Westerville Central feels like the team of destiny
There’s one every March, a team that just feels destined to make a deep tournament run. Maybe they’ve overcome a few large deficits, unexpectedly won as the underdog or hit a buzzer-beater or two for a big win.
Westerville Central believes it is one of those teams.
The Warhawks’ run has twice been kept alive by last-second game-winners. In the district championship against Pickerington North, it was Landon Tillman’s three-pointer that lifted Central to the 41-39 win with 1.8 seconds left.
And in the regional championship against Gahanna, the Warhawks put the ball in Tasos Cook’s hands with 1.9 on the clock. He took two steps and launched a shot from beyond halfcourt that swished through the basket a millisecond after the buzzer rang.
“We were in the huddle with one second left,” senior Quincy Clark said after the game. “I’m a little discouraged in the huddle. They were telling me it’s written. They were literally saying, ‘Just believe. It’s written. Trust me, trust me, trust me.’ ”
Cook’s shot landed the Warhawks (22-2) in the state tournament for the first time in program history. They will face Cleveland St. Ignatius (19-6) in the Division I semifinal at 8 p.m. Saturday at University of Dayton Arena.
“For what we were playing for here today, for that shot to go in, it almost seems like we were destined to be where we’re at,” Central coach Kevin Martin said after the 45-44 regional championship win March 13.
Martin has been the coach of the Warhawks since 2018 and is on a mission to build Central into a perennial powerhouse. After going 10-13 in his first season, the Warhawks won their first district title last year when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the suspension of the season.
Now, after winning its second straight district championship and first regional championship, Central has a state title in its sights.
Martin credits his seniors — Tillman, Cook and Clark among them — for their buy-in and commitment to building the program that’s gotten the Warhawks to this point. Clark and Cook were sophomores playing varsity in Martin’s first year.
“It means so much,” Cook said. “I just want to give credit to coach Martin. We did this for coach Martin. We want to make him proud. We want to give him a good season. Hopefully, we can keep it going.”
Keeping the season going will require defeating St. Ignatius, one of the tallest and deepest teams the Warhawks have faced this season. The Wildcats start two players who are 6 feet 7 and can bring players as tall as 6-9 off the bench.
But given how things have gone for Central to this point of the tournament, things may well fall into place and allow it to keep the run alive.
“When you make these types of runs, and to win championships, you need to be really good, No. 1, but you also need things to kinda line up and fall into place,” Martin said. “Some of that is luck at times.
“… When something like (Cook’s shot) happens, with what was on the line in that game being a regional championship game with the winner going to the final four, you kind of have to look and say maybe this team is destined to do big things here this weekend.” bjohnson@dispatch.com @baileyajohnson