The Pickerington High School Central boys basketball team set the tone of its Division I regional semifinal against Dublin Coffman on March 15 by outrebounding the Shamrocks 10-1 in the first four minutes.
After the Tigers defeated the Shamrocks 58-38 at Ohio Dominican, Central guard Adrian Nelson said the key was as simple as slowing the game down in order to speed it up.
“We slowed down their pace so we could pick up our pace and score more,” said Nelson, who had 13 points and 12 rebounds. “We’re very good in transition and scoring in transition. It’s pretty hard for teams to stop us, so we try to do that and then slow them down and get more offensive and defensive rebounds.”
Javohn Garcia’s 15 points, eight rebounds and seven assists led Central, which won its 10th consecutive game and takes a 17-8 record into the regional final against Hilliard Bradley on March 17 at Ohio Dominican.
Josiah Fulcher added 10 points for the Tigers, who allowed just 17 second-half points after trailing 21-20 at halftime and used a 17-4 run to pull away. Nelson had dunks on consecutive possessions late in the third quarter and a leaning floater to start the fourth and Juan Woods hit a 3-pointer to make it 41-30 less than a minute into the fourth.
The Tigers held Shamrocks guard Dominiq Penn to six points, 24 fewer than he scored in a district final win over Upper Arlington on March 10.
“I told these guys all week that if we get far in the tournament, defense is the thing that will do it,” Central coach Eric Krueger said. “We wanted to make everything hard for (Penn). Penn is a great player. We tried to face-guard him early and throughout the game to get the ball out of his hands and frustrate him. He makes them go.”
Nick Carlson and Luke Bartemes each had 11 points to pace Coffman, which finished 20-7.
“It would be a battle of them trying to get to the rim and us hitting shots and whoever won that battle would win the game,” Shamrocks coach Jamey Collins said. “They got to the rim and we didn’t hit shots.”
Division IIBay Village Bay 67, Beechcroft 59
The teams were tied at 24 at halftime, but Beechcroft trailed 45-35 after the third quarter and its fourth-quarter comeback bid fell short in a Division II regional semifinal March 15 at Bowling Green.
The Cougars, who played without starter Teon Jennings because of an injury, pulled within 59-55 with less than two minutes remaining but couldn’t get closer.
Bay improved to 20-6 and will play Lexington or Wauseon in a regional final March 17 at Bowling Green.
Beechcroft finished 25-2.
“We had to make some adjustments with (Jennings) being out,” Cougars coach Humphrey Simmons said. “Whenever we’d have a run, a whistle would get blown.”
Beechcroft finished 4-for-8 from the free-throw line while Bay went 18-for-27.
Datrey Long and Elijah Bishop both scored 14 points to lead the Cougars and Jelani Simmons, Ther’Ron Jennings and Na’elle Simmons all scored nine.
R.J. Sunahara had 19 points to lead Bay.
—Jarrod Ulrey
Trotwood-Madison 78, Columbus South 60
After leading just 36-34 at halftime, Trotwood-Madison expanded its lead to 56-48 late in the third quarter in a Division II regional semifinal March 15 at Kettering Fairmont.
The Rams, who closed the game on a 23-9 run, improved to 24-3 and will play Cincinnati Hughes in a regional final March 17 at Fairmont.
South finished 22-5.
“We were only down two at halftime,” Bulldogs coach Ramon Spears said. “We had a decent third quarter. We turned the ball over more and lost some confidence in the fourth quarter. We were controlling the tempo before that.”
Jeremiah Green had 13 points, Treohn Watkins scored 11 and Marcus Johnson added 10 for South, which was making its second regional tournament appearance in four seasons.
—Jarrod Ulrey
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