VANDALIA, Ohio – DeMarco Bradley has seen it all in his basketball career.
A member of Woodward’s 1988 Division I state champion team, and an assistant coach for Taft’s 2011 Division III state champion team, Bradley is looking for his first state title as a head coach.
Before Saturday’s Division III, Region 12 championship game, he sought some advice from one of his former coaches, Cincinnati legend Jimmy Leon. Leon was an assistant coach for the 1988 Woodward team.
“I learned everything from Jimmy Leon. He taught me everything that I know,” Bradley said. “He called me today and said ‘Coach, go get it. Just do what your team has been doing all year. Stay focused, stay the course.’”
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Bradley and the Senators still have a course to follow after defeating Springfield Shawnee 63-39 in the regional final Saturday evening at Vandalia Butler High School.
Taft will play in the state semifinals 5 p.m. Friday, March 19, at UD Arena against the winner of tonight’s Region 11 final between Worthington Christian and Proctorville Fairland. They are in the Final Four for the first time since that 2011 championship season.
“It feels great,” Taft sophomore Rayvon Griffith said. “Just to put it on for the city and the CPS schools that didn’t make it. We feel great to put it on for them. Our families are here celebrating with us, and it’s great. Nobody expected us to do this. We just tried to stay humble through the whole season and play as a team.”
Griffith, the newly crowned district player of the year in Division III, scored 12 points. Senior Yacco Nelson led Taft with 16 and junior guard Brandon Cromer had 15.
Nelson, after scoring 18 off the bench in Wednesday’s semifinal win, stepped in again after Griffith missed most of the first quarter with two fouls.
Nelson scored 10 of Taft’s 15 points in the frame to lift the Senators to a 15-7 lead after one.
“My boy Ray got in foul trouble but we were able to stay together and keep our lead,” Nelson said. “We kept it together for Ray. We talked about it and made adjustments.”
Shawnee scored the first six points of the second quarter to trail by two, 15-13. Taft closed the first half on a 12-3 run, seven by Griffith and five by Cromer.
The Braves never got closer than eight in the second half. With Taft leading 31-23, Nelson scored three layups during an 8-0 run by the Senators. Cromer hit a 3-pointer to put Taft up by 16, 45-29.
The Braves scored four straight points to pull within 12 at 45-33. Cromer scored on a three-point play.
After another Shawnee basket cut the lead to 13 at 48-35, Taft put up a quick 6-0 run to salt the game away. Griffith scored on a thunderous dunk in transition, then Cromer and Berry scored layups in transition to give the Senators a 19-point lead at 54-35.
Taft held Shawnee to 39 points despite committing eight fouls early in the game. Taft started the game with a full-court press and then backed off, playing a zone at times. Junior Patrick Fultz was the only Shawnee player in double figures with 16.
“Just play Taft basketball,” Bradley said. “We’re normally a 94-foot team, but we had to make adjustments to what the referee is calling. I tell the kids the first foul is my foul. We have to see how the referee is calling it, and we made the adjustment. We played all types of different defenses. The CMAC is so tough; nobody thought we would play a zone.”
Said Berry: “We were talking on defense. We worked on that all week. That was the main thing we focused on. Everybody is playing their role. Nobody is trying to do more than they’re supposed to.”
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