Tough schedule prepared tournament-tested Willard

WILLARD — The phrase itself often feels overused. But maybe not so much within the walls of a Willard boys basketball program's locker room. The Crimson Flashes have been on another great four-year run in their program's history. However, none of that mattered last Friday. "Anything can happen in the tournament," WHS head coach Joe Bedingfield said. "Woodmore played a terrific game and was riding their momentum from the game before, upsetting Van Buren. The Crimson Flashes were facing a 5-18 Woodmore team with nothing to lose in the Division III sectional championship on Feb. 25 at Hopewell-Loudon. However, they never led in the first half, and only once in the third quarter before a Trey Paxton 3-pointer with 2:26 left put them up two possessions. Paxton scored 20 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in the 51-46 win. "Our kids got out to a slow start, which carried into the second half later than what we wanted it to," Bedingfield said. "But previous experience helped, and we were able to keep our composure. "Having a kid like Trey, who has had a lot of success in the tournament over the course of his career, helps too." With that game behind them, up next for the Willard (14-9) is another matchup with Western Reserve (21-1) in a district semifinal at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Norwalk High School. Top-seeded and Associated Press poll champion Colonel Crawford (23-0) faces No. 4 seed Elmwood (15-8) in the 5:30 p.m. game, followed by the matchup between the No. 3 Flashes and No. 2 Roughriders. The game is a third pairing in six years in the state tournament, with Western winning by a basket (58-56) in a sectional title game in 2017, then last year's thriller in Shelby. Western won that game, 65-64, to win its first district title in over six decades. "We play them generally all year round except for the regular season," Bedingfield said of the 'Riders. The teams meet at the Eastern Ohio basketball camp and scrimmage regularly in the fall. "We enjoy playing them in the summer and fall to make our team better," Bedingfield said. "When you win in the tournament and make it to districts, you will play teams like Western because they have a good program. "It will be a tough task because both teams are so much different than they were a year ago," he added. "We are just focused on this one game and not any of the past games." The Roughriders won their first 20 games this season and peaked at No. 2 in the AP poll. They scheduled DIv. IV AP poll champion Tiffin Calvert in an added-on game to end the regular season and lost to the Senecas, 50-41, to finish No. 6 in the final state poll. The 'Riders are led by Jude Muenz. The four-year starting point guard averages 12 points, 4.4 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.4 steals per game. He scored the final four points of last season's district thriller against the Flashes. However, Muenz is one of seven Western players averaging from 6-to-12 points per game. "Jude is a difference-maker and has played well in big games, but Western is a complete team with a lot of winning experience," Bedingfield said. "They are deep bringing guys off the bench that could start and average more points if they played at a lot of other schools. Bedingfield said from his past experiences in the tournament, it's the role players who play a huge factor. That could essentially apply to five or six players in the 'Riders rotation. "Most teams will strategize one or two things to slow down your best players in the tournament," he said. "But what allows the great teams to advance is the depth of the role players and their ability to step up when their team needs them to. "And that is the problem that Western presents," Bedingfield added. "They have the depth and experience to have a number of guys step up for them." Willard enters the game with a trio of proven scorers. Playing in a league with Huron and Margaretta standouts Dylan Hohler and Jake Leibacher, Willard sophomore Max Dawson led the SBC Bay Division in scoring. He enters Thursday's game averaging 19.9 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.2 steals per game. Paxton is a four-year player who has been part of three league championships, four sectional titles, two district championship games and one regional semifinal entering Thursday. He averages 18.1 points, six rebounds and 3.4 assists per game. Also for Willard, sophomore Cam Robinson averages 12 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists per contest as a third scoring threat. Willard is 76-22 (.775) overall since the 2018-19 season. That includes an 8-3 record in the tournament. The Flashes average 59.7 points and allow 53.6 points per game. On a challenging schedule, just five of Willard's 23 opponents to date finished below .500 this season. "In order to advance in any tournament game, you must be able to take care of the basketball, rebound and keep your composure," Bedingfield said. "If we can do these three things, in addition to making free throws, we will be in good shape."