The Beavers owned a one-point victory and a two-point victory over Fairmont. But the strategy backfired, and the older and more tournament-tested Firebirds dominated for a 63-41 victory.
“We were thinking all year we’ve been getting beat by teams with a big, and they were kind of the same size as us,” Williams said. “And the fact that we beat them twice, gave my guys some confidence.”
Fairmont coach Kenny Molz said he wanted to avoid Beavercreek in the early rounds and expressed surprise at Williams’ choice, but he understood it.
“Beavercreek is a good team this year,” Molz said. “They played Centerville tough, they’ve beaten really good teams and they beat us twice. I think he had confidence in his guys, which he rightfully should have.”
The Firebirds (12-12) will play No. 7 Northmont at 7:15 p.m. Friday for an opportunity to advance to the district finals for the second straight year. No. 2 Wayne meets No. 9 Miamisburg in the first game at 5:30.
The Firebirds jumped to 12-2 lead. The Beavers (11-12) rallied to trail 16-13 early in the second quarter. But that was the last time the score was close. Behind 19 points from Jamison Rountree, 14 from Eli Sherwood and 13 from Evan Gentile, the Firebirds led by as many as 25 early in the fourth quarter.
Because of a first-round bye, the Beavers hadn’t played in 11 days, which happened to be a 35-33 win at Fairmont.
“Having such a long layoff can sometimes be a little shock mentally and physically when you come back out and play again,” Molz said. “So our strategy on that was to get after them and see how they would react. Our guys were ready. We had a great couple of days of preparation. We have a lot of seniors that have been here before in these situations.”
Fairmont’s strategy included overplaying Beavercreek’s Liam Gluck (15.7 points per game) and Kyle Putnam (13.2) and leaving sophomore Isaiah Williams (16.4) to create in the middle of the floor and have to play more one-on-one than his coach wanted. Williams scored 21, Putnam had seven and Gluck, who was running a fever, didn’t score.
“They gave us our drive, which Isaiah was able to take advantage of,” Williams said. “Nobody else was able to get going.”
Northmont 65, Piqua 46: After a sloppy start, the No. 7 Thunderbolts made it look mostly easy in reaching a fourth straight sectional final. But coach Darnell Hoskins didn’t see it that way.
“I don’t say it’s fairly easy because these are the tougher kind of games to coach in – the games on paper you should win,” he said. “Getting your team in a mental space where they’re prepared for the moment is the most difficult part.”
Northmont (12-12) led 29-18 at halftime and 45-31 after three quarters. Da’lin Wilkins scored a team-high 14 points and had three dunks, Chermak Green added 11 and D.J. Williams 10.
“Our kids did a hell of job tonight,” Hoskins said. “They were buying into what we were selling. Defensively, we were good, and we were wiping the glass clean.”
Piqua (17-7), coming of a rare win for a Miami Valley League team over a Greater Western Ohio Conference team in Springboro, was led by Dre’Sean Roberts’ 22 points.
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