Landon Vanderwarker gets free on a breakaway and throws down a monster dunk in the third quarter during a momentum-shifting rally by the Pacers. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Brian Bayless)
In its first state tournament appearance, Delaware Hayes had perennial power Cleveland St. Ignatius on the ropes, but was doomed by costly turnovers down the stretch and lost to the Wildcats 55-54.
Dayton, OH – Fully aware of the herculean task ahead in facing a Cleveland St. Ignatius basketball team with five players ranging from 6-feet-5 to 6-10, Delaware Hayes coach Adam Vincenzo dusted off gladiator sticks to use in practice.
“It’s still tough to simulate that kind of height in practice,” Vincenzo said. “It’s tough to prepare for what they throw at you pressure-wise with 5-8 scout kids.”
While Pacers accounted extremely well for themselves in their first Division I state tournament experience, ultimately their inability to handle the Wildcats’ furious full-court pressing and trapping sealed their doom in a 54-53 defeat before 5,858 mostly orange-clad fans in the University of Dayton Arena.
Veteran central Ohio columnist Steve Blackledge writes the OCC and sports at large for Press Pros.
Delaware led St. Ignatius – No. 1 in the MaxPreps RPI power rankings and second in the final Associated Press media poll – by three in the final minute.
Damon Friery hit a driving layup with 51 seconds left to pull the Wildcats to 53-52.
CSI trapped Carter Piatt-Brown in the corner and forced him to call a timeout just before drawing a 10-second backcourt violation. Ignatius then trapped Jake Lowman, who took another timeout. Moments after the inbound, the Wildcats stole the ball.
Quinn Woidtke got the go-ahead basket on a hard drive to the basket with 13 seconds left.
Out of time outs, Delaware still had a chance to pull off the victory but Lowman missed a three-pointer at the top of the key and a follow on the baseline by Piatt-Brown didn’t fall.
“We’ve been in a lot of close games with good teams and I think that paid off tonight,” St. Ignatius coach Cam Joyce said. “We just kept fighting and fighting, kept believing and fortunately things went our way.”
Jeremiah Russell gets nothing but net in the first half of play in the DI State Semifinal game at UD arena in Dayton.
Trailing by as many as 11, the Pacers used their defense to create fast break opportunities and went on a sizzling 16-2 run in the third quarter to take command.
It was nip and tuck all the way to the final horn.
After Vincenzo opted to take the air out of the ball, Joyce extended the defense and eventually turned to an all-out press.
“At that point, I just didn’t want to foul and I hoped that by trapping and pressing, we might be able to force a deflection or get a steal,” Joyce said. “They don’t have a lot of great ball-handlers. We thought they were kind of reeling trying to get it down the court, so we turned up the heat.”
While Hayes had its moments, attacking St. Ignatius was a constant headache. In addition to shooting 34 percent from the field, the Pacers had nine shots blocked.
“Those guys are long and physical and can guard,” Vincenzo said. “We had the ball in awkward spots.”
Landon Vanderwarker scored 21 points, grabbed nine rebounds and blocked four shots to lead Delaware (27-2) while Ohio University-bound Jesse Burris added 17 points and eight boards.
“They were super long and seemed like every shot we took was either blocked, contested or smothered,” Vanderwarker said.
Jesse Burris gets past St. Ignatius defender Reece Robinson for a layup during a 3rd quarter rally that saw Hayes turn a 9 point deficit into a 4 point advantage.
Said Burris: “Their length and athleticism makes it very hard on opponents, especially when you get in the paint.”
Friery had 16 points and Woidke 15 to pace St. Ignatius (25-3), which will meet the Centerville-Toledo Whitmer winner at 8:30 p.m. Sunday for the title. The Wildcats’ last title came in 2001.
For Delaware, the defeat capped a historic season in which it won only its second district championship and made the final four for the first time.
“What a high-level game,” Vincenzo said. “That’s what the state tournament is all about. “We had a vision going into this season and it’s not going away. We’re losing three seniors but we’ve got a lot back, though. I just feel bad for the seniors right now, but we’ll be back. These guys raised the bar for the program going forward.”
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