Versailles’ Jace Watren drives to the rim during his 15-point outburst in the third quarter of Wednesday’s 68-43 regional win over Mariemont. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
Between the two of them, Carson Heitkamp and Jace Watren scored 40 of Versailles 68 points to blow past Cincinnati Mariemont and into Saturday’s Division III regional finals.
Kettering, OH – It’s easy, and cliche’ to say…that no one saw this coming.
And it’s easy, too, to say that without the 21 points of Carson Heitkamp and 19 from Jace Watren the Versailles Tigers would not still be playing basketball this weekend…and would not be playing in a regional final game for a spot in next week’s OHSAA Final Four at UD Arena.
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But Horatio Alger wrote in the 19th century that regardless of where you’ve been, there’s no limit to where you can go if you’re persistent enough – relentless!
Heitkamp, a 6’5″ senior, and Watren, a 5’11” junior were superb Wednesday at Trent Arena, scoring 40 of the Versailles Tigers’ total of 68 points in a 25-point thrashing (68-43) of the Mariemont Warriors (19-7) in the Division III regional semi-final…a team heretofore known for its ability to spread the floor and make opposing teams defend all the options, notably senior guard Charlie Tully.
But none of that came to pass in the course of a second half rout, fueled by a 15-2 run by Versailles to start the third quarter, and fifteen points by Watren that saw him drive and attack the rim time, after time…after time. Kinda’ like what Cyndi Lauper sings about.
Competitive for the first eight minutes, it became a Versailles sprint to the end over the final three, on their way to their 15th win of the season…while opening more eyes for their seeming ability to play better with each succeeding tournament start.
Carson Heitkamp fights through traffic to score two of his game-high 21 points.
“We’ll take it,” said coach Travis Swank. “We ran our stuff really well. Our guys are starting to believe in what we’re doing here, and good things are happening for us because we’re executing.”
Yes, they executed, and a coach’s dream when you get one layup after another. They screened, passed and executed so well that Mariemont simply couldn’t get between the rim and the ball. The term ‘help defense’ was as foreign as Mandarin shorthand. Drake Ahrens…Jace Watren…AJ Griesdorn…and Carson Heitkamp got to the rim at will, and rarely did anyone challenge.
Tied at the 14 after eight minutes, Versailles turned to Heitkamp and a Watren three-pointer (their only three-pointer) to pull away on an 8-2 run in the second quarter and go to the halftime locker room with a 28-19 lead. The feeling in the Mariemont stands was that they’d get it sorted out in the third quarter, that Charlie Tully would get untracked, and they’d be fine.
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Jace Watren, and company, quashed that plan in the first two minutes.
Watren scored on three consecutive drives to the rim and all within the first minute of the second half. Mariemont came up empty on their end, or turned the ball over, and Versailles always had a man there for the rebound or the recovery…always had a man streaking for the rim at the other end…and more often than not that man was Watren. The Tigers’ junior finished with 15 points for the quarter – 7 of 8 shooting from the floor and a lone made free throw. The Tigers, on that 15-2 run, all but ended any hopes that the Warriors had for sorting things out.
Relentless…Drake Ahrens attacks the rim for two points during the Tigers’s 40-point second half.
Carson Heitkamp, as he did on Tuesday, got warm in the fourth to put the finishing touches on a 21-point night, scoring 8 points in near succession in the final eight minutes.
AJ Griesdorn, in addition to scoring 11 points, had about that many rebounds, give or take, and his contribution gave the Tigers four men in double figures – Heitkamp (21), Watren (19), Griesdorn (11), and Drake Ahrens, who also finished the game with seven assists. His best was a no-look, over-the-head flip downcourt to a wide open streaker to the rim during their 15-2 outburst.
Mariemont’s Charlie Tully finished the game with a team-high 14 points.
Travis Swank characterized the game – the performance – this way.
“When you execute on the offensive end you’re putting the ball in the basketball. And when you put the ball in the basket everything comes easier. Earlier in the year we weren’t doing that like we are now, we’re in a good groove, and hopefully we can continue that on Saturday.
“And credit to our scout team, they’ve been doing a heckuva’ job during our tournament run, they get us prepared, and our guys are relentless. That was our word for the night…we wanted to be relentless.”
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As confirmed by the difference in rebounds. Versailles had 40-plus for the game. Mariemont had less than 20.
The next hurdle will be Preble Shawnee in Saturday’s regional final, and a 6’5″ scoring machine named Mason Shrout, the first high school player from Preble County to surpass 2,000 points in a career and a commit to attend Purdue-Fort Wayne next fall. Shrout scored 19 points in the Arrows’ 49-35 advance over Tri-Village earlier in the evening, and poses the single-biggest individual threat to Versailles yet in this five-game tournament run.
Faces in the stands…broadcaster Thom Brennaman was there to cheer on the Mariemont Warriors.
“We don’t want to squander this opportunity, that’s what we talked about in the locker room,” said Swank. “Something like this doesn’t come around very often. I haven’t had this opportunity since 2013 when I was a young coach with Scott McEldowney, so you cannot let these opportunities pass you by.”
Largely unheralded at 15-11, Swank knows that given the strength of schedule throughout the year…the 11 losses says as much as their 15 wins.
“If we can come out and play as hard as we can for 32 minutes you can walk away a winner,” he added, no doubt confident over four players in double figures Wednesday and a sudden infectious attitude of rags to riches.
No one saw this coming a month ago.
But that’s exactly why Horatio Alger wrote all those books. You can look it up.
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