The basketball bracket gods delivered Friday with a pair of sectional finals featuring fierce rivalries at West Clermont High School. In the end, it was upset city.
Starting off, it was Division I top seed Elder taking on Turpin, which dealt the Spartans their last defeat. That was followed by round three of the neighborhood knockdown, drag-out known as Lakota East vs. Lakota West.
By night's end, Turpin knocked out the No. 1 seed in overtime 52-49 on Brady Hardewig's buzzer-beating 3-pointer. Then, No. 11 seed Lakota West gave 6-seed Lakota East a long drive home, back to Liberty Township, 73-59. It was career win No. 500 for Firebirds coach Jim Leon.
Elder vs. Turpin
Not only did Turpin hand Elder its lone local loss on Jan. 11, they also defeated the Panthers in the fabled Pit the year before. With Sean Keller back after missing the first affair, this was a match-up many had hoped for when the brackets were announced.
Things got heated in the second half when junior Hardewig didn't care for the physicality Elder displayed against a teammate. There was enough chatter to warrant a technical and that egged the Elder student section on from there.
Elder's Sam Whitmer made a shot before the buzzer at half to put Elder up 28-19 and as Turpin coach Josh Slonim exited, he pointed to the purple students in anger.
The emotion carried over for the Spartans.
Turpin's Colin McHale and Hardewig rallied Turpin within five in the third quarter behind some crowd-pleasing 3-pointers. Elder had led by as many as 12 and was up eight early in the final quarter.
That's when Brady ball started. Hardewig began willing his team back into the game from the perimeter and ultimately wouldn't be stopped. He put Turpin up 49-47 with under 40 seconds to go, but Elder's Sean Keller tied it with just four ticks left to send the game to overtime.
There were no points scored until the end. Elder's Matthew Menninger was fouled with seven seconds left and missed the opening shot of a one-and-one. After a timeout, the ball was inbounded to Hardewig who curled right and buried a 25-footer that flushed the net as the buzzer sounded.
Turpin fans emptied onto the floor. It's Turpin's first Division I sectional title. Their last came in Division II when Slonim was still playing. They have now defeated Elder the last five times they've played them.
"I knew I was taking that shot," Hardewig said. "As soon as I released it, I went, 'That's in!'"
Said Slomin, "Brady is just peaking right now, playing exactly how I always thought he could and within the group. We're going to be tough to beat."
Hardewig finished 6-of-11 on threes and with 22 points. Senior Colin McHale added 13 points.
Elder was led by juniors Carson Browne and Sam Whitmer with 17 and 14 points, respectively. Elder finishes the season 20-4 while Turpin's record goes to 20-4.
"I told them we didn't lose the game, Turpin won the game," Elder coach Joe Schoenfeld said. "I'm proud of their effort. All of those guys can look in the mirror tomorrow, a week from now, five years from now, they did everything they could to prepare as well as they possibly could. Sometimes you have to tip your hat to the other team."
Turpin now faces Hubert Heights Wayne Sunday, March 6 at the University of Cincinnati's Fifth Third Arena in a regional semifinal.
ELDER 11 17 11 9 0 49
TURPIN 5 14 16 14 3 52
E - Harp 1 5 7 Menninger 1 0 2 Browne 7 2 17 Keller 3 1 7 Whitmer 6 1 14 Busam 1 0 2
T - McHale 4 2 13 Hardewig 8 0 22 Marathe 3 0 8 Selfridge 2 2 7 Hayas 1 0 2
Lakota East vs. Lakota West
The Thunderhawks of Lakota East won both matchups this season against their district rival Lakota West. Jim Leon's Firebirds won the lone game played last season, 54-50.
Greater Miami Conference-leading scorer Nate Dudukovich had 32 points for Lakota West in their first meeting but was held to 11 on Jan. 21.
He made up for it in the nightcap at West Clermont in front of the Centerville coaching staff who were scouting their likely district match-up the following week.
The junior jump shooter finished with 35 points, nearly 10 over his league-leading 25.6 average.
"You see them two times during the regular season, you know all of their stuff, it just comes down to who wants it more," Dudukovich said. "It was just a war out there. Props to both teams."
Lakota East jumped out to the quick 6-0 lead less than two minutes into the game prompting Lakota West coach Leon to get a quick timeout. The Firebirds proceeded to go on a 20-2 run before the Thunderhawks would answer back.
From there, Lakota East was forced to scramble and press and struggled to get the game back to a single-digit deficit. Lakota West goes to 14-10 while Lakota East finishes 18-5.
Leon, who coached Woodward to the only Division I state title in Cincinnati Public Schools history in 1988 now has a team in the district tournament 34 years later after notching the noteworthy 500th career victory.
"I knew we had a shot to win this game because we had great preparation," Leon said. "We maintained that lead the whole second half. What a huge win! I felt like I had a shot tonight to get that (No. 500). I've had some great players, great coaches. I've had six or seven assistant coaches become head coaches, great players, great teammates. I'm just blessed."
His most noteworthy assistant now led the UCLA Bruins to last season's Final Four. Mick Cronin went from Woodward's junior varsity coach to UC, then Louisville, then to Murray State, then back to the Bearcats as head coach before he went west to Pauley Pavilion.
Lakota West moves to the regional semifinals at UC's Fifth Third Arena, likely taking on Ohio's No. 1 team Centerville Sunday, March 6. The Elks are the defending state champions and play 12-seed Tecumseh in a sectional final Saturday night.
"We're not scared of anybody," Dudukovich said. "We'll go out and play whoever. Whoever's in our way. We're just going out there and playing as hard as we can."
LAKOTA EAST 6 12 11 30 59
LAKOTA WEST 8 22 16 27 73
LE -Kenrich 1 3 5 Coles 6 0 15 Adkins 2 0 6 Peck 3 1 7 Powell 1 0 3 Poppe 1 0 3 Bachman 0 2 2 Mitchell 2 4 9 Mulumba 3 3 9
LW - Lavender 4 2 11 Barber 2 2 6 Curry 2 3 7 Layfield 1 4 6 Dudukovich 11 6 35 Tyson 0 2 2 Minich 1 1 4 Gilbert 0 2 2
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