Undersized Brookville continues unlikely tournament run
VANDALIA — Brookville boys basketball coach Jeff Davidson feels like he’s in a movie. He coaches a team with no starter over 6 feet tall. Yet, they keep beating the odds and winning tournament games.
On Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., Davidson’s team will play under the bright lights of UD Arena in a Division III district final.
“We’re like the ‘Hoosiers,’” he said. “We’re a bunch of short guys.”
The fifth-seeded Blue Devils, however, are not short on players who can score, handle the ball and defend taller players. They did it again Saturday night at Butler High School in a 51-48 victory over No. 8 Miami East.
“They fight so hard,” Davidson said. “It’s part of hopefully our culture, too, that you have to fight a little harder when you’re not quite as gifted in terms of size and speed and stuff.”
The Blue Devils (18-6) had to play hard to the final second because of Miami East star Jacob Roeth, the Vikings’ four-year starter and career scoring leader with 1,762 points. He almost brought the Vikings (16-9) back from a 48-40 deficit. His 3-pointer with seven seconds left cut the lead to three.
Then Roeth, who scored 23 points, almost created the Hollywood ending. The Vikings covered everyone on the inbounds play after Roeth’s 3-pointer with 6.7 seconds left. That made the deep throw to the decoy the only option. Roeth saw the windup, took off and intercepted the pass beyond half court. Roeth knew he had six seconds and probably five dribbles before he had to shoot. He got near the 3-point line, but his leaning, contested shot fell short.
“I thought maybe I could draw a foul,” he said. “The kid pulled his arms up, so once I got up, I just shot it. It was frustrating because I knew as soon as it left my hand it was short. But we still got a great look to tie it up.”
Brookville began its celebration of a first district appearance since 2017 when assistant coach Jake Gudorf was on the team. The Blue Devils will play Cincinnati Mariemont, the No. 3 seed from the south brackets, and presumably taller.
Versailles 43, Indian Lake 42: Travis Swank called a play in the final seconds, but, as often happens, the play broke down. Fortunately for Swank and his team, sophomore point guard Drake Ahrens had the basketball.
“We really trust the ball in his hands, and we wouldn’t have given him that job as a freshman if we didn’t believe in him,” Swank said.
That belief was rewarded as time was running out. Ahrens tried to get to the basket on the left side but was forced to settle for a short jumper near the baseline. No problem. Ahrens made the shot, and after a timeout with 2.8 seconds left, the second-seeded Lakers (19-6) couldn’t get off a clean shot at the buzzer.
“I didn’t think it was going to go in at first, and then I started fading and it looked good,” Ahrens said. “If I got cut off, I was going to swing it to one of my teammates for an open look. But I felt confident, I shot it and it went in.”
The Tigers will play in a district final for the seventh time in eight years at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at UD Arena against Cincinnati Gamble Montessori, the No. 2 seed in the south brackets. The only year they missed during Swank’s time as head coach was last year. The Tigers (13-11) have often been a lower seed like they are this year at No. 11 following a challenging league and nonconference schedule.
Versailles had to rally from nine down at halftime to advance. A.J. Griesdorn scored inside to cut the deficit to 42-41 with 31 seconds left. Tight defense caused the Lakers to throw the ball out of bounds with 15 seconds left to set up Ahrens’ winning shot.
Ahrens, Griesdorn and Carson Heitkamp each scored 11 points and Jace Watren scored 10 to lead Versailles.