White scores 31, Titans reach state final

DAYTON — His team trailing 17-12, his offense without a single point for almost six minutes, Ottawa-Glandorf coach Tyson McGlaughlin had one last bit of advice for his players as they broke the huddle late in the second quarter of Friday's Division III state semifinal game with Columbus Africentric."You're not playing Ottawa-Glandorf basketball," McGlaughlin said. "You need to do what we do."What Ottawa-Glandorf does is grind.And scrap.And battle.And, sometimes, earn a chance to play for a state championship.O-G eventually trailed 21-14 at the half and fell behind by 11 (27-16) just 1:19 into the third quarter. McGlaughlin's advice took roots, though. The Titans delivered a wake-up call with a 17-point third quarter, then delivered a knockout punch with 22 points in the fourth in rallying for a 53-48 victory at the University of Dayton Arena."We don't intimidate anybody getting off the bus. But what you can't coach and what you can't prepare for is the heart these guys have," McGlaughlin said."I think our kids are built a little differently, because I think it means a little more to them to be able to compete on this stage. Playing Ottawa-Glandorf basketball and having that name across your chest, that means something to these guys."Now 25-2, No. 2-ranked O-G, making its ninth appearance in the Final Four, will go for the school's fourth state title at 10:45 a.m. on Sunday when the Titans face No. 9 Cincinnati Taft (18-8) in the Division III state championship game.Taft, which like O-G fell in last year's state semifinal round, beat Cleveland Heights Lutheran East 56-43 in Friday's second Division III semifinal at UD."You have to attack, be aggressive," said O-G's Colin White, a 6-foot-4 sophomore who scored 31 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and blocked five shots."In the second quarter, I think we might have been a little timid. But in the third and fourth quarters we came out and were super aggressive. You can't be intimidated. You have to be aggressive against a team like that, and I think our aggressiveness paid off."Led by junior standout Dailyn Swain, a 6-7 guard who played every spot from the point to the post and delivered a monster game with 32 points, 13 rebounds, seven steals and three assists, Africentric appeared in control following a dominating second quarter.Swain had an assist on a back door cut for a layup by Josiah Smith, converted three foul shots when fouled on a 3-pointer, then had a steal and break away slam to take the Nubians from down four (12-8) to up three (15-12). Another steal and lay-in by the 6-7 junior inched that lead to 17-12 with 2:16 left in the half."Personally, I think he's Mr. Basketball," Africentric coach Michael Bates said of the annual award given to the prep player deemed the best in the state."He's a phenomenal offensive talent but he also plays defense. He's 6-7 and look at the stats: 32 points, seven steals, three assists, 13 rebounds .... He's the best player in the state regardless of division, regardless of class, and I think he put that on display today for everybody to see it."With 1:44 left in the half, White nailed a jumper in the lane — O-G's first and only basket of the second quarter — but Swain hit from the baseline and added two free throws to put Africentric up 21-14 at the half.Swain would score on three inside drives to put the Nubians up 29-19. Carson Fuka answered for O-G, connecting on the first 3-pointer of the game by either team. Carter Schimmoeller scored off a steal, and White would hit four straight free throws to keep it an eight-point margin (33-25), then dialed in on back-to-back 3-pointers from the right corner to trim O-G's deficit to 35-31."We kind of regrouped at halftime," McGlaughlin said."We wanted to chip it down, get within four or five (points) by the end of the third quarter. We thought that was realistic. We share the ball, we attack, we spread the floor so well. I felt confident we were going to make a run. I just knew we couldn't get ourselves in any bigger a hole."O-G kicked it into another gear in the fourth quarter.White opened the period with a scoop and score, Caleb Kuhlman drilled a 3-pointer from the left corner and, after O-G's defense forced a 5-second call, White followed his own missed free throw with a put-back to give O-G its first lead (38-37) since the first quarter.Kuhlman then poked the ball free when Dan Wagner lost his dribble. White raced in, scooped up the loose ball and took it to the house. Kuhlman's fast break layup made it 43-37."We knew we had the momentum," Kuhlman said. "We just had to keep it."Africentric ended its scoring drought when Swain took another of his seven steals in for a slam dunk, but was whistled for a technical when officials determined he hung on the rim for too long.Fuka converted one of the two free throws, but Laron Fuller scored on a fast-break and Swain on another steal and dunk, trimming O-G's to 44-43 with 2:40 to play.Schimmoeller scored off a nice assist by White, and after Africentric missed a 3-pointer and a follow-up, Eli Schmenk came out of a scramble for the loose ball and was fouled. His foul shot with 1:01 on the clock put O-G up 47-43.O-G kept the Nubians from taking the lead thanks to some clutch defensive plays and some clutch free throws. Hunter Stechschulte forced an Africentric turnover with 49.7 to play and was fouled. He missed the free throw, but Maag tipped the rebound back to him, he got another chance from the line, and connected to make it 48-43.Swain completed his outstanding game with a 3-point play and another basket. But White and Kuhlman converted 5-of-6 free throws in final 30.3 to lock down O-G's spot in Sunday's final."I told our guys this was not going to be one of those pretty games," McGlaughlin said."There's got to be some skin on the floor, there's got to be some blood out there for us to compete with those guys. That's the kind of things we had to do, and I thought out effort level, our intensity rose to the occasion there in the second half."Kuhlman added 10 points for O-G. White's 11 rebounds and seven from Schmenk and Maag helped O-G take a 37-35 edge on the boards against a tall and athletic Africentric team."I thought we fought hard. I thought we played hard. I thought we had a great game plan," Bates said after Africentric ended its season at 23-6."Some things happened in the second half. When we talked at halftime, we knew there was going to be some adversity we were going to face in the second half. We knew it was going to come. We just didn't know it was going to come that hard."Bates was diplomatic when addressing the technical called on Swain for hanging on the rim, and a play in which Smith, a 6-4 senior, was injured and had to leave the game."There was some stuff that should have been called that I didn't think got called. And some things that did get called that I didn't think should have been called," he said."I think some of those things might have swayed the momentum in the game. Hopefully, I don't get fined for that. That's just me being honest."There were some things that happened in the game I thought could have gone our way but didn't. We're not making excuses because we had our opportunities. Unfortunately, we did not take advantage of them."OTTAWA-GLANDORF (25-2)Schimmoeller 1-2 0-0 2, Kuhlman 3-5 3-4 10, Schmenk 1-8 1-2 3, White 11-20 7-10 31, Maag 1-4 0-0 2, Fuka 1-2 1-2 4, Jordan 0-0 0-0 0, Stechschulte 0-5 1-3 1, Erford 0-5 0-0 0. TOTALS: 18-51 13-21—53.COL. AFRICENTRIC (23-6)Wagner 1-12 0-0 2, Swain 13-18 6-6 32, Smith 2-8 2-2 6, Steele 2-10 0-0 4, Bibins 0-0 0-0 0, Fuller 2-5 0-1 4, Satchell 0-0 0-2 0, Johnson 0-1 0-0 0. TOTALS: 20-54 8-11—46Ottawa-Glandorf 12 2 17 22—53Col. Africentric 8 13 16 11—483-Point GOALS: Ottawa-Glandorf 4-16 (Schimmoeller 0-1, Kuhlman 1-1, Schmenk 0-3, White 2-5, Fuka 1-1, Erford 0-3, Stechschulte 0-2); Columbus Africentric 0-11 (Wagner 0-7, Swain 90-1, Smith 0-2, Fuller 0-1).REBOUNDS: Ottawa-Glandorf 37 (White 11, Schmenk 7, Maag 7); Columbus Africentric 35 (Swain 13).TURNOVERS: Ottawa-Glandorf 13, Columbus Africentric 13.ASSISTS: Ottawa-Glandorf 7 (White 3); Columbus Africentric 7 (Swain 3).STEALS: Ottawa-Glandorf 3 (Schimmoeller 2); Columbus Africentric 11 (Swain 7).BLOCKS: Ottawa-Glandorf 12 (White 5); Columbus Africentric 12 (Steele 3).