Africentric drops D-III state semi in double OT
DAYTON — Ottawa-glandorf won the battle of attrition and eliminated Africentric from the Division III boys basketball state tournament for the second consecutive season.
The Titans rallied from a 12-point deficit and edged the Nubians 48-47 in double overtime in a semifinal Saturday at University of Dayton Arena.
Colin White's free throw with 4.9 seconds remaining proved to be the winning point and was the only point of the second four-minute overtime. Africentric's Dailyn Swain drove the lane on the game's final possession, but his basket came after time expired.
Playing in his final game for Africentric (22-6), Swain led the Nubians with 21 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and three steals.
Swain, who will play at Xavier, was a two-time district Player of the Year and was a finalist this season for Ohio Mr. Basketball, which was won by Pickerington Central's Devin Royal.
“I know Devin Royal is Mr. Basketball, but (Swain) is my Mr. Basketball, and my Mr. Basketball with the ball in his hands," Africentric coach Michael Bates said. "I'm thinking we're going to win that game every single time.”
Trailing 31-19 late in the third quarter, Ottawa-glandorf (25-3) held Africentric without a basket for nearly six minutes to take the lead midway through the fourth.
Down 41-38, Africentric forced overtime on Cortez Freeman's 3-pointer with 54.4 seconds remaining in regulation. Freeman fouled out with 3:17 left in the first overtime.
Ottawa-glandorf defeated Africentric 53-48 in a semifinal a season ago before losing to Cincinnati Taft 48-45 in the title game.
“(This was) just a great high school basketball game,” Ottawa-glandorf coach Tyson Mcglaughlin said. “The Ottawa-glandorf-africentric battle has really been something in the postseason . ... I have a lot of respect for coach Bates. The kids are tough and physical and the last couple of years the implications of this game have been as high as you can get.”
Ottawa-glandorf will play Harvest Prep or Cleveland Heights Lutheran East in the final at 5:15 p.m. Sunday.
“It was a hard-fought game,” Bates said. “Six quarters of championship basketball at an extremely high level. Both teams fought it out and left it out on the court. We had a few timely mistakes that cost us and we had a few opportunities to actually capitalize on on a couple of mistakes that they made and we weren't able to make it happen.”