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OHSAA boys basketball: Africentric falls to Ottawa-Glandorf in state semifinal
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- OHSAA boys basketball: Africentric falls to Ottawa-Glandorf in state semifinal
DAYTON – By outscoring Ottawa-Glandorf 13-2 in the second quarter of its Division III state semifinal March 18, the Africentric boys basketball team built a seven-point halftime lead that increased to as much as 11 in the third quarter.
Things then slowly began to unravel for the Nubians, who were making their fifth state appearance.
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Senior wing player Josiah Smith scored on a layup with 6 minutes, 41 seconds left in the third to give the Nubians an 11-point lead, but went down hard and was unable to return.
The Titans got to within six by the end of the quarter, took a one-point lead early in the fourth and never trailed again as they beat the Nubians 53-48 at the University of Dayton to advance to their first state final since winning a championship in 2013.
While Africentric finished 23-6, Ottawa-Glandorf improved to 25-2 and will play Cincinnati Taft at 10:45 a.m. March 20 for the title.
"There's a lot of hurt feelings in the locker room, but I thought we played hard and had a great game plan," Africentric coach Michael Bates said. "We knew there was going to be some adversity that we'd have to face in the second half and we knew it was going to come hard, but we didn't know it was going to come that hard."
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Senior guard Dan Wagner, who finished with more than 1,000 career points and will play football at Toledo, scored his only basket with 5 minutes left in the third to give Africentric a 31-21 lead.
Ottawa-Glandorf's Colin White hit four foul shots and a pair of 3-pointers over the next three minutes to get his team back to within 35-31.
White, a 6-foot-4 sophomore guard who is among the state's top recruits in the 2024 class, scored the first basket of the fourth quarter to make it 37-33. Caleb Kuhlman hit a 3 with 6:25 to go to cut the Titans' deficit to 37-36, and White scored on a putback after missing a pair of free throws with 5:49 left for a 38-37 lead.
Another layup by White, who finished with 31 points and 11 rebounds, gave Ottawa-Glandorf a 41-37 lead with 5:18 to play.
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"We continued to fight and continued to grind," Titans coach Tyson McGlaughlin said. "Africentric's very, very good defensively and their length and athleticism were giving us some problems. We hit a couple shots, got a little bit of momentum and Colin was able to get us a couple buckets. When we got the lead, we kept it."
Africentric's Dailyn Swain, one of the state's top recruits in the 2023 class, got a steal and followed with a dunk with 2:40 to go to cut it to 44-43 and completed a three-point play with 36 seconds left to make it 48-46, but the Titans hit five of six free throws to seal the win.
Swain finished with 32 points, 13 rebounds and seven steals.
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"With us losing Josiah Smith (in the third quarter) on that fast break, we lost a guy that started for us and was actually doing a good job," Bates said. "It challenged our depth in the second half and it showed with some tired plays down the stretch."
After falling behind 12-8 by the end of the first quarter, the Nubians opened the second quarter on a 9-0 run that included Swain making all three free throws after getting fouled behind the 3-point line with 5:54 to go in the second and adding a dunk 41 seconds later.
Africentric got two more free throws from Swain with 56.9 seconds left before halftime to lead 21-14 heading into the break.
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The Nubians shot just 20-for-54 and missed all 11 of their 3-point attempts.
"We didn't get those extra bounces (in the second half)," Bates said. "Those plays that we were getting in the first half on those 50-50 balls, in the second half, we just didn't get them. There were a few plays that didn't go our way. For us to go 0-for-11 (from 3-point range) and still be in the game, that's a testament to how hard they defended."
julrey@thisweeknews.com
@UlreyThisWeek
This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Africentric falls in Division III boys basketball state semi
