Preble Shawnee dons first district crown in 34 years
Everyone got to touch the district championship trophy, but mostly it stayed in Mason Shrout’s hands. When it’s been 34 years since anyone in a Preble Shawnee uniform got to touch such a coveted piece of hardware, it’s difficult to hand it off.
“We just made history,” Shrout said. “That’s what we’ve been talking about all week.”
Make room for another banner. The Arrows’ 42-27 Division III district championship victory Thursday over Cincinnati Seven Hills at UD Arena is the first one since 1989, the third in school history and only the fourth appearance. They are one of 16 D-III teams left in pursuit of the state final four.
And one more piece of history. The Arrows are 22-3 and set the school record for most wins.
“I couldn’t be more happy for our guys,” Shrout said. “Everybody played good.”
The reward is a regional semifinal at 8 p.m. Wednesday against Miami East (242), a 53-49 winner over Cincinnati Mariemont at Trent Arena in Kettering.
Jake Turner became Preble Shawnee’s head coach in the summer of 2021. He said this past summer of workouts and playing some high-level competition prepared the Arrows to reach this rare stage.
“Being challenged in the summer these guys matured and grew up and got better, and they fell in love with the game,” he said. “And that’s what it takes.”
Shrout, the Southwest District Division III Player of the Year as a junior, is a do-what-it-takes leader for the Arrows. He didn’t make a jump shot and passed up some open 3-pointers, but he made winning play after winning play.
Shrout scored 23 points on layups and 7-of-7 freethrow shooting. He grabbed 16 rebounds and had five steals, three of which he cruised to the other end with for layups. He also became the leading scorer in Preble County history with 1,699 points to surpass National Trail’s Cameron Harrison, who finished with 1,693 in 2021. But that wasn’t anything he talked about, if he even knew.
“He’s putting winning in front of everything else,” Turner said. “He’s getting all the love and publicity, which he deserves, but he’s putting this team and winning and this program and this town in front of everything else.”
Shrout’s leadership included keeping his team focused through a difficult first half of shooting 31.8% and committing nine turnovers. The Arrows led 17-9 at the half, and Turner said he could tell the importance of the game and the big stage of playing at UD made his team a little extra nervous.
The remedy was defense. Seven Hills (14-9) fell victim to Shawnee’s aggressiveness, shooting just 25.7% from the field and committing 17 turnovers.
“Defensively all night we just flat out got after it,” Turner said. “That’s been our game plan all year with a lot of teams – come out, make it tough for them with score. And I thought we did a great job.”
Great enough to make history.