Lehman’s Donovan O’Leary collects two of his 16 points in traffic, helping the Cavaliers to a 46-44 overtime win over Southeastern. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
A Lehman overtime thriller with a buzzer-beater at the horn in Troy…and a polished twenty point win by Jackson Center in Piqua marked Wednesday district semi-final action in Division IV.
Troy, OH – Lehman Catholic coach Pat Carlisle can check it off his bucket list…the game where he’ll never again have the deck stacked against him more ominously, and yet he and the Cavaliers won, 46-44, in overtime over Southeastern Wednesday night in the Division IV district semi-final.
Here’s how badly the Cavaliers (the #7 seed) struggled in the first half, going nearly ten minutes from the 6:00 mark of the first quarter…to the 0:60 mark of the second quarter without scoring.
Then, they scored five points in the final minute cut the halftime deficit to 23-10, trailing by 13 points.
Lehman’s Turner Lachey drives to the rim for a clutch basket during the Cavs’ fourth quarter comeback on Wednesday.
And teams that lead by 13 points at the halftime, statistically, eventually win basketball games 80% of the time, right?
And yet, as well as Southeastern (the #9 seed) played in the first half, they let it all fritter away in the second half, when they, like Lehman in the first, suddenly couldn’t make shots and allowed Carlisle’s Cavs to hang around long enough to win.
“I give Southeastern a lot of credit for having a good game plan,” said Carlisle, after a lengthy locker room stay with his team, no doubt reminding them that cats may have nine lives, but basketball teams shouldn’t take it for granted.
“So hats off to them, they had an incredible season. But late in the third quarter, early in the fourth quarter, we just made some changes that obviously worked – a little wrinkle that got us going.
“Here’s a huge item,” Carlisle added. “We had a great defensive year in the TRC, and in the second half our defense really got going. They had 23 at the half? And with overtime they ended with 44? We didn’t change anything that much at halftime, we just came out and started to work a little more.”
Crale Builders proudly sponsors area sports coverage on Press Pros Magazine.
Basketball is a game of making shots. Southeastern made theirs in the first half. Lehman made theirs in the second, led by Donovan O’Leary’s team-high 16 points, and all of them coming after halftime.
Lehman outscored Southeastern 13-9 in the third quarter, buoyed by a trio of three-pointers by Turner Lachey, CJ Olding, and O’Leary.
But it was the defense, to Carlisle’s point, that suddenly played closer, tighter, and with more confidence, sensing that that same confidence was slipping away from Southeastern with each successive empty possession. Like Lehman in the first half, the Trojans began having long empty stretches, turnovers, and balls that simply rolled off the rim…the ugly underbelly of tournament basketball!
Shane Frantz hits a three-pointer to give Lehman the lead at the start of overtime.
Lehman trailed 32-23 at the end of three, but cut that margin quickly with an O’Leary three-pointer to start the fourth. The defense scraped loose a pair of turnovers and Lachey turned those into points. Southeastern was now struggling to run offense on the other end – a pair of buckets from Ayden Robinson, their only life support!
O’Leary cashed another three-pointer for Lehman to draw the Cavs to within a point, at 36-35.
And then, at 4:09, Da’Ron Pride drove the lane for a layup that gave Lehman it’s first lead, at 37-36.
Southeastern answered with a bucket, 38-37, and Lehman tied with with a free throw, but could have ultimately won it were it not for a pair of missed free throws from Lachey…and a split of two by O’Leary.
And there was a wide-open miss of a another layup that would have further padded the lead. But none of that happened, and with the scored tied at 38-38 Turner Lachey found himself with the ball with ten seconds left in regulation. Instead of attacking the rim, he was forced backwards toward the halfcourt line, and launched a three-pointer at the buzzer that came up short. Overtime!
Bunny’s Pharmacy, in downtown Sidney, supports the Shelby County League on Press Pros.
Out of the overtime timeout Shane Frantz hit a deep three from the corner for Lehman, followed by a pair of free throws by O’Leary that put Lehman up by five, 43-38.
But just as quickly Southeastern answered on a pair of buckets, and a following layup off the baseline put the Trojans up 44-43, with 17 seconds to go. Carlisle called timeout, drew up a play, and took his chances.
CJ Olding’s three-pointer with five seconds left gave Lehman its most dramatic tournament win in a decade.
Sophomore CJ Olding had had a couple of good looks late in the game from three-point range, but now as the ball was passed around the perimeter of the Southeastern defense with the clock ticking down, it found Olding out on the high wing, and with Trojan defender Brennan Workman right in his face. With five seconds on the clock he created enough separation to let it go from about 24 feet.
“I practice that shot all the time in practice,” he said later. “I felt good about it. And the shot felt good when it left my hand. It was the biggest moment in my basketball life.”
He centered it…nothing but net, as the clock wound down. Southeastern would get one more shot away, from nearly halfcourt, but it was nowhere close and Lehman stormed out onto the floor with its most dramatic tournament win in over a decade.
O’Leary led them with 16 points, Lachey had 14, Frantz had 6, Pride had 2…but it was the three-pointer by Olding (he had 8, total) that made the difference.
Brennan Workman led Southeastern with a game-high 17 points.
Lehman took a bye at the tournament draw, choosing to lay off for 11 days between the end of the regular season and their next game, which could have accounted for the rust in the first half.
“It’s in your head over the eleven days, that amount of time off,” said Carlisle. “Obviously, you’re wondering about it. But we felt it was the best option for us at the time of the sectional draw. I can’t say I’d do it again…I can’t say I wouldn’t do it again.”
It’s academic, now. No one really remembers, or cares. “Just win, Baby,” Al Davis famously said.
And CJ Olding just got big picture space in next year’s yearbook.
‘The Spot’ Restaurant, in Sidney, is proud to be the presenting sponsor of the 2024 OHSAA State Basketball Tournament on Press Pros Magazine.com.
Piqua, OH – At the Piqua sectional there was no drama in the evening’s opening game, and very little to cheer about for Fort Loramie as the Redskins ran aground against a hot-shooting Franklin Monroe team, 63-37.
It had been expected tighter than that, given a #8 playing a #10 (Loramie), but Loramie never figured it out, and quietly went home to prepare for baseball season, finishing with a record of 7-17 in Mitch Westerheide’s first year as head coach.
Jackson Center’s Lucas Heitkamp shows his skill at the rim with 2 of his 15 points in a 47-25 win over Covington. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Julie McMaken Wright)
In the evening’s second game there was more evidence of Jackson Center honing it’s post-season game to a fine edge – a better defensive effort – with a 47-25 win over Covington, a game that the Buccaneers were highly competitive at the start before falling on some tough shooting in the second quarter.
Covington actually led Jackson Center, 11-9, after eight minutes, but Jackson’s defense found its stride in the second, holding Covington to just 2 points. Jackson went to the halftime locker room with a 20-13 win.
In the second half it was all Jackson, offensively, as the Tigers got a combined 30 points from leading scorers Lucas Heitkamp and Reed Platfoot, along with some significant minutes and points from the supporting cast.
“Our coaches do a great job of putting together the scouting reports and I didn’t feel we implemented those reports very well on Saturday against Twin Valley South,” said first-year coach Aaron Klopfenstein.
Minster Dental proudly support area sports of all sorts on Press Pros.
“Tonight I thought we did a much better job against Covington, and it’s always nice when you get the kind of predictable scoring like we did from Heitkamp and Platfoot. When you can get 30 from those two it makes it that much easier for the others to step in and fill some roles.”
Reed Platfoot reaches for two of his 15 points in the Tigers district win over Covington.
Platfoot and Heitkamp each had 15 points, while Lucas Hartle had 7, Preston Serr had 3, Cooper Hartle had 5, and Jackson Davis had 2 for Jackson Center, now 15-9 on the year.
For Covington, Britton Miller led them 11 points, Bryson Hite had 7, Brogan Angle had 3, and Gunnar Kimmel and Connor Humphrey each had 2 points.
Reed Platfoot, Jackson Center’s 6’7″ post player, called it fun when you the points can come predictably, and others can follow accordingly.
“It takes a lot of stress off the rest of the players when you can get 30 points from two players like tonight. It makes playing this time of year a lot more fun.”
And in Jackson Center, they’re accustomed to having fun in district finals, where they’ll again be on Saturday when they meet Franklin Monroe at 6 pm at Garby Gym, in Piqua.
In the Troy district, Botkins, who won 60-26 over Triad, will meet Lehman Catholic in that final at 6 pm at the Trojan Activity Center.
Wilson Health proudly sponors coverage of the Shelby County Athletic League on Press Pros.