“It’s a dream,” Versailles coach Scott McEldowney said. “We got in the tournament and just kept believing we could take it a step farther. We talked about how far we could go, we just kept our feet underneath us. And now this is just an amazing feeling. It’s unbelievable.”
The victory sends the Tigers (22-5) to Columbus for the state semifinals at 2 p.m. Thursday against Leavittsburg Labrae, which routed Beachwood 59-30.
The Spartans end their emotional season, which included the unexpected death of 57-year-old athletic director Joe Corcoran on Feb. 13, with a record of 22-4.
“When they’re making 28-foot bombs on broken plays and we’re missing layups, it’s one of those things where, is it really not meant to be?” Roger Bacon coach Brian Neal said. “You look back at woulda, coulda, shoulda. Unfortunately their guys made some huge shots at critical times.”
The game featured 11 lead changes, with one of the final ones coming when the Spartans, leading 51-49, appeared to tip the ball away for a steal only to slip and have it roll right to Winner, who didn’t hesitate to launch a deep shot from well beyond the arc for three of his 14 points.
Bacon, led by junior Carlas Jackson’s game-high 20 points, answered with a pair of free throws to go back up by one.
McEldowney called a timeout with 30 seconds to go and drew up a play that the Spartans defended, but sophomore Kyle Ahrens took a pass from junior Nick Campbell and scored at the rim for a 54-53 lead with 13 seconds left. Roger Bacon threw away the inbounds pass, leading to a pair of free throws by Ahrens with 3.5 to go, and the Spartans could only get off a desperation trey at the buzzer.
Ahrens finished with a team-high 18 points, while junior Evan Philpot added 12.
“It’s a dream come true that that just happened,” Ahrens said. “Now it’s time to go win a state championship.”
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