CANTON--Dreams of a perfect season and a state championship were shattered for Buchtel as St. Vincent-St. Mary outscored the Griffins 11-2 in overtime, and handed Buchtel its only loss of the season 68-59 to win another Division II District title Saturday night at the Canton Fieldhouse.
There will be a couple of what-if’s haunting the Griffins as they look back on a game they could have won. If Jason Pitts had connected on the last shot in regulation Buchtel would have been moving on to the regionals. But his shot just missed as the buzzer sounded . Of course the game could have been Buchtel’s too had the Griffins hit their foul shots, a seasonlong liability. But they connected on only seven of 17 from the charity stripe, and wound up tied with the Irish at 57 at the end of regulation.
St. Vincent-St. Mary turned the tables on Buchtel in the overtime, showing they could play great defense too with the game on the line. Khristian Taylor scored on two layups following two consecutive Irish steals to begin the overtime and Ricky Johnson Jr. hit a foul shot and suddenly the defending state champs were up 62-57 with just under two minutes left in the extra session . The state’s top ranked team never recovered. Lorenzo Cugini finished the Griffins off with two layups and the City Series champions had lost for the second consecutive year to the Irish in the district title game.
The sellout crowd of more than 5,000 got the game they wanted as the two Akron heavyweights slugged it out defensively and on the scoreboard.
Everything looked good for Buchtel early as the Griffins quickly moved out to an 11-1 lead, with Jason Pitts scoring a quick seven points, but St. Vincent-St. Mary answered with baskets by Khristian Taylor, Ricky Johnson, Dominic Mitchell and Jack Uecker. Buchtel had a 14-10 lead to end the first quarter.
St. Vincent-St. Mary started the second quarter with a zone defense that disrupted Buchtel‘s offense. After the Griffins had grabbed a 16-10 lead, the Irish roared back to take a 17-16 lead on a 7-0 run sparked by Dominic Mitchell’s five points off the bench. Following a layup by Buchtel’s Jazel Garrett, St. Vincent-St. Mary went on a 9-2 run to extend its lead to 26-20. But Buchtel fought back, outscoring the Irish 9-4 on two scores by Jason Pitts and baskets by Marlon Oden and Dainan Lewis, to trail St. Vincent-St. Mary 30-29 at the half.
Both offenses kicked into high gear to begin the third quarter. Buchtel grabbed the early momentum outscoring the Irish 12-7 on several Irish turnovers to gain a 42-37 advantage. But Irish big man Jakarr Sampson, who was scoreless in the first half, started asserting himself, scoring nine points on strong drives to the basket, and the quarter ended with Buchtel in front 44-43.
The fourth quarter saw both squad tighten up defensively, trading turnovers. Cugini and Sampson scored three and five points respectively and Taylor four to help the Irish keep pace with Buchtel. Marlon Oden connected on two threes, Myles Fitten hit another and Chevin Meadows scored to force the tie to end regulation.
Taylor scored 16 points to lead St. Vincent-St. Mary. Cugini followed with 14 and Sampson 12. Mitchell was another key performer for the Irish with 11 points off the bench.
Jason Pitts led Buchtel with 16 points. Marlon Oden had 10.
St. Vincent-St. Mary coach Dru Joyce said one key to his team’s victory was speeding up Buchtel’s offense with their zone defense.
“We were not going to give them time to get their feet set and measure the shot. That’s what I thought we did a good job of.”
Joyce says his team also proved it was better than Buchtel. “We felt that we were a better basketball team. That’s just who we are. We believed that, we worked like it. It’s nothing against Steve (White) and what he’s done. I think he’s done a tremendous job. But we felt like we’ve seen a little but of everything. He (White) was feeling like we wouldn’t be familiar with them. But I felt they wouldn’t be familiar with us either.”
Joyce said the Irish’s tough schedule against other great teams prepared his squad for Buchtel’s challenge.
Dejected Buchtel coach Stephen White says poor free-throw shooting and shots that wouldn’t fall, plus a key turnover as Buchtel tried to run out the clock with a one point lead in regulation, spelled defeat for his team. White said, “Once we got into overtime we let the game get away from us.”