by JOHN HOWLEY / sportingpumpkin.com
ATHENS — Logan Elm pulled off a couple of upsets to earn a spot in Monday’s district semifinal, but the Braves were unable to continue the magic as No. 2 seed Warren ended their season 54-34.
The No. 14 seeded Braves had come in on a four-game winning streak that started with a 47-46 win over league champion Teays Valley and continued with a win over Athens to start the tournament and then upsets of No. 3 Washington Court House and No. 6 Unioto.
“After we played Teays Valley and won that tough one against a really good basketball team, you started to see some more confidence come out in some other guys,” LE coach Nate Dropsey said. “As we continued to win, we gained more confidence, we had more trust in ourselves and our teammates. There was a belief in there that we were able to accomplish some of our goals and I felt like all the kids really bought in to what we were saying as coaches and wanted to see what we could do when the tournament comes.”
One of those goals is to play at Ohio University come tournament time.
“It’s always our goal, always our expectation to make it down here to Athens,” Dropsey said. “We didn’t have the outcome we would have liked but that’s a step in the right direction for some of these younger kids to be able to see what it takes, especially when you get down here when there’s not a bad basketball team.”
The game started out in the Braves’ favor as they got out to an 8-2 lead and were up 10-5 with a minute left in the first quarter.
Warren (21-3) then started to take control as it finished the first quarter with a three-point play from Julian Stadelman and scored the first 16 points of the second quarter for a 24-10 lead. The half ended with the Warriors leading 28-18.
After LE scored the first two buckets of the second half, Warren had the next 12 points and the third quarter ended with a 46-27 Warriors’ lead.
“We went through a stretch there where we turned it over about four or five straight times without getting a shot and they turned that into about 10 or 12 points pretty quick,” Dropsey said. “It’s hard for us when they go on those big runs. It’s hard to weather that, especially against a really good basketball team.”
Stadelman had 29 points to lead the Warriors to the district championship game Saturday afternoon against New Lexington. Hayden Wells added 10 and Trent Taylor had nine.
Tayor also led the Warriors with 12 rebounds as Warren outrebounded the Braves 37-27.
Ne’miah Waugh led the Braves with 12 points.
Keegan Diehl pulled down six rebounds for LE while Brody Sabine and Alden Williams each had five.
It was the final game for Sabine, Williams, Blake Kanniard, Camden Redd, Kyle Rine and Carson Summers.
“Those six seniors, they’re a great group of kids. It has been fun,” Dropsey said of having that group for his first year as head coach. “Cam came back and joined us this year but the other five have been in the program all the way through. That says a lot about them as people and their character.
“It’s not easy – what we expect and the demands we put on them, that’s not easy. To come up all the way through and stick with it, that shows you how special that whole group is.”
Logan Elm finished up the season with a 12-14 record.
Warrren 54, Logan Elm 34
Logan Elm— Camden Redd 2-0-4, Tyler Speas 1-0-3, Carson Summers 1-1-3, Brody Sabine 2-0-5, Alden Williams 2-0-5, Ne’miah Waugh 5-2-12, Keegan Diehl 1-0-2. Three-point goals — Speas, Sabine, Williams. Total — 14-43 3-5 34.
Warren — Julian Stadelman 11-4-29, Hayden Wells 5-0-10, Trent Taylor 4-1-9. Tyson Cochran 0-1-1, Connor Barry 2-0-5. Three-point goals — Stadelman (3), Barry. Total — 22-51 6-15 54.
Quarter scores 1 2 3 4 F
Logan Elm 10 8 9 7 34
Warren 8 20 18 8 54
