Southeastern can’t catch Troy Christian in district semi
TROY — The Southeastern High School boys basketball team fell just short of its first Division IV district final appearance since 2017.
The Trojans trailed by five with three minutes remaining in the third quarter, but Troy Christian pulled away down the stretch en route to a 61-51 victory in a D-IV district semifinal game on Friday night at Troy High School.
Southeastern sophomore Ayden Robinson had 16 points, junior Gehrig Cordial had 13 and sophomore Brennan Workman added 12 as the Trojans finished their season 12-13 overall.
“They’ve come together and they’ve played their guts out,” said Trojans coach Chris Stout. “They played hard. We’ve been gritty all year. That’s just kind of how we play — with our hearts. I’m proud of them.”
Troy Christian junior Parker Penrod had 16 points, junior Frank Rupnik had 13, junior Ethan Grise had 12 and junior Alex Free added 11 as the top-seeded Eagles (22-3) won their 17th straight game. They advanced to face Cincinnati Riverview East in a D-VI district final game at a time and date to be determined at University of Dayton Arena.
Troy Christian hit 10 3-pointers in the game, including seven in the first half to take a 31-26 lead into the locker room at the half.
The Eagles jumped out to a 35-26 lead early in the third quarter. The Trojans cut the lead to five points on an old-fashioned 3-point play by Cordial and a free throw by Robinson to make it 35-30.
Troy Christian senior Kyle Sebor responded with back-to-back 3-pointers to extend their lead to 41-32 after three quarters.
“We could never quite catch back up after that,” Stout said. “They were worried about giving us opportunities and they were able to hold the ball. They’re a very disciplined team. My hat’s off to them.”
The Trojans cut the lead to eight points down the stretch, but couldn’t get any closer. The Eagles went 12-for-13 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter to seal the victory.
“We tried to stop the clock a little bit to get some opportunities, but they kept adding to it,” Stout said. “We tried to put some pressure on them and got a few turnovers, but they started stalling and put us in a bad situation.”
Southeastern won backto-back tournament games for the first time since 2017. The Trojans are expected to return every player from this year’s squad.
The program hopes to make noise next year in both the Ohio Heritage Conference South Division and the D-IV postseason, Stout said, but they’ve got to keep improving in the offseason.
“It all depends on them,” he said. “It’s not going to be given to them. … It’s going to take hard work. Winning is not easy. We’ll just go from there and hopefully keep working, grinding and come back next year.”