SEMIFINAL

win and sent the Nubians (22-6) to their first state title game since 2005.

The Nubians will face No. 2-ranked Cincinnati Deer Park (28-0) at 2 p.m. Saturday for the state title.

Claudio Penha snatched a loose ball in the Africentric lane with 45 seconds left, giving top-ranked Harvest Prep (28-1) a final chance to preserve its undefeated record.

Christopher Anthony drove to the basket, but had the ball stripped out of bounds by Tre’ Baumgardner with 17.4 seconds left. Another pass was deflected out of bounds at the 11.7-seconds mark.

The Warriors called a second timeout to draw up a tying or winning shot. Soul Hines came off a double screen on the left wing and missed a three-point try as time expired.

“The play worked and Soul got a pretty good shot,” Harvest Prep coach David Dennis said. “We were going for the win there.

“As I look at the stat sheet and think about the game, it came down to a loose ball here, a rebound there. It just didn’t go our way in the end. Anthony Bowman, left, of Africentric and Claudio Penha of Harvest Prep scramble for a loose ball. What a war. What a game. That’s just what everyone expected. That’s what we expected.”

Harvest Prep jumped to early leads of 7-0 and 10-3, but Africentric — riding the energy and hot hand of Baumgardner — eventually took control. He scored 18 of his 22 points in the first half. When Prep locked down on him, Baumgardner turned into facilitator, handing out four of his six assists in the second half.

“Nothing Tre’ does surprises us anymore,” Bates said. “He practices and plays so hard, you expect him to succeed.”

The Nubians built their lead to 41-32 late in the third quarter, but the Warriors wouldn’t give up without a fight.

A three-point shot by Hines with 2:49 remaining forced a 52-52 tie.

Bennett and Baumgardner each hit 1 of 2 free throws to set up the exciting final minute. Africentric helped keep the game

close by missing half of its 22 free throws.

Harvest Prep had beaten Africentric in 2014 and 2015 Division IV regional finals at Ohio University, adding emotion to the short-but-heated rivalry.

“We’ve talked about this game the whole season,” said Baumgardner, a Minnesota State signee and first-team all-Ohio choice. “This is what the 6 a.m. workouts were for, to get to the state championship game.”

Dorian Holloway added 13 points and six rebounds for the Nubians, who will go for their first official state title on Saturday. They had a Division IV title in 2005 stripped by the OHSAA a month later for an administrative error regarding a transfer player.

Anthony, also first-team all-Ohio, scored 20 points and Hines added 13 to lead Harvest Prep.