Teays Valley came into Logan Elm looking to claim the outright Mid-State League Buckeye Division title, but the host Braves had other ideas.
The teams fought through a tight game and Logan Elm hit the decisive free throw with 8.9 seconds left for a 47-46 win.
“I felt like that was a total team effort. We had a bunch of different guys step up at different times,” LE coach Nate Dropsey said. “I thought Tyler Speas did an excellent job in help. Sam Miller is an excellent player in the post, and they were going to go to him. Tyler did an excellent job of getting in there and making it really difficult on him.
“Brody Sabine stepped up huge tonight on both ends of the floor. He was very aggressive offensively, especially early. When they started denying him, he did a good job of screening for others.”
Teays Valley scored the game’s first six points, and LE tied it up, TV put up the next five and then LE finished the quarter scoring the last 10 to hold a 16-11 lead. Brody Sabine hit four three-pointers and had another basket for 14 points in the period.
A basket by TV’s Brody Fields with 1:20 to go put TV in the lead at 24-23, which was followed by a three-pointer from LE’s Tyler Speas. Free throws from TV’s Luke Burgett tied the game at 26-26, which is where the score stood at halftime.
Five points from Brody Fields and four from Sam Miller in the first three-and-a-half minutes of the third helped TV go up 35-29.
LE answered with a basket from Carson Summers and a three from Speas. With just under two minutes to go, Speas made a steal and converted it into a layup to put the Braves up a point. Kaden Purdon hit a pull-up jumper in the lane with 1:15 to go to put TV back up a point at 37-36 and that score held to start the fourth.
Logan Elm had a strong start to the fourth with a basket by Ne’miah Waugh followed by a three from Sabine. After a TV basket from Miller, Waugh sunk a pair of free throws and hit a three to put LE up 46-39 with 4:30 left in the game.
TV slowly caught back up with a basket from Luke Burgett and one from Fields. Still down three with the clock winding down, Fields was fouled shooting a three with 21 seconds left and he sunk all three to tie the game at 46-46.
Waugh was trying to move along the baseline to find an open teammate when he was fouled with 8.9 seconds showing. It was TV’s fifth foul of the quarter and he went to the line to shoot two free throws. The first one missed but the second went in.
With fouls to give, LE fouled the Vikings with 5.3 seconds left. After a timeout, the Vikings inbounded to Kaden Purdon who was able to find a clear lane to the basket, but his shot was off the mark and Camden Redd secured the rebound to preserve LE’s win.
“It feels good to finish one out,” Dropsey said. “As a group, we’re learning how to win, we’re learning how to make the right plays. We competed all night and that’s what gave us the chance to win.”
TV coach Brian Barnett said there were two LE players they needed to stop. The Vikings were able to keep one under control for three quarters while the other hurt them early.
“You’ve got to stop Ne’miah and you’ve got stop Sabine. If you can do those two and make the others beat you, then you’ve got a good shot,” Barnett said.
While they held Waugh scoreless in the first half, Sabine had 16 points in the game’s first nine minutes. Waugh finished with 10 points, eight coming in the fourth quarter.
When those two weren’t scoring, LE got 11 points from Speas in the middle quarters.
“They stepped up and hit some big shots when they had to,” Barnett said.
Rebounding also impacted the outcome.
“Defensive rebounding killed us tonight,” Barnett said. “You can’t give up 14 offensive rebounds and expect to win.”
Fields finished the night with 22 points to lead TV and Miller ended with 15.
Wednesday was the final regular season for Logan Elm with their first tournament game coming up Saturday afternoon as they host Athens.
LE finishes the regular season with a 9-13 record and tied for fifth in the league with a 6-8 record.
Teays Valley still has a regular season game with Canal Winchester on Tuesday and finished the league with an 11-3 mark. The Vikings wrapped up a share of the league title Tuesday with a win over Amanda-Clearcreek, but the loss to LE may lead to them sharing the title with Bloom-Carroll if BC can beat Circleville Friday.
“Anytime you win a league championship, it’s special. But when you have it in the grasp of your hands and kind of let it slip through, it’s disappointing,” Barnett said. “Our kids are resilient, and they’ll bounce back.”
Wednesday’s game was also the last official Mid-State League boys’ basketball game for the Vikings as they head to the Ohio Capital Conference next school year after 40 seasons in the MSL.
Barnett has been part of the Teays Valley basketball program for 34 seasons and has been the school’s golf coach for 25.
“Over those years we’ve made some great friends and that’s what I’ll think about the most is the friendships you make along the way,” he said. “Yeah, we’re competitive with one another, but it’s what we do off the court in the offseason with each other. I’m going to miss these guys.
“There’s some great basketball in our league and anyone who takes our league lightly is definitely mistaken. I’m going to miss the camaraderie, I’m going to miss the competition and I’m going to miss coming into some of these gymnasiums.”
Logan Elm 47, Teays Valley 46
Teays Valley — Brody Fields 6-8-22, Luke Burgett 1-2-4, Owen Hoffhines 1-0-3, Kaden Purdon 1-0-2, Sam Miller 5-5-15. Three-point goals — Nungester (3), Fields, Burgett, Hoffhines, Purdon, Miller. Total — 18-42 3-6 47.
Logan Elm — Tyler Speas 4-0-11, Brady Neff 2-0-4, Carson Summers 1-0-2, Brody Sabine 7-0-19, Aiden Williams 0-1-1, Ne’miah Waugh 3-3-10. Three-point goals — Speas (3), Sabine (5), Waugh. Total — 17-47 4-6 47.
Quarter scores 1 2 3 4 F
Teays Valley 11 15 11 9 46
Logan Elm 16 10 10 11 47
