Badin outscored Oakwood 40-20 the rest of the way to snare a 65-55 Division II sectional victory Tuesday night at Fairmont’s Trent Arena.
TUESDAY BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT COVERAGE
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“We just came out and got going,” DeLong said. “We knew today was win or go home, and we embraced the win-or-go-home philosophy. We weren’t ready for the seniors to go home.”
The fourth-seeded Rams move on to face No. 2 seed Thurgood Marshall on Saturday in a 6 p.m. district semifinal at Middletown’s Wade E. Miller Arena.
Weisgerber said the Rams’ depth was the difference, wearing down the Lumberjacks in the second half.
“Our bench just started wearing them down a little bit,” Weisgerber said. “All year long our bench has been key, where we can throw six or seven guys at people.”
Justin Pappas led the Rams with 22 points and 10 boards, while DeLong chipped in eight points. Josh Hegemann was solid all night with six points, six rebounds and six assists as the Rams improved to 17-6.
“We had to step it up,” Hegemann said. “Our energy really picked it up in the third quarter. We really have a next-guy-up mentality. We had to step it up in the second half for the seniors. “
Oakwood jumped ahead 14-11 after one quarter and 26-23 at half behind six 3-pointers.
The Lumberjacks nailed 12 triples for the game, but 13 second-half turnovers proved to be their downfall in ending the season 11-12.
Darren Rubin led the Southwestern Buckeye League in scoring and didn’t disappoint Tuesday, hitting five 3-pointers while tallying a game-high 23 points.
Jacob Sargent and Daniel Hu each had three triples and 11 points for the Lumberjacks.
“(Rubin) can shoot the ball,” Weisgerber said. “He can definitely shoot it. We made him work for it, but he still hit them.”
Weisgerber said Oakwood caught the Rams off guard with a man-to-man defense.
“We didn’t prepare for them to play us man,” Weisgerber said. “It was frustrating they were able to keep us in check playing us man. The second half we just started wearing them down.”
Badin trailed 35-25 midway through the third quarter, but the Rams’ defense extended and forced multiple turnovers, fighting back to trail 42-40 at the third-quarter break.
Badin then ran off the first nine points of the final period, with six from DeLong and a big 3 from Joseph Walsh as the Rams grabbed a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
Oakwood would close to 49-47, but the Rams hit 10-of-12 free throws in the final quarter to seal the win.
“We just need to learn from this and get better for Saturday night,” Weisgerber said. “You are always going to have a game that tests you, and we had that tonight.”
Badin hit only 8-of-28 from the field in the first half, but nailed 12 of 20 in the second half.
Donovan Watkins had nine points and Walsh seven for the Rams, who outscored the Lumberjacks 25-13 in the final stanza.
Badin-11-12-17-25—65
Oakwood 14-12-16-13—55
BADIN (17-6): Joseph Walsh 2 1 7; Nathan Hegemann 1 1 3; Donovan Watkins 2 5 9; Zach Switzer 1 2 5; Spencer Giesting 2 0 5; Justin Pappas 7 6 22; Alex DeLong 4 0 8; Josh Hegemann 1 4 6. Totals: 20-19-65
OAKWOOD (11-12): Jack Armstrong 0 1 1; Jacob Sargent 3 2 11; Darren Rubin 8 2 23; Daniel Hu 4 0 11; James Galvin 1 0 3: Jack Epley 1 0 2; Jack Pleiman 1 2 4. Totals: 18-7-55
3-pointers: B 6 (Walsh 2, Pappas 2, Switzer, Giesting), O 12 (Rubin 5, Sargent 3, Hu 3, Galvin)
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