St. Marys secures spot in district finals against Shawnee.
Win sets up district final meeting with Shawnee
SPENCERVILLE — It’s March, and the Riders are still chasing the dream.
St. Marys built a big lead, then withstood a fourth-quarter surge to defeat Wauseon 58-43 in a Division II district semifinal on Wednesday night.
Having defeated one set of Indians, the win puts the Roughriders into Saturday’s district final against another tribe, that being top seed Shawnee.
Shawnee punched its ticket with a 56-38 win over Defiance, creating an all-Western Buckeye League showdown.
Senior Jadin Davis led St. Marys with 20 points on the night, while senior LeTrey Williams had 15 and sophomore big man Austin Parks tallied 13.
For Wauseon, Jonas Tester had 17 and Connar Penrod scored 15.
The teams went back and forth in the first, with St. Marys taking a four-point lead. The Roughriders then surged ahead in the second and were up 31-14 at the break.
Wauseon kept pace in the third, then made a run in the first part of the fourth quarter, cutting the lead down to single digits a couple of times. But St. Marys hit enough free throws down the stretch to secure the victory and move on.
St. Marys coach Dan Hegemier was not available for comment after the contest.
Tester hit the first shot of the night for the Indians, but a pair of free throws and a threepointer by Williams gave St. Marys the lead.
Things proceeded slowly for the next few minutes. With under three minutes to go, Williams broke a 7-all tie with another threepointer. After a free throw for Wauseon, Parks and Jace Turner got two baskets in the late going to counter a score by Tester. After one, the Riders led 1410.
Davis opened the second-period scoring with just under a minute elapsed. Parks followed by stuffing the ball through for two, then Davis drove for a layup.
Williams had the next score, taking the ball for a finger roll and doing a nice job to avoid a block attempt by Wauseon. Another score by Parks pushed the lead out to 14 points.
The Indians’ drought finally ended with just over three minutes to go, as Penrod scored on an inbounds play.
Parks and Turner hits shots for St. Marys. Tester got the second and final bucket for Wauseon.
St. Marys then wound the clock down for a final shot. Williams had an off-balance release with about 2 1/2 seconds to go, but it hit home and sent the Riders to the locker room with a 31-14 advantage.
Williams made a steal on the opening possession of the second half. He raced down for a shot attempt, and drew a foul, then made both shots.
Wauseon then made a small run, outscoring St. Marys 9-2. Baskets from Davis and Parks made sure things didn’t get too dramatic, but Wauseon then had Penrod and Tester each hit.
Davis scored for the Riders, then made two from the free throw line with 1:22 to go.
Wauseon got two foul shots from Tester, but trailed by 14 going to the fourth.
Penrod and DeGroff made shots about a minute apart in the opening minutes of the final frame, leading to a St. Marys timeout.
Penrod kept the Indians’ momentum rolling with a three, and it was now just a seven-point spread, 43-36.
Turner, a freshman, hit a shot for St. Marys, but Tester answered in kind for the Indians.
Davis then got a shot to fall after drawing a foul, and completed the three-point play with four minutes to go. He then set up a score by Parks, and made one free throw as Wauseon put the Roughriders into the “bonus” situation with their seventh foul.
Over the final two minutes of the contest, St. Marys spent the majority at the free throw stripe, making six of eight attempts. Davis also made a steal of an inbounds and got a layup.
Wauseon hit a couple of shots, but ran out of steam as things wound to a close.
Saturday’s game will tip off at 7 p.m. The winner will advance to the regional semifinals against the winner of the Ashland district. That will be either Shelby or Norwalk, who play at the same time as St Marys and Shawnee.
Score by quarters Wauseon 10 4 15 14 -- 43 St. Marys 14 17 12 15 -- 58
WAUSEON (43)
Jonas Tester 7-0-3-6-17; Tyson Britsch 0-0-0-0-0; Kolton DeGroff 1-0-0-0-2; Noah Sauber 0-0-0-0-0; Connar Penrod 3-3-0-0-15; Carson Burt 0-0-0-0-0; Easton Delgado 1-0-1-2-3; Isaac Wilson 3-0-0-0-6; Jude Armstrong 0-0-0-0-0; Krue Powers 0-0-0-0-0; Landon Hines 0-0-0-0-0; TOTALS 15-3-4-8-43.
ST. MARYS (58) LeTrey Williams 1-3-4-5-15; Jadin Davis 7-0-6-7-20; Braeden Hemmelgarn 0-0-0-0-0; Brandon Bowers 0-0-0-0-0; Brayden Sullivan 0-0-0-0-0; Gavin Reineke 0-0-2-2-2; Jack Turner 4-0-0-0-8; Andrew Moore 0-0-0-0-0; Ryan Meier 0-0-0-0-0; Austin Parks 6-01-3-13; TOTALS 18-3-13-17-58.