Russia’s Vince Borchers barges through the Northside defense to the rim for 2 of his team-high 21 points. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
Russia once again showed its dominance in the new Division VII of basketball, chewing up Northside Christian with a running clock in the regional semi-final at Vandalia Butler.
Vandalia, OH – At the conclusion of Wednesday night’s first of two Division VII regional semi-finals at Butler High School, Russia and Northside Christian (out of Columbus) gathered at midcourt for a post-game prayer.
Had they known, they might have done it before the game because Russia, the #1 seed and the now presumed #1 team in the state would go on to blow out Northside, 55-16, leaving most of the veteran tournament watchers sitting in the front row of seats to ask themselves……..
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“When have you ever seen a regional semi-final game where a team scores 16 points, and there’s a running clock?”
Publisher Sonny Fulks writes OHSAA sports and the Buckeyes for Press Pros Magazine.
Well, it happens in this day of seven divisions of high school basketball, just another in a progression of games in the 2025 OHSAA tournament that’s left people in the front rows all across Ohio asking…how is this better?
Another in a memorable year of state-level games that includes a 74-0 football final…an 80-1 girls sectional game in basketball…and a recent 79-22 boys game in the tournament.
One onlooker at Wednesday’s sacrifice said without reservation, “We have no chance against a team like that”, speaking of Russia.
And yet, Northside Christian was playing in an OHSAA regional semi-final game.
But Spencer Cordonnier’s Raiders aren’t concerned about who belongs where. Now 26-0 for the season, they really don’t care if it’s competitive or not. They’re just taking care of business – the next game on the schedule. And Wednesday’s latest 39 point pasting wasn’t nearly as bad as their 86-28 win over Ansonia in the sectional round. That was just 58 points.
It took them a while to get going.
Russia’s defense created steals and turnovers…turnovers turned into baskets.
“The first four or five minutes we really didn’t move the ball tonight, it was kind of stuck,” said Cordonnier, afterwards.
“And that’s not us. We were allowing them to set their defense, allowing them to defend us, and when we got the ball moving we began to get it going.”
Northside’s Josh Cool and Zach Lovegrove each hit a long three from the wing in the first three minutes of the first quarter, and at one point trailed Russia by just 7-6. And then…Russia started moving the basketball and scored the next 29 points in the first half to lead 36-6 by halftime.
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And it was 44-6 in the third quarter before Northside would score again, at 4:18, marking a 37-point run by Russia that validated the comment, “We have no chance against a team like that.”
They did move the ball, but in contemporary basketball jargon their ‘ball movement’ was actually better than them moving the ball. And of course, Russia’s pressure defense ate up Northside’s efforts to get the ball across the timeline, much less running any kind of offense once they did. The Raiders had five first half steals, created thirteen turnovers, and those turnovers were yielding layups and easy buckets at the finish line.
“We try our best on defense, and that leads to offense,” said the Raiders’ Vince Borchers, who would end the night leading all scorers with 21 points.
“We really didn’t know about them, or their record (19-7). We respect everyone and we know we have to play our best every game and that’s what we did tonight.”
Borchers focused on basketball during the off-season and his commitment has translated into a giant season for him, personally, and giant impact for Spencer Cordonnier and the Raiders.
“He’s been a handful for other teams’ point guards, and teams have had a hard time keeping him from getting to the rim,” said Cordonnier. “He broke the single-season steals record tonight, so he’s just playing his best basketball on both ends.”
Russia’s Dominic Francis reaches for the rim and two of his 12 points in Wednesday’s win over Northside Christian.
Those turnovers (23 for the game) allowed Borchers to get the ball to the open court in transition and he made the most of it, scoring on repeated drives right down the lane and to the rim. He would finish with 21 points, but he had plenty of help as the Raiders’ ball movement constantly found an open shooter. Dominic Francis finished with 12 points, Braylon Cordonnier had 7, Zeb Borchers had 4, Caleb and Cooper Unverferth each had 3 points, Landon Monnin and Jax Grojean each had 2, and Zeb Schulze contributed a free throw.
You hope to gain momentum and confidence with each passing tournament game, as well as the experience of having to play in games closer than 39 points. And Russia might have benefited from a better challenge given that they’ll meet Botkins in Saturday’s regional final. Russia beat Botkins twice during the regular season in Shelby County League play by an average of 15 points. Botkins advanced by beating Franklin-Monroe, 46-30.
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“We got some conditioning out of the game,” smiled Spencer Cordonnier. “Staying in shape, because playing is more fun than running sprints in practice. And you’re fortunate to not get someone hurt [in a game like tonight] because it’s about who’s healthy this time of year as much as it is who’s playing really good basketball.”
Braylon Cordonnier scores from the lane during Russia’s 55-16 regional semi-final win.
And the issue of challenge…of steel sharpening steel?
This is the Russia that smoked Division VI Marion Local, themselves a favorite in Division VI.
“People don’t know that the Marion game came on our senior night, it was very emotional, and then we went out and played our best game of the season. We were nearly perfect on defense and dynamite on offense,” Cordonnier added.
And finally, they’ve been in this same position for the past two years. Does this one, in the ‘new’ Division VII, feel any different?
“I don’t really feel like it does,” he said. “These kids have done this how many times, now? And I go over the scouting reports and they just look at me like, ‘C’mon now’, and they chuckle. But they do a very, very good job of pushing that aside and going out to compete at a high level. And they know that come Saturday they’re going to have to go out and play [against Botkins].
No one has to write to remind you that it’s hard to beat a team three times in a season. And guaranteed that it was mentioned on the bus ride back to Russia.
And guaranteed…no one expects to win again by 39!
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