Titans turn their eyes to state

BOWLING GREEN — Ottawa-Glandorf had its eyes on a ninth regional boys basketball title on Saturday.Colonel Crawford had its eyes on its first.Looking back, it was the eyes that truly told the story of O-G's 51-44 victory in the Division III regional final at BGSU.Six minutes into the game, with Ottawa-Glandorf up just 7-6, Colonel Crawford's Carter Valentine picked up his dribble with his back to the basket. Searching left, then right, then left again, a look of desperation came into his eyes before he finally found an open man against O-G's swarming defensive pressure."They are relentless," Colonel Crawford coach Dave Sheldon would say later."It's their pressure, the type of pressure we have not seen all year."Ten minutes later, on the other end of the Stroh Center floor, the game had a different look.Ottawa-Glandorf had opened a 15-8 lead thanks to one 6-0 surge, and was ending the half on another run. With the final seconds ticking away, a series of passes around the perimeter found their way into the hands of Caden Erford, a 6-foot-4 sophomore sub who had already knocked down two 3-pointers.Erford took a step back, beyond even the college 3-point line, and with his eyes lock-focused on the basket, let fly a shot that beat the buzzer and put O-G up 28-13 at the half."Before the game, coach told me to be ready, to have my head in it (the game)," Erford said."So I go out there, and when I saw the first one go through, (the rim) just got bigger from there."Erford finished with 11 points, all coming in the final four minutes of the half."We got off to a good start, and Cade (Erford) definitely gave us a boost. He got an opportunity today and he made the most of it," said O-G coach Tyson McGlaughlin."We talked about it all year. Colin (White) is Colin, and he was again tonight. But we don't get where we're at, we don't get to Dayton without the supporting cast."State champion in 2004 (Division II) and again in 2008 and 2013 (Division III) O-G will make its second straight trip to the Final Four and ninth overall on Friday when the No. 2-ranked Titans (24-2) face No. 4 Columbus Africentric (23-5) in a 10:45 a.m. game at the University of Dayton Arena.Colonel Crawford, which entered Saturday's game undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the Division III state polls, ended its best season at 26-1.White led O-G with 22 points, eight rebounds and four assists. The 6-4 sophomore was the Western Buckeye League and District 8 Player of the Year and Northwest Ohio's Division III co-Player of the Year along with Colonel Crawford's Mason Studer and Eastwood's Jacob Meyer. Impressive awards, and during a pivotal fourth-quarter stretch he showed why he earned them.Though O-G seemed well in control at the half, looks can be deceiving. Colonel Crawford had overcome a 16-point fourth-quarter to rally past No. 6-ranked Collins Western Reserve (53-51) in the district final, and built a 17-point fourth-quarter lead and held on to beat No. 7-ranked Canal Winchester Harvest Prep (55-46) in the regional semis."We knew we were going to get a run from them," McGlaughlin said."That's a top-notch program with top-notch players, and I wouldn't have expected anything else."Just 4-of-18 from the field in the first half, Colonel Crawford heated up in the second. Braxton Baker and Studer ended the third quarter with 3-pointers to trim O-G's lead to 35-26, and Valentine's '3' and Studer's high bank off the glass following Jacob Maddy's steal cut the deficit to six (37-31) a minute into the fourth quarter.White converted two free throws to momentarily halted Colonel Crawford's run, but Baker hit his fourth 3-pointer of the game and, after a Studer steal, Valentine scored on a drive down the lane.Down 28-13 at the half, Colonel Crawford trailed just 39-36 with momentum on its side and 5:35 left on the clock.Then White took over, scoring one basket on a nifty spin move and short jumper in the lane and another off a baseline drive. After Theo Maag blocked a shot, White drove for another basket, was fouled and completed the and-one 3-point play that put O-G up 46-38 with 1:49 left."They were starting to make a little run, so I tried to take it upon myself, my teammates found me and I was able to get some buckets," said White, who had no points in the third quarter, but scored 11 straight for O-G during one six-minute stretch of the fourth."They were really collapsing on me earlier. Whenever I drove it felt like there were four dudes right there, so I was trying to find my teammates. In the fourth quarter, they had to scramble a little more. I thought they were playing off me more, letting me get a head a steam and I could get to the rim.""Colin (White) is a big time player, a special player, and a great kid," Sheldon said."He just sort of put them on his back. He's a Division I player, and there's a reason he's going to be playing on national TV some day."Colonel Crawford did have a slight 24-23 edge on the boards. The Eagles were also a perfect 10-for-10 from the line. The first 16 minutes of the game, though, proved decisive."In a regional championship, you have to play an almost perfect game to win, and we fell a little short," Sheldon said."We struggled in the first half. We just forgot to make shots and against an unbelievable team like Ottawa-Glandorf you can't score just 13 points."You hate to say it but that's the name of the game. You can X and O and X and O but if you forget to make shots you're going to go home more often that not."Valentine led Colonel Crawford with 14 points. Studer finished with 13 points and Baker 12.Eli Schmenk added 11 points, four rebounds and two steals for O-G, which now turns its eyes to a bigger prize than Saturday's regional championship."We always talk about maximizing the opportunities and seizing the moment," McGlaughlin said."We knew it was going to be a challenge, but now these guys get an opportunity to do that on the big stage next week."COLONEL CRAWFORD (26-1)Studer 2-7 8-8 13, Baker 4-9 0-0 12, McKibben 1-4 0-0 2, Valentine 5-15 2-2 14, Feichtner 0-1 0-0 0, Horsley 1-4 0-0 3, Maddy 0-1 0-0 0. TOTALS: 13-41 10-10—44.OTTAWA-GLANDORF (24-2)Schimmoeller 0-3 0-0 0, Kuhlman 0-3 1-3 1, Schmenk 3-5 4-4 11, White 8-14 5-5 22, Maag 2-2 0-0 4, Fuka 0-1 2-2 2,l Jordan 0-1 0-0 0, Stechschulte 0-1 0-0 0, Erford 4-5 0-0 11. TOTALS: 17-35 12-14—51.Colonel Crawford 6 7 13 18—44Ottawa-Glandorf 9 19 7 16—513-Point GOALS: Colonel Crawford 8-19 (Studer 1-2, Baker 4-6, McKibben 0-3, Valentine 2-4, Horsley 1-4); Ottawa-Glandorf 5-16 (Schimmoeller 0-3, Kuhlman 0-3, Schmenk 1-2, White 1-3, Jordan 0-1, Erford 3-4).REBOUNDS: Colonel Crawford 24 (Maddy 8, Valentine 6); Ottawa-Glandorf 23 (White 8, Schmenk 4, Maag 4).TURNOVERS: Colonel Crawford 10, Ottawa-Glandorf 11.ASSISTS: Colonel Crawford 7; Ottawa-Glandorf 6 (White 4).STEALS: Colonel Crawford 6; Ottawa-Glandorf 7 (Kuhlman 3).BLOCKS: Colonel Crawford 7; Ottawa-Glandorf 7 (Schmenk 3, Maag 3).