“Myo is the most versatile player I’ve ever coached,” said Staley, in his 30th year. “And he’s the best passing big guy I’ve ever had.”
Baxter-Bell remained unperturbed while handling the 84-foot heat, and the burly senior also scored a game-high 23 points in a 69-47 win at Trent Arena.
The Eagles (21-6) reached the regional finals for the fourth time in Staley’s tenure — they advanced to state in all three previous trips — and will play either Versailles (16-7) or Cincinnati Shroder (19-7), who meet tonight at Trent.
“This is a great win for us. I have a lot of respect for Northridge,” Staley said. “Early on, I thought their record was inflated because of their league. But when they beat Moeller and they demolished Roger Bacon, I knew they were for real.”
The Eagles opened a 16-point halftime lead and coasted.
“This feels great, but we’re not done yet. We’re not satisfied,” Baxter-Bell said. “I want to play at Ohio State (in the D-III final four) before I’m done.”
Baxter-Bell had plenty of support with Alan Vest scoring 15 and Zach Burneka and Christian Montague 10 each.
Northridge star Drew Ogletree, a 6-5 junior, was hampered by a back injury and was limited to eight points. And the Bears (24-3) were out of sync all night.
Of Ogletree’s troubles (he sat out most of the second half), Northridge coach Jeff Lisath said: “I think that kind of shocked everybody. He had such a great year. He’s been such a great leader. He wasn’t himself tonight, and I thought that hurt us. But give credit to CJ. They played a great game.”
D-III semis: Versailles is happy to get a reprieve after its season was ended in the district finals nine days ago, but Cincinnati Shroder coach Derek Williams thinks his team is getting a raw deal.
Shroder’s scheduled foe in the D-III regional semis, Purcell Marian, was disqualified from the tourney for using an ineligible player. Williams got the news just hours before Wednesday’s 5:30 p.m. tipoff. When his players showed up for their planned 3:30 departure from school, he told them they’d have a different opponent in the semis — previously vanquished Versailles — and would play instead at 9 p.m. today at Trent Arena.
The OHSAA was following its bylaws in ousting Purcell Marian and replacing it with the team it knocked out in the district finals. But officials made some concessions to the Tigers with the late start since the Versailles girls are playing in the state tournament today at 6 p.m., which didn’t make Williams happy.
“I feel like they catered to a team that already lost a (tournament) game,” he said. “It seemed like they were catering more to them than to us.
“That puts us at a disadvantage. We had a busload of kids coming up here. We had parents taking off from their jobs. Some didn’t even go to work. And then you say there’s no game?
“The game should have been forfeited and we moved on.”
Versailles had already collected uniforms, and many players had started spring sport practices.
Coach Scott McEldowney didn’t attend the CJ-Northridge game, but JV coach Travis Swank, scouting with other staff, said the players “had big smiles on their faces” when they were informed. “Granted, you don’t want to get there by what occurred, you want to get there by winning. But we’re going to do what we can and go out and play as hard as we can.
“I think it’s just a weird situation. It’s never happened to my knowledge before. I think everybody is in shock. No words can describe it.”
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