Botkins tops Cedarville to reach state semifinal
VANDALIA —
Spring forward — to state!
Botkins survived a down-to-the wire battle with Cedarville on Friday night, winning 4240 to capture the Region 16 championship in the Division IV boys basketball tournament.
The win advances the Trojans one step closer to the ultimate prize of a state championship. It is the first time they have reached this level since 1994.
They will play in the first semifinal next Friday against Richmond Heights, which defeated John. F. Kennedy in another regional final.
The other semifinal will match Columbus Grove and Glenwood.
Both games will be held at the University of Dayton.
Unlike the past couple of games where they led comfortably throughout, Botkins had to earn their their way to a place among the last four teams standing.
They held small leads of four and six points at the end of each of the first two quarters. They kept in front through the third, then expanded it a little in the fourth. The Indians (24-2) made a run, but could not erase the gap.
Sophomore Carter Pleiman had four free throws, two with 27 seconds left and two more with five seconds to go to preserve the win.
Senior Jayden Priddy led the Trojans with 16 points. Jacob Pleiman had seven, while Zane Paul and Carter Pleiman had six each.
For Cedarville, Trent Koning had 14 points and Isaiah Raney scored eight.
“We’re ready for this moment. We’re battle tested,” said Botkins coach Sean Powell. He noted that Paul, Denton Homan and Priddy did a good job on defense containing Cedarville and limiting the opportunities.
Homan hit a shot in the lane in the game’s opening minute, and Priddy made a shot with 5:24 to go. Cedarville, after missing its first few chances, tied things up with a jumper by Kon
ing and two free throws from Caleb McKinion.
Priddy then got a shot to fall, and after drawing contact, completed the play with the free throw.
After a score by Koning, the Trojans expanded their lead from one to seven. That was due to scores by Priddy and Paul, with two foul shots by Homan in between.
The Indians stayed in range as Hayden Hanson banked in a 3-point shot as time expired in the first, leaving the Trojans up 13-9.
After Payton Herron drained a 3-pointer for Cedarville early on, there was no further scoring by either team for a few minutes.
Carter Pleiman finally twisted his way down the lane for a bucket with 4:40 to go. Cedarville answered with two free throws by Koning.
Jameson Meyer, who lit things up in the district final, let fly from top of the key and the ball swished cleanly through to make it a four-point lead, 18-14. Meyer then set up a score for Jacob Pleiman with a sharp pass.
That would prove to be the last score, not only for Botkins, but of the first half, with the men in black taking a six-point advantage to the locker room.
That lead got reduced early in the third as Ramey connected on a three-pointer.
Priddy scored the Trojans’ next six points in a variety of ways (twopointer, free throw, 3-ball), but Cedarville got baskets from McKinion, Hunter Baldwin and Ramey to keep matters close.
Paul then collected an assist with a pass to Jacob Pleiman. After Priddy made one of two free throws, he was called for his fourth foul (two of them offensive) and headed to the bench for a while.
Ramey closed out the period as he had started, with a three-pointer for the Indians, making it 29-26 in favor of Botkins.
Paul, who helped lead the Botkins soccer team to deep playoff runs the past two seasons, hit two free throws, then dropped a shot through the hoop with 5 1/2 minutes to go.
Botkins was called for an intentional foul. But Koning only made one of the two shots from the line, and the Indians failed to score on the ensuing possession.
Jacob Pleiman then worked his way to the low post as the midway point of the period approached. He scored, drew a foul, and added the foul shot for a 36-27 lead, Botkins biggest of the night at nine.
Herron hit from long range for Cedarville, and Priddy re-entered the game with about 3 1/2 minutes left.
Koning was grazed on a three-point shot and made two from the line.
Priddy sank two shots after drawing a foul with 2:23 to play pushing the lead back to six.
McKinion, one of Cedarville’s all-senior starting five, made a steal and scored. He then made one free throw with 59 seconds left, but missed the second, leaving his team down by three, 38-35.
After a Botkins timeout with 35 seconds to go, Carter Pleiman was fouled. He stepped up and came through, making both shots.
Cedarville then missed three shots from various ranges, draining the clock down to 9.1 seconds. A foul prior to an inbounds attempt put Koning on the line. He made both to get it back to one possession.
Botkins got the ball in. Pleiman had it when he was fouled, and again made both.
Cedarville raced down the court. Botkins allowed them to shoot a three-pointer. It was good, but the last couple seconds ticked away as the ball bounced off the floor.
Game Notes
Great showing by the Botkins faithful for their third time at the Vandalia Butler gym.
Richmond Heights (17-4), located near Cleveland, defeated John F. Kennedy (from Warren) 67-50 in the Region 13 final.
In the other half of the bracket, Columbus Grove (24-2) edged New Bremen 50-48 and Glenwood (24-2) topped Hiland 44-39.
The players and coaches did get to cut down the net after this win, unlike when they won the district title over Fayetteville-Perry.
Score by quarters Botkins 13 7 9 13 -- 42 Cedarville 9 5 12 14 -- 40
BOTKINS (42)
Denton Homan 1-0-2-2-4; Jameson Meyer 0-1-0-0-3; Zane Paul 2-0-2-2-6; Jayden Priddy 4-15-7-16; Dylan Topp 0-0-0-0-0; Carter Pleiman 1-0-4-5-6; Jacob Pleiman 3-0-1-3-7; TOTALS 11-214-19-42.
CEDARVILLE (40)
Isaiah Ramey 1-2-0-0-8; Trent Koning 2-1-7-9-14; Drew Koning 0-0-0-0-0; Drew Mason 0-0-0-00; Payton Herron 0-2-0-0-6; Hunter Baldwin 1-0-0-0-2; Caleb McKinion 2-0-3-4-7; Hayden Hanson 0-1-0-0-3; TOTALS 6-6-10-13-40.