Western, Willard set up district semifinal rematch

BASCOM — Western Reserve had a bit of a slow start. The Roughriders had too many turnovers and were shooting poorly from 3. Once WR hit some shots in the second quarter, it was lights out for Seneca East. The 'Riders made five straight triples in the second quarter to build a double-digit lead and from there, Western Reserve rolled to a 69-39 win over the Tigers on Friday in a Division III sectional championship game at Hopewell-Loudon High School. "We hit some 3s in the second quarter," Western coach Chris Sheldon said. "Our defense finally started getting some deflections and pressures that led to some turnovers and layups. We couldn't full-court pressure them. We only had four guys all week. We've been sick as dogs. Nobody has practiced. I think that was a lot to do with the first quarter." The second-seeded Roughriders — ranked No. 6 in the final Associated Press state poll — improved to 21-1 overall and advance to Thursday's district semifinal against Willard (14-9), which topped Woodmore, 51-46 in the night's second game. "Willard is really, really good," Sheldon said. "It obviously starts with their big three and (Trey) Paxton and (Max) Dawson are a handful. (Cam) Robinson continues to get better for them. They are going to give you multiple looks on defense with some of the zone stuff they do." Seneca East (8-16) nearly led the entire first quarter and were ahead 15-11 in the second quarter. Matt Jarrett's 3-pointer broke a 1 of 8 start from 3 for the 'Riders and that opened the floodgates. Jude Muenz canned one to tie the game at 17. After Aidan Hines scored for the Tigers, Aiden Edwards' 3 gave WR a 21-20 edge. Triples from Chris Buchanan and Jarrett were sandwiched around a Camden Hankins tally off of a Seneca East turnover. Another turnover by Tigers led to Muenz scoring for a 30-21 advantage. Carson Roe scored before Muenz added a three-point play to push the lead to 35-23. "It was a matter of when with Western," said Seneca East coach Anthony Langhurst, a 2000 Willard graduate. "They are so good and so deep with so many scoring options. They are all smart. It took us having a couple of bad possessions for them to turn it into good looks. They are so unselfish." The Tigers hung around early in the second half. After Alex King wrapped up the scoring in the first half, Hines' 3-pointer kept the Tigers within seven points. WR still led by that margin (38-31) when Jacob Jarrett hit a 3 and the Roughriders got back-to-back buckets from Edwards to extend the margin to 45-31. Hankins scored, Jacob Jarrett hit a 3, and Matt Jarrett scored on a putback for a 52-35 lead after three quarters. "We wanted it to be the more possessions in a basketball game, the more to our advantage," Sheldon said. "That came to fruition as our pressure started to bother them. We could only do it in the half-court." Western Reserve added the first 11 points of the fourth quarter to put a stamp on the game. Muenz scored three times in that stretch and Buchanan hit the Roughriders' 10th triple of the night to finish the game in emphatic fashion. Sheldon noted that stopping Seneca East junior Isaac Mason was a big key. Mason entered averaging more than 28 points and 10 rebounds per game. Western Reserve held him to eight points and five rebounds. "He is a tough kid and he is really skilled," Sheldon said. "The thing we picked up on was he actually goes better to his left to score than to the right. We really wanted to funnel him right and to bring traps either in front or behind in different variations to try to keep him off balance."Muenz topped the 'Riders with 16 points and eight rebounds while Jacob Jarrett and Matt Jarrett each scored 12 points. Buchanan added eight points and five rebounds while Roe and Hankins each contributed six points. "What I like more than anything is we were playing our first tournament game and there is a lot on the line," Sheldon said. "Kids know it is win or go home. Even though we had a slow start and a week of adversity that we faced, we kept grinding and kept moving on to the next possession. For us, that was critical." SENECA EAST (8-16) Alex King 2 0—5, Isaac Mason 2 4—8, Aidan Hines 4 0—10, Kadin Snay 3 2—8, Blake Foos 2 1—6, Graham Gibbs 1 0—2. TOTALS 14-7—39. WESTERN RESERVE (21-1) Jacob Jarrett 4 0—12, Jude Muenz 7 1—16, Matt Jarrett 5 0—12, Chris Buchanan 3 0—8, Carson Roe 3-0—6, Camden Hankins 3 0—6, Aiden Edwards 3 0—7, Grant Beathard 1 0—2. TOTALS 29-1—69. Seneca East 14 11 10 4 — 39W. Reserve 11 24 17 17 — 69 3-point FGs: (SE) Hines 2, King, Foos; (WR) J. Jarrett 4, M. Jarrett 2, Buchanan 2, Muenz, Edwards Willard 51, Woodmore 46 In the nightcap, Willard never led in the first half and only once through three quarters. But, when the game got to the fourth quarter and was close late, the Crimson Flashes got back-to-back huge 3s from Paxton. The senior also added two big free throws to help Willard top the Wildcats (5-19), 51-46. "Trey hit some big 3s, which is what seniors do in the tournament if you want a chance to move on," Willard coach Joe Bedingfield said. "I'm really happy for my kids." The Flashes led just 40-39 as the clock ticked under three minutes when Paxton hit his third triple of the night. Even after Jack Everett answered with a 3 of his own for Woodmore, Paxton again came up with the big shot — another 3-pointer — to give the Flashes a 46-42 lead with 2:26 left. "He stepped up when the team needed him the most," Bedingfield said. "He has been in a lot of tournament games and had a lot of tournament success. He doesn't get rattled a ton. He plays with confidence." Aaron Miller scored on a putback to keep Woodmore close, but Robinson answered with two free throws with 1:17 to go. The Wildcats turned the ball over and Dawson furthered the Willard lead to 49-44 with less than a minute to go. Woodmore came up empty on its next possession and Paxton hauled in one of his 12 rebounds and was fouled. He ballooned the Flashes' advantage to 51-44 with 40.5 seconds with a pair of free throws. "It's tournament time," Bedingfield said. "Give Woodmore credit. They came out ready to go. I thought they did a nice job of widening out their zone. They did a nice job of keeping our guards in front. They were riding the momentum of a big win against Van Buren." The Wildcats came out with a plethora of energy in the first quarter. Woodmore scored the first seven points of the game. It took Willard 4:43 to score and when it did, they scored six straight to get within a point. But, Miller's bucket was followed by a Brady Thatcher triple to give Woodmore a 12-6 lead after eight minutes. Willard sliced the deficit to two points on four separate occasions in the second quarter before Everett scored and Thatcher nailed a triple for a 25-18 lead. The Flashes stayed close though as two free throws by Robinson ended the half and Aiden Slone scored to open the third quarter. Later, tallies from Dawson, Robinson, and Carson Wiers gave Willard its first lead of the night. It lasted all of 14 seconds before Thatcher canned a 3-pointer. Woodmore led 34-33 after three quarters. "I thought we were really tight," Bedingfield said. "We were trying to deny a little bit more. We probably should have tried to deny a couple players and focused on denying a few instead of all of them." Thatcher topped Woodmore with 19 points while Miller added 15 points and nine rebounds. "Their kids played with a lot of confidence early on," Bedingfield said. "We had a slow start. I credit Woodmore with what they were able to do tonight. It was a good test for our kids." Robinson scored 13 points and Dawson added 12 points to back Paxton's big night. The district semifinal against Western Reserve is a rematch of last year's district championship where Muenz scored with 22 seconds left in a 65-64 win. "It is a different team and that was last year;" Bedingfield said. "We have to worry about us. We have a lot of work to do to prepare for a team like Western. They are physical. Our kids have to be ready for a half-court, grind it out type of game." WOODMORE (5-19) Aaron Miller 6 2—15, Duane Perkins 0 2—2, Jack Everett 2 4—8, Brady Thatcher 8 0—19, Bryce Sandwisch 1 0—2. TOTALS 17-8—46. WILLARD (14-9) Carson Wiers 1 0—2, Trey Paxton 7 2—20, Max Dawson 5 1—12, Aiden Slone 1 0—2, Cam Robinson 4 5—13, Cole Weiss 1 0—2. TOTALS 19-8—51. Woodmore 12 13 9 12 — 46Willard 6 14 13 18 — 51 3-point FGs: (WD) Thatcher 3, Miller; (WIL) Paxton 4, Dawson