By JOHN HOWLEY / sportingpumpkin.com
ASHVILLE — Dublin Scioto played a strong fourth quarter in erasing an eight-point lead to knock Teays Valley out of the Central District Division I tournament 48-47 Tuesday night.
A basket from Camden Primmer two minutes into the fourth quarter gave the Vikings their largest lead of the night at 41-33.
The Irish cut into the TV advantage a little at a time before tying the game at 45-45 with 1:29 left. Scioto tied the game on consecutive three-pointers from Jaydon Pearson who hit seven in the game.
TV (9-10) grabbed the lead back 14 seconds later on a basket from Garrett Meddock. Tysen Boze scored with a minute showing to tie the game again.
The decisive point came with 11 seconds on the clock when Boze hit the second of two foul shots.
TV brought the ball down and Meddock was able to get off a contested jumper, but it was off the mark and Scioto’s Xavier Lopez won the battle for the rebound as the clock ran out.
The tournament loss wraps up a season that has been anything but ordinary for the Vikings.
“These guys overcame a tremendous amount. We were shut down three times. We were missing three of our top five players for the last three or four weeks of the season. We had stoppages, we had snow days, we had cancellations,” TV coach Brian Barnett said. “This group of guys is going to be successful in life because they never wavered, they never complained when someone got hurt or something didn’t go their way. Win or lose, we didn’t make excuses. They just battled.
“Their grit and their toughness, I’ll never question that in these guys,” he added of his team that finished third in the Mid-State League Buckeye Division standings.
The Vikings ended the night with a 29-23 rebounding advantage with eight each from Luke Sachs and Eli Burgett.
But in the decisive fourth quarter, it was Scioto that won the battle for the boards 10-1, including grabbing seven offensive rebounds.
“They’re long and athletic and they did a nice job of getting position. Some of those rebounds came out long and went over our heads. I didn’t think we were in too bad of position, but we just didn’t come up with them,” Barnett said. “I thought they did a good job moving on the offensive boards.”
The night started with the Irish struggling to connect from two-point range but hitting from behind the arc.
Pearson and James Maholm combined for four three-pointers in the first quarter as Scioto had a 13-9 lead and Pearson had three more in the second. Scioto didn’t hit for two points until Lopes connected with about a minute to go in the half.
“We switched about midway through the second quarter, beginning of the second quarter and went to a little bit of longer player on (Pearson) and kind of forced him to his left more. We knew if he went right, he was going to score,” Barnett said. “We put Camden (Primmer) on him, and a little bit longer defender helped out quite a bit.”
TV turned a 24-21 halftime deficit into a 36-30 lead at the end of the third as Primmer had 11 of his 15 points in the quarter. Scioto was held scoreless from behind the three-point line in the third.
“One of the adjustments we made coming out of halftime, every time (Pearson) came off a screen our hedge, our top guy was going to hedge more and when we hedged, we’d be able to help on that screen a little bit,” Barnett said. “He got loose in the fourth quarter a couple times and there were a couple times we just lost him and that can’t happen.”
Primmer and Meddock led the Vikings with 15 points each while Pearson had 23 for Scioto and Maholm had 10.
Dublin Scioto 48, Teays Valley 47
Dublin Scioto — Tysen Boze 2-3-7, Jaydon Pearson 8-0-23, Xavier Lopez 4-0-8, James Maholm 3-1-10. Three-point goals — Pearson (7), Maholm (3). Total — 17-47 4-7 48.
Teays Valley — Garrett Meddock 6-0-15, Reese Sauerbrun 0-2-2, Jackson Smith 1-0-2, Eli Burgett 4-0-8, Camden Primmer 7-1-15, Liam Sachs 2-1-5. Three-point goals — Meddock (3). Total — 20-39 4-6 47.
Quarter scores 1 2 3 4 F
Dublin Scioto 13 11 6 18 48
Teays Valley 9 12 15 11 47
