Westerville Central, Gahanna set up rematch in regional final
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The way to beat Hilliard Bradley is to limit the Jaguars’ ability to shoot from beyond the arc. For the most part, Westerville Central did just that on the way to a 56-44 semifinal win and a spot in Saturday’s regional final against Gahanna.
“This group’s been really good defensively all year,” Central coach Kevin Martin said. “We had three good days of preparation. They’re really hard to guard. They shoot the ball at such a high level and all the stuff that they do with movement and screening, they’re just a very polished offensive team.
“We had a game plan. We didn’t want them to get comfortable behind the three-point line because of how well they can shoot it.”
Bradley’s best shooters, Keaton and Cade Norris, sons of coach Brett Norris, still were able to find some success on the perimeter early in the game and finished with 19 and 12 points, respectively. But as the game went on and the Warhawks (21-2) settled in, the Jaguars (20-6) weren’t able to use threes as their main weapon.
“We wanted to just key in on their best shooters like Keaton and Cade and make sure they didn’t get as many shots up or at least easy shots,” senior Tasos Cook said. “We wanted to make all their shots difficult and make them drivers. We wanted to force their lesstalented shooters to shoot the ball more and get to the paint.”
Cook, who was named the Central District Division I player of the year last week, was limited by the Jaguars’ defense and finished with just 10 points, well below his season average of 19.9. But six of those points came on emphatic dunks, including two in the final minutes of the game.
“Tasos is just Tasos,” Martin said. “Everybody does something different. Everybody tries to play physical. He sees a different scheme every night and he just continues to battle through and fight through and finds a way to give us important baskets down the stretch with some of those runouts.”
To round out a balanced offensive attack from Central, Landon Tillman, Quincy Clark and M.J. Davis had 17, 13, and 12 points, respectively.
Saturday’s regional final at Westerville South will be the third matchup of the season between Gahanna and Central. They split the two previous games, which were each decided by one point.
Gahanna 47, Olentangy Liberty 39
Gahanna coach Tony Staib found out Wednesday that two of his players wouldn’t be available for Thursday’s regional semifinal against Olentangy Liberty due to COVID-19 protocols.
The Lions’ depth had already been challenged with the loss of Jarious Jones to an ACL tear on Feb. 5, and now two more players, including a regular starter, were out of the lineup for the semifinal.
It didn’t matter.
In his first career start, junior Brendan Raymond contributed five points, including two made free throws in the final minute to extend Gahanna’s lead, and was a factor in several defensive plays that helped the Lions (22-2) seal the victory over the Patriots (20-6).
“With people out, I had to step up a little bit,” Raymond said. “It was a good experience. It was a fun game. … I just thought, just do my role and we’ll be cool in the game.”
Added Staib: “We survived all that COVID stuff. It’s the end of the year, so we’ve got a lot of guys with experience.”
Junior guard Sean Jones led the way for the Lions with 16 points, three rebounds and two assists, and Gahanna’s duo of bigs, Maceo Williams at 6 feet 6 and Javan Simmons at 6-7, had 14 and eight points, respectively.
Their size proved to be too much for Liberty’s defense, made particularly evident when Simmons slammed home a dunk late in the fourth quarter and drew a foul to complete the three-point play, giving the Lions a six-point lead.
“That’s what makes us a pretty good team,” Staib said. “A lot of teams have one big. We have two that have different skill sets.” bjohnson@dispatch.com @baileyajohnson_