Shelby Whippets make history with regional championship win, Final Four trip
BOWLING GREEN – Chemistry, special, resilient, composed, and family all have been words used to describe the 202324 Shelby boys basketball team.
Well, add a few more to that list: regional champions, Final Four-bound, and history makers.
This year’s team (252) is regional champions and is headed to the Division II state Final Four for the first time in Shelby boys’ basketball history.
In a game featuring the state’s top two ranked teams in Division II, the No. 2 ranked Whippets went on an epic 14-0 run midway through the fourth quarter to knock off the defending state
champions and topranked Lutheran West, 55-46 on Saturday.
In front of a boisterous pro-shelby crowd that filled almost half of Bowling Green State University’s Stroh Center, the resilient Whippets stayed composed. The 14-0 run sent the Whippet crowd into a frenzy and left many in tears of joy.
“Wow, basketball is a game of runs, and we’ve been in that situation a lot this year,” Shelby coach Greg
Gallaway said.
“Credit our seniors and veterans who know how to handle those situations,” he also said. “They stay composed. They don’t go into panic mode. I’m so proud of these guys.”
The Whippets head to Dayton on March 23 to face Zanesville Maysville for a 2 p.m. tip in the second game of the Division II state semifinals. The Whippets will match up against a 25-3 Zanesville Maysville team that won the Region 7 championship with a 72-64 victory over Vincent Warren.
After Lutheran hit a three-pointer to raise their lead to 40-33 to start the fourth quarter,
the Whippets went on an improbable 14-0 run and outscored the Longhorns 22-9 in the fourth quarter to punch their ticket to Dayton.
“Our focus was get one stop at a time and our offense will piggyback off the defense,” said Shelby’s All-ohio guard, Alex Bruskotter.
Senior and All-district forward Issaiah Ramsey added: “It was all momentum. We brought a great crowd and after they hit that three it opened our eyes and we knew it was defense that would allow us to go on that run.”
Bryson Baker muscled his way for an and-one (basket and free throw) to start the run. Bruskotter knocked down a three to close the lead 40-39, then Bruskotter found Casey Lantz open for a thunderous dunk, and the Whippets led 41-40 with 4:06 left in the game.
Bruskotter hit two free throws, then the stingy Shelby defense forced Lutheran into a turnover, and then a timeout, and the momentum was all Shelby.
Lantz hit Ramsey on a beautiful pass for a layup, and Bruskotter hit Lantz again for a layup, forcing another Longhorn timeout and sending the Whippet crowd into a frenzy. The Whippets were up 47-40 with 1:33 left on the clock.
The Whippet defense then locked down again, and Lutheran couldn’t get a shot off for over 25 seconds before calling their final timeout.
Lutheran hit a layup and forced Shelby into a turnover, but again Shelby’s defense rose to the occasion and stopped the Longhorns.
Lutheran’s head coach was then assessed a technical for arguing a noncall while Bruskotter was fouled with 19.6 seconds left in the game.
The All-ohio guard then calmly sank all four free throws, the fourth with his eyes closed to ice the game.
“I think I shot ten free throws before those so I already had a good rhythm down at the line. I hit the first three and I do this in practice. I practice shooting with my eyes closed, so the last one, I shot it with my eyes closed,” Bruskotter said with a laugh.
With concerns about private and public schools freely recruiting and transferring players, the Shelby squad features homegrown-talent. Most have been playing basketball together since grade school. Eight seniors have been playing basketball together since first grade. It’s a brotherhood that goes beyond the basketball court.
Baker, Bruskotter, Tanner Hartz, Lantz, Brennan Lewis, Ramsey, Amareon Russell and Eli Schwemley are the eight seniors heading to state along with juniors Andy Brubaker, Karsen Homan and Cohen Sturts. Sophomores Brayden
Devito, Avery Lambert, Kaden Price and freshman Michael Shepherd round out the 23-24 squad.
“This group is different. This group is just special,” Gallaway said. “We separate ourselves with how connected we are. It’s one of our core values that we take seriously.”
“When practice is done, they hang out. You can’t force that as a coach,” he said. “It’s things like that. This may sound crazy, but it’s not the shots we made today, but it’s the connectiveness these guys share. We firmly believe that, that’s why we’re going down to Dayton.”
Bruskotter added: “We are so close and tight. We’ve been playing together for so long. We’ve been in these situations before, others’ schools haven’t. They just go get whoever from Cleveland, that just helps us even more. We don’t panic, we just lean on each other.”
Ramsey said: “What makes it more special is that us eight seniors have been playing together since fourth/fifth grade. Other schools just go get transfers and kids from everywhere. What makes it more special is that we’re going into dog fights with guys who have been beside us the whole time.”
Bruskotter has been attending state games for years and has been dreaming of playing in the Final Four for just as long.
“I remember as a little kid, me and my dad had been going to the state tournament every year,” Bruskotter said. “I can remember getting out of school on Thursday and meeting Bryson and his dad down there. I just remember I want to do that when I get in high school. That was my only goal going into high school. I just wanted to go to state with my childhood buddies.”
Bruskotter also spoke about the Shelby crowd that had to outnumber Lutheran’s crowd by 50%.
“They help us a ton, obviously no extra motivation is needed, but it just makes the moment so much more special seeing how many people have our backs and see us succeed and just inspire us to do it for our community,” he said. “They deserve it. They haven’t seen it ever (going to state) so we want to do it for them too.”
For Shelby’s upcoming Final Four appearance, public single-session tickets went on sale Monday morning at www.ohsaa.org/tickets.