Experienced Warriors cruise in Division III final
Harvest Prep 55, Cleveland Heights Lutheran East 42
Harvest Prep left the state tournament in 2018 with a two-point loss and a bitter taste.
“We knew we just had to learn from last year’s experience here, move on to the next one and take care of business,” junior guard Christopher “CJ” Anthony said. “We worked hard in the offseason, we stayed together and we earned it this time. We were driven.”
Exuding the confidence of a team with eight seniors that had played under bright lights of Value City Arena, Harvest Prep grabbed a comfortable early lead and never wavered in beating Cleveland Heights Lutheran East 55-42 in the Division III title game Saturday.
The Warriors had been runners-up in 2007, 2011 and 2015 before falling to Africentric 54-52 in a semifinal last year. Harvest Prep came into last year’s final four with an unbeaten record.
“Having that experience back was a huge factor,” Harvest Prep coach David Dennis said. “They had been through it all last year and they were a lot more comfortable in this environment. There was a belief and a motivation to get it done this time.”
Dennis also coached Harvest Prep’s girls team in 2010 and 2011 before taking over the boys program in 2012.
The Warriors (28-2) took a 12-5 lead and immediately put doubt in the minds of Lutheran East, which started three sophomores and two juniors and had only one senior on the roster.
“Our goal was to come out and be aggressive … to set the tone,” Dennis said. “We were committed to not let them get in a rhythm. We didn’t want them to get confidence and swag about them. We knew they were young but very talented as well.”
Harvest Prep had plenty of success driving to the basket, hitting shots and fighting for loose balls on the way to a lead it held all the way. Struggling with consistency all game, Lutheran East (20-9) was unable to pull closer than eight points after halftime.
Anthony, the state player of the year, was outstanding. The 6-foot guard scored 21 points, grabbed five rebounds and drew 10 personal fouls.
Elijah Glenn added 14 points and Soul Hines 13 on 4-of-4 three-point shooting. Harvest Prep shot 52.9 percent from the field (18 of 34) and went 7 of 17 beyond the arc.
“Whenever we shoot bad one game, we come back and shoot well the next,” Anthony said.
Meanwhile, Lutheran East went 2 for 26 from three-point range in shooting 31.7 percent overall. Most of the Falcons’ offensive success came on putbacks of their own misses.
“A lot of it was our defense,” Dennis said. “We’ve seen film where they shoot the ball well and we’ve seen some where they did not shoot well at all. We were fine with letting them shoot from the outside. We’d rather take our chances with that.”
Nehemiah Benson had 13 points and nine rebounds for Lutheran East.
Lutheran East coach Sam Liggins, who played on the Falcons’ 2005 championship team, conceded that Harvest Prep’s experience and his team’s lack of it played a major factor.
“You can’t teach experience,” he said. “Senior groups win championships. Young guys don’t, or at least it’s not a common thing. We believe we have a good chance to be here next year and maybe the year after that. We’ve got unfinished business … just like (Harvest Prep) did this year.”
Hines said Harvest Prep’s journey began the second after it lost in last year’s state tournament.
“We were new to it last year,” he said. “We had basically the same team back. We weren’t going to leave here with that same feeling again.”
sblackledge@ dispatch.com @Blackiepreps