OCSAA Semifinal
New Hope 70, High Street Christian 55
CIRCLEVILLE — New Hope held off a second-half run from High Street Christian to advance to Saturday’s finals in the Ohio Christian School Athletic Association tournament.
The Statesmen held a two-point lead after the first quarter and extended it to 35-26 by halftime.
“We felt pretty good at half because we hadn’t played as well as we had hoped and they shot it well,” New Hope coach Shane Roese said.
High Street started the second half playing well and battled back to tie the game at 37-37.
The Statesmen called a timeout to settle things down and finished the quarter on 12-3 run to lead 49-40 entering the fourth.
“What we were most pleased about tonight was our composure,” Roese said. “They made runs, and we were able to answer every time. We have played a schedule that has prepared us for these moments.
“They never get rattled — they just reset and moved forward.”
Hunter Cavanaugh led New Hope with 22 points while Nathaniel Ames had 20 and Xander Rink put in 11.
New Hope takes on No. 1 seed Temple Christian at 5 p.m. today at Ohio Christian University. It is New Hope’s sixth straight appearance in the finals, having won the last two titles.
New Hope 70, High Street 55
High Street— Bellar 2-0-6, Childers 5-2-14, R McGraw 6-4-17, I McGraw 1-0-3, Kessling 0-2-2, Fox 5-0-13. Three-point goals — Bellar (2), Childers (2), R McGraw, I McGraw, Fox (3). Total — 19-8-55.
New Hope — Hunter Cavanaugh 7-7-22, Gavin Ludens 3-3-9, Xander Rink 5-0-11, Nathaniel Ames 8-1-20, Tyler Cook 3-0-8. Three-point goals — Cavanaugh, Rink, Ames (3), Cook (2). Total — 26-11-70.
Quarter scores 1 2 3 4 F
High Street 13 13 14 15 55
New Hope 15 20 14 21 70