Ronald Taylor puts up a floater in the lane against Preble Shawnee, scoring 2 of his 21 points on the night. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Brian Bayless)
Ronald Taylor and Jesse McCulloch combined for 37 points and 18 rebounds, powering defending champion Lutheran East to an easy win over out-manned Preble Shawnee. The Falcons will shoot for their third state title in four years.
Dayton, OH – Coach Sam Liggins reads the social media memes about how his Cleveland Heights Lutheran East basketball is just another collection of all-stars.
“Our players and coaches, we read the Tweets about home grown teams and all of that, but I should point out that all of our seniors are four-year guys here and they’ve put in a lot of hard work to get to this point,” Liggins said.
The Falcons, who lost two key players to transfer in the offseason, will be shooting for a third state title in four years on Sunday.
Buoyed by its tenacious defense, Lutheran East jumped out to a 17-0 lead and buried Preble Shawnee 63-44 in a Division III state semifinal Friday at University of Dayton.
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Second-ranked in the Associated Press state poll, Lutheran East (22-5) will face sixth-ranked Harvest Prep (24-4) at 2 p.m. for the state title. The Falcons, who have played in seven straight final fours, will shoot for title No. 4 overall.
“When you get to the state final four, you get that extra burst of excitement and I think that might have helped spur us to that big start,” Liggins said. “We’ve been a defensive-minded team all year long and we’re going to lean on our defense.”
It took shell-shocked Preble Shawnee (24-4) nearly seven minutes to get on the scoreboard and nine minutes to record its first field goal.
Mason Shrout forces his way past a Lutheran East defender in an OHSAA Division III state semifinal at UD Arena in Dayton, Ohio.
“Obviously, the first quarter is something we’re going to look back at as the difference in the game,” Arrows coach Jake Turner said. “We had a difficult time adjusting to their physicality and speed. Getting down like that, we basically had to throw our whole game plan out of the window.”
Eventually, Shawnee whittled a 20-point halftime deficit to 10 and had a roaring crowd amped up, but Lutheran East responded with a flurry of baskets to end the threat.
Six-four senior Ronald Taylor had 21 points and seven rebounds to pace The Lue. Michigan State-bound 6-10 forward Jesse McCulloch added 16 points and 11 rebounds.
The Falcons outrebounded the Arrows 31-17 and scored 32 points in the paint.
Mal’si Pearson looks for a passing lane against Preble Shawnee.
Mason Shrout scored 18 points and Brody Morton 16 for Shawnee, which was making its first trip to the final four. Shrout, who came in averaging 24.1 points per game, went 5 of 18 from the field and 2 of 10 from three-point range.
“We always use our defense to pick up the offense and tonight was no different,” said Taylor, who made 5 of 7 three-pointers.
Taylor and McCullough spoke of all the late nights in the gym preparing for this moment.
“These guys are gym rats,” Liggins said.
Preble Shawnee will relish a once-in-a-lifetime run, including impressive regional wins over New Madison Tri-Village and Versailles to get here.
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“When we get into our set and slow things down, we can compete with anybody,” Shroud said, “but to Lutheran East’s credit, they didn’t let us do that. I’m not going to leave here disappointed. It took a lot of work to get here and represent our community, our county and even some of the surrounding counties who supported us.”
Added Turner, “The only reason I’m upset is that this is the last time I’ll get to coach this team. This group was special and I love them to death.”
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