic marked the first such district final win for first year coach Aaron Klopfenstein.
“I feel very blessed to be in this position,” he said afterwards. “We started 0-3, there’s been some adversity, and here we are now. We’re able to be here because of the buy-in by the kids. They’ve just been great.”
Lehman, 18-7 under coach Pat Carlisle, came out with an apparent case of stage fright and quickly fell behind 19-6 after the first quarter.
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But the Cavaliers have shown throughout the year a propensity for resilience, and this day was no different.
They cut the margin to 26-19 by halftime, outscoring Jackson Center 13-7 in the second quarter.
They did further damage at the start of the second half, cutting farther into Jackson’s lead at 29-27 at the 4:38 mark.
Jackson Center seniors Trever Huber, Lucas Hartle (3), Gavin McClintock (13) and Xavier Lowe (20) celebrate their district championship.
But from that point on, they would score just 7 points over the next 8 minutes, while Jackson Center rode the game-high 18 points by Lucas Hartle to a commanding 44-31 lead, and an eventual 48-41 win. Lehman’s subs did a credible job off the bench, scoring the Cavs’ last six points of the game.
“We relied upon quick possessions in the second quarter and that allowed Lehman to get into their transition game a bit,” said Klopfenstein. “Lehman excels in scoring in transition and that put our defense in a bad spot.
“In the third and fourth quarter, we controlled our offense a little better. We had a great scouting report, and when we got them back in the half court, we had a better opportunity to get shots of our own and deny them points in transition.”
Jackson Center relied on a strong game from Hartle on offense, supplemented by 12 points from Reed Platfoot.
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Lehman was led in scoring by Donovan O’Leary’s 11 points, with 8 points from Shane Frantz, 6 points from DaRon Pride, and 5 from Turner Lachey.
Jackson Center, who went to the regional round many times under Elchert, returns next week for the fourth time in the last five years for a rematch of a regular-season loss to Troy Christian.
Troy Christian 58, Miami Valley Christian Academy 32
By Bruce Hooley
Ray Zwadzki was kidding – probably – as he spoke about the tag-along he took to the top of the ladder to cut down the net after Troy Christian’s 58-32 victory over Miami Valley Christian Academy.
The little guy who clung happily to the rim as Zwadzki held him tightly with one arm and snipped the final strand of souvenir with the other is his second grandson, Griffin, age one.
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“I’m 60, so I’m going to be coaching 18 more years,” Zwadzki said. “That’s my goal. I have a reason to stay healthy and to stay active and to stay young and to keep doing this.”
There’s also another reason Zwadzki stays in fighting trim, and that motivation was readily apparent at the outset as his Eagles clamped down tightly on defense with their coach sliding, crouching and encouraging them loudly, as if part of the lineup himself.
“I tell my assistants all the time, ‘We set the tone,’ Zwadzki said. “Kids will follow. Kids want examples to follow. They want leaders. If I’m sitting there like a lump on a log, I’m going to get a lump on a log, in my opinion. And so the more assertive, the more aggressive I am, the more assertive and aggressive our kids will be.”
Parker Penrod attacks the hoop for two of his game-high 22 points.
It’s hard to argue with that logic given the way the Eagles frustrated Miami Valley Christian Academy throughout a first half in which the Lions had as many turnovers (10) as points.
“That’s the thing we’ve really locked in on this year,” said TC do-everything senior Alex Free. “We’ve worked really hard on our defense in practice. We’ve totally bought in.”
Despite not scoring in the first two minutes, Troy Christian was just fine, because MVCA didn’t score either.
Things would change quickly for the fourth-ranked Eagles (24-2), but not so much for their opponent, which remained tied up like a calf in a county-fair roping contest.
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“Playing on the UD court is a little different than playing at Troy Christian High School, so it took some time getting used to that,” said Parker Penrod, who scored 15 of his 22 points in the first half. “It’s a district final game, with big stakes. We have eight seniors, so we felt the pressure a little at the beginning, but I had confidence in our guys that we would adjust.”
Sure enough, TC’s 10-4 lead inched upward to 13-6 by the end of the first quarter and then its pressure quickened the pace even more to key a 7-0 burst to start the second period.
Penrod’s triple at 5:12 forced a timeout, which only delayed a getaway that grew off his three-pointer in the left corner and 15-footer from the right baseline.
In between, Penrod took a quick outlet from Frank Rupnik off the big man’s steal in the post and lofted a museum-worthy assist over the retreating defense that Free laid in.
Free returned the favor inside the final minute, finding Rupnik for the lay-in that built Troy Christian’s halftime lead to 31-10.
Frank Rupnik stuffed the stat sheet with seven points, nine rebounds, two blocks and two assists for the Eagles.
“No one can out-athletic Alex,” Penrod said of his 6-2 teammate, who finished with eight points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals. “He can jump out of the gym and he runs a million miles an hour. That’s pretty hard to stop. He’s a great athlete, but he’s also a great teammate. He finds guys in the open court. He rebounds for us and he’s been scoring a lot more lately, which is really great for us.”
Troy Christian will need all that and more to grab its second win of the season over Jackson Center in Tuesday’s regional semifinals at Trent Arena in Kettering.
The Eagles won at Jackson Center, 42-35, on January 6, a first in program history.
“Any time you play a Shelby County League team, you have to be ready,” Zwadzki said. “My one Achilles Heel since I’ve been at Troy Christian has been Shelby County League teams. We’ve been making changes to our program and our culture trying to get better and now more than likely we’ll have to face two if we want to get to the goal we set earlier in the year.”
Russia indeed awaits in the other regional semifinal at UD, playing Fisher Catholic in the 6 p.m. first game Tuesday before TC and JC tip off at 8.
“I expect it to be like it was when we went up there,” Zwadzki said. “It’s going to be a very competitive basketball game.”
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