Loramie’s defense (above) held Lehman to just three points in the second quarter of Thursday’s 47-37 win over the Cavaliers in the Division VII sectional. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
Loramie couldn’t buy a basket early, but settled in on its defense and some key second half shooting when it mattered most to end #2 Lehman’s 19-3 memorable season.
Piqua, OH – You’d have to admire Fort Loramie for two things following Thursday night’s surprising 47-37 win over #2 seed Lehman Catholic in the Division VII opener at Piqua’s Garbry Gym.
One, their daring during the tournament draw to take on a higher-seeded team that they believed they could, and would, beat.
Publisher Sonny Fulks writes OHSAA sports and Ohio State baseball for Press Pros Magazine.com.
And two, after a horrible first quarter shooting, Mitch Westerheide’s Redskins settled in on what they did to finish 10-12 in the regular season, after at one point losing six of seven in December. They played defense and took their opportunities on offense to get, and make, the shot they wanted.
“Proud of these guys,” said Westerheide afterwards, in a jubilant Loramie locker room. “Just, wow. We’ve talked all year about our patience and our discipline, because whether or not we like it, we’re not a high-volume scoring team. But when we execute we can do some things, and credit to our kids for believing in that.”
Lehman was a team that had flashed through their season with losses only to Troy Christian and twice to Three Rivers Conference champion Northridge…a team with experience and the ability to get hot behind the three-point line with junior CJ Olding.
Lehman’s CJ Olding got the Cavs off to a fast first quarter start with his three-point shooting.
And for the first eight minutes Thursday it couldn’t have gone better. Loramie failed to close out defensively on a couple of possessions and Olding made them pay, canning a pair of three-pointers that pushed Lehman out to a modest, but confident-looking 10-5 lead by the end of the first quarter.
But Loramie’s a program that’s accustomed to playing bruising, physical basketball against the likes of Shelby County powers Russia, Anna, and Jackson Center. And when you add non-conference competition with Marion Local, New Bremen, St. Henry, and Versailles out of the MAC, they had become a well-seasoned, disciplined team (Westerheide’s words) capable of mixing it up on defense. That’s exactly what they did in the second quarter.
Suddenly the shot opportunities for Olding vanished, the paint became closed, and Lehman scored just once on a two-point bucket by Turner Lachey, and once on a free throw from Olding…3 points for the quarter. On the other end Loramie got a couple of buckets from Landon Drees, one from Max Maurer, a couple of free throws, and pulled to a 13-13 tie by halftime.
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“We settled for way too many threes to start the game,” said Westerheide. “The boys knew that, and Max had a really good transition drive [in the second quarter] that set us off and Eli Heitkamp does a great job of attacking the rim. That got us going. That’s been our ‘MO’ all year…attack the rim and kick it out for an open shot. I think with the nerves of a first tournament game it just took us a while to settle in.”
Loramie’s DJ Barhorst scored a key second half bucket with this baseline drive.
But it was going to take a little while more because Lehman came out in the third quarter and went on a 6-2 run to take the lead, and for three minutes took the momentum back from Loramie’s first half close.
But just as quick…Loramie reversed that momentum with a run of their own – buckets from DJ Barhorst and Ean Grilliot, to take a 20-19 lead, and 5 of 6 shooting from the foul line.
Lehman countered. Olding answered with a pair of threes, and Lachey added a complementary three and Shane Frantz added a bucket. By quarter’s end the game was still tied, 28-28.
The start of the fourth quarter was back and forth. Lachey hit a three for Lehman. Barhorst made a daring drive along the baseline to score for Loramie. Then Heitkamp hit a wing jumper with one foot on the three-point line to retake the lead. And at 4:59 Grilliot hit a long three-pointer from the opposite wing from Heitkamp’s shot to push the lead to five.
And at that point the paint dried up for Lehman, the hoop shrank on three-point shot attempts as Olding, Lachey and Pride frantically tried to drop one in…and Loramie effectively salted the game away at the foul line, hitting 12 of 18 attempts in the fourth quarter, alone.
Loramie’s DJ Barhorst harasses Lehman’s Evan O’Leary during in the second half of Thursday’s Div. VII sectional game.
“They had a couple of baseline drives that hurt us,” said Lehman coach Pat Carlisle. “And they had a freakish shot go in, but that’s basketball. We were running some actions to try to get Pride and Frantz at the rim, and if we couldn’t get there kick it out to Carlisle (Daniel) and Olding, and Turner (Lachey) has run the offense great for three years.
“And hats off to them (Loramie). In the end it was a really good basketball game and it’s the Piqua sectional. It’s loaded with a lot of [good] teams.”
After the slow start in the first half, Loramie recovered to shoot 43% from the field for the game, led by Max Maurer’s 13 points. But impressively, their patience and ability to get the shot they wanted in the second half led to 9 points for Grilliot, 9 points by Landon Drees, 8 points from DJ Barhorst, and 7 from Eli Heitkamp. Loramie finished shooting 19 of 28 from the foul line (67%).
Lehman finished with 39% from the field, and 6 of 19 from three-point range. CJ Olding was 4 of 11 from three-point, and led them with 18 points. Shane Frantz finished with 9…Turner Lachey had 8. With some disparity in fouls called, the Cavaliers hit 9 of 13 attempts from the line (69%).
Lehman coach Pat Carlisle exercised his right to disagree during Thursday’s Div. VII sectional matchup with Fort Loramie.
Loramie now gets five days off to savor their biggest win of the year before facing Springfield’s Emmanuel Christian on Tuesday, the 25th, at 6 pm.
“Credit to the kids. At halftime we made some adjustments knowing that we had some length and physicality in the paint,” said Westerheide, without undue comment on the win over #2- seed Lehman…and some hotly-competitive history in both football and basketball between the two schools.
“The next game is the biggest one right now,” smiled Mitch Westerheide. “But this one was nice. I’m just so proud of these guys for the way they fought. We’re stringing some games together, we’re playing well, and we’re playing as a team.”
A team putting it together late, and a team, in Carlisle’s words…playing in the Piqua sectional.
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