Harvest Prep’s Brandon Roddy eludes Lutheran East defender Jess McCulloch for an early score. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Brian Bayless)
Coming in averaging close to 76 points per game, Harvest Prep met its match in the form of a talented and ferocious Lutheran East defense. The Falcons repeated as state champion and won their third title in four years.
Dayton, OH – Harvest Prep scored a smidge under 76 points per game during its run to the Division III state championship. That run was slowed to a crawl Sunday by Lutheran East.
“Whoever it was, we knew we’d have our best defensive effort today,” Falcons coach Sam Liggins said. “Our state finals and our bigger games against tough opponents tend to be tight and lower scoring. That’s the way we want it.”
With its feisty guards and intimidating Michigan State-bound 6-foot-10 senior center Jesse McCulloch paving the way, Lutheran East turned in a workmanlike performance in beating Prep 45-36 for a second straight title and third in four years at the University of Dayton Arena.
Veteran central Ohio columnist Steve Blackledge writes the OCC and sports at large for Press Pros.
“We did it with a brand of basketball you can appreciate,” Liggins said. “We play hard and we play defense.”
Prep (24-5) came in having been allowed under 60 points only four times all seasons. Its low-water mark was 54 in a loss to Division I Westerville South.
“We can defend and they can defend, so I didn’t think it would be an up and down game,” Warriors coach David Dennis Sr. said. “For us to hold them to 45 is really good. We just didn’t score. It was a bad day to miss shots.”
Prep shot 37.2 percent from the field and hit just 1 of 15 three-point shots. Leading scorer Adonus Abrams, who torched Ottawa-Glandorf for 26 points in Friday’s semifinal win, was held to six points and just five field goal attempts.
“Their defense made it tough to hit shots,” Abrams said. “I was being pressured a lot more than I usually am and it slowed me down.”
Jesse McCullough rejects the shot of Harvest Prep’s Khalil Daniel during the OHSAA Division III State Championship game in Dayton, Ohio.
Liggins, who was a hard-nosed guard on Lutheran East’s first state championship team in 2005, said several players volunteered to mark Abrams.
“Adonus is a tough guard, but we have guards who like to guard,” he said. “Chauncey (Brashers) is a ballhawk and put in a lot of great work today.”
Brashers handed out six assists and made four steals. Teammate Chris Hill added three steals.
While he scored a game-high 18 points, grabbed nine rebounds and blocked four shots, McCulloch was a defensive force by his mere presence. He often lurked at the top of the key, daring anyone to shoot it over him.
“He’s too big. He’s too good,” Dennis said. “For the most part, we made him work. We were scrambling. He did most of his damage on the offensive boards.”
Harvest Prep hung around in this one until the middle of the second quarter when Lutheran East went on a mini-run. The Falcons (23-5) then outscored the Warriors 7-2 in a downright defensive third quarter.
A fast break basket pulled Prep to 39-32 with 3:26 remaining, then the Warriors forced a 10-second backcourt violation. But Lutheran East made a stop, then scored on successive possessions to regain control.
Chris Hill gets past Harvest Prep’s Brandon Roddy for 2 of his 10 points.
These teams were not strangers to one another.
Harvest Prep beat Lutheran East 55-42 in the 2019 title game, the Warriors’ only championship. The Falcons eliminated the Warriors with a 65-44 semifinal win last March.
The six graduating seniors for Lutheran East will leave a legacy of winning three titles and making four state tournaments.
“These guys have embraced the philosophy when I came here that we’re just going to put down our head and try to outwork everybody,” Liggins said.
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