Keegan Knupp goes for a block on St. Ignatius’ Sami Dari during a gritty, hard-fought battle. And after the dust settled, Dayton was now in their sights where the Pioneers will face Reynoldsburg in an all Central Ohio D1 championship game on March 22. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Logan Gapen)
With a 58-54 win over the Wildcats, the Pioneers have advanced to their first state championship game.
Canton, OH – In what was its first appearance in a Division I state semifinal Sunday at the Canton Memorial Fieldhouse. Olentangy Orange aced the test.
With the benefit of having previously edged Cleveland St. Ignatius in a regular-season overtime battle, the Pioneers spent significant time throughout the week dissecting what factors might come into play during their rematch.
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Orange, again forced into overtime, used the court-savviness of junior guard Levi Davis to seize control during a sequence of three consecutive offensive possessions that led it to a 58-54 victory and its first berth in the Division I state championship game.
After rallying from 11 to beat the Wildcats 63-54 on Jan. 5, the Pioneers built a 12-point first-half lead before a pressure-packed rally by St. Ignatius meant the rematch also would have an extra session.
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“We knew it would be a battle the whole game,” Davis said. “We didn’t know exactly how the game would go, but that’s a very good team over there. Going into overtime, we were calm because we’ve been in situations like that before. The first time we played them, we had the same overtime and the same result. We just had to refocus.”
Orange is 25-2 and will play Reynoldsburg at 8:30 p.m. March 22 for the state title. St. Ignatius, which also lost to Reynoldsburg in a regular-season game, finished 22-5.
The Wildcats had an opportunity to win it in regulation, but senior Damon Friery— a Dayton signee — missed a 3-pointer just before the buzzer.
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After falling behind early, the Wildcats battled back to send the game into overtime.
The Pioneers were intent on not letting the opportunity pass them by in overtime.
On Orange’s second possession of overtime, senior Keegan Knupp scored on an easy basket off a pass from Davis.
After St. Ignatius senior guard Quinn Woidke scored to give his team a 50-48 lead with 2 minutes 36 seconds left, Orange called timeout to set up a potential 3-point shot for senior Devin Brown.
When that option wasn’t open, Davis connected on a 3-pointer in the corner to make it 51-50 with 1:56 to go.
Then on Orange’s next possession, Knupp was wide open again, this time taking a pass from Brown and dunking it for a three-point lead.
“We definitely watched some things (from the first game),” coach Anthony Calo said. “We knew when they penetrated that we needed to look for the drop for dunks first, which Keegan got a few of.”
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“Our resilience has been big all year, and we’ve tried to instill that in our kids. You need that in your life, but also in the course of a game. We want to share the ball. We were trying to get Devin a 3, but they tried to take that away so we found the open man and knocked it down. That’s part of who we are.”
Levi Davis drew lots of attention as the clock wound down in the overtime period.
Senior guard Ellis Appiah made all four of his free-throw attempts in overtime to help seal the win for Orange, which was led by Davis’ 16 points.
“I’m really just starstruck right now,” Davis said. “To pull out a big win like that just shows a lot about our team and our resiliency. We’ve been in situations like this before, so we’re always confident in situations like that. We game-plan so well. Our coaches put in our heads before the game what we need to do. The last time we played them, they stepped up a lot.”
During the first half, Orange limited Friery to a 3-pointer late in the first quarter and six points overall as it built a 27-16 lead.
The pace — and the momentum — shifted during the third quarter when St. Ignatius began applying more defensive pressure.
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Keegan Knupp enjoys the view from above after slamming home a dunk that put Orange up by three.
Then with 1.3 seconds left in the third quarter, Friery was fouled behind the 3-point line and made all three attempts. After the Wildcats got a quick steal, Friery tossed in a 3-pointer from behind halfcourt just before the buzzer for a six-point sequence that sliced Orange’s lead to 37-35 heading into the fourth.
Friery also had a three-point play and a putback basket that tied it at 40 with 5:13 left in the fourth and added another basket with 1:38 left in the fourth that gave the Wildcats their first lead at 46-44.
While Friery finished with 23 points, Woidke scored St. Ignatius’ first two overtime baskets and wound up with 12.
“We put ourselves in position to win,” St. Ignatius coach Cam Joyce said. “It was just two really good teams, and we just came up on the wrong side. We were up two (in overtime) and honestly, credit to the kid Levi Davis for making a tough shot. Sometimes that’s the game of basketball — a guy making a tough shot in the corner, heavily contested. It was actually the shot we wanted them to take.”
Both Brown and Appiah scored 11 and Knupp added 10 for the Pioneers, who have won 14 in a row.
“They started containing the ball and being more physical underneath (in the second half),” said Brown, a Mr. Basketball finalist. “We’ve been in overtime with them before and we just had to keep battling and trust each other to make plays.”
