Van Buren fights off Grove for spot in district final

FINDLAY – Van Buren got the rematch it was looking for in the Division VI district semifinals.And, thanks to some clutch pay in the final two minutes, the Black Knights also got the revenge they so desperately wanted.Anakin Ortega's free throw broke a stagnant stalemate with two minutes to play, Alex Homan's drive-and-dish to Will Rampe put Van Buren up by three and Brady Lance converted 4-of-6 free throws in the final 24 seconds to wrap up a 41-39 win over Columbus Grove in an OHSAA Division VI tournament game at Liberty-Benton."For all of us seniors who've been playing together for so long, this means so much," said Homan, one of eight seniors on the Black Knights roster which had a 17-game winning streak halted by Columbus Grove during the regular season. "For us, it was not just winning the BVC (Blanchard Valley Conference). We knew we had to win some games in the playoffs this year, and this is the big one to get us started."Van Buren, 20-3, will return to Liberty-Benton on Friday to face Seneca East (18-6) in a 6 p.m. final. The Knights will be looking to claim their first district championship since the 2007-08 season.Columbus Grove, known for an uncanny ability to overcome slow starts with strong finishes, almost did it again on Wednesday. Van Buren scored the first 13 points of the game and held 9- and 11-point leads in the second quarter."That was a picture perfect first quarter," said Bunn."We knew they'd come back though. They're very athletic and very well coached, but we weathered the storm and we figured out how to win at the end."Grove used an 11-0 run spanning the first and second half to actually go in front, but went ice cold in the fourth quarter – 2-of-11 from the field – in coming up short."We have a lot of competitors, a lot of gamers," Grove coach Connor Kohls said of his team, which started the season 5-5, but ended the regular season on a 10-1 run, won two tournament games and finished 17-7 overall."We made a really good comeback. Our guys fought through a lot of adversity. The comeback took a lot of gas out of us. Late in the third, fourth quarter, we started missing some shots after we took the lead. We missed some contested lay-ups, we missed some free throws that normally go in … It was one of those nights."The teams entered the fourth quarter in a 34-34 stalemate … and it stayed that way for a painfully long time because of missed shots, errant free throws, costly turnovers and – likely – nerves.Finally, six minutes into the period, Ortega made the second of two free throws to put Van Buren up one.Following a Columbus Grove miss, Homan and Rampe teamed up for one of the key plays of the game. After spreading the floor, Homan zipped through a gap and drove to the basket. When the defense came out to block him, Homan shoveled a pass to a wide open Rampe for an easy lay-in."The spread the floor, I attacked and found our big man," Homan said."Our big guys always finish when we give it to them, so we make sure to look for them."Finn Martin then came up with a steal, Lance was fouled and the senior guard began his game-clinching marksmanship from the foul line. Lance converted two free throws with 24 seconds on the clock, one of two with 17.3 left and one more with 8.7 on the clock.The victory celebration would have to wait, though.Grove had gone scoreless the entire fourth quarter, but Travon Baxter made an uncontested lay-up after one of Lance's free throws, then nailed a 3-pointer after another. With 1.4 seconds on the clock, Van Buren just had to inbound the ball and threw a long pass down court. Grove's Gavin Barraza intercepted it, took a step and launched a shot from just left of L-B logo at midcourt. The shot was long enough, but was wide left and caromed off the backboard as the horn sounded.Baxter scored 14 points, Brady Basinger had 12 and both grabbed nine rebounds as Grove dominated, 39-22, on the boards.Lance was 3-for-3 on 3-point attempts and led Van Buren with 13 points. Rampe had 10 points and seven rebounds.Bunn called Wednesday's game a "roller-coaster" and for the Black Knights the ride continues on Friday."It's good times," Bunn said. "Whoever it is we play we coming back here Friday and playing for some hardware."COL. GROVE (17-7)G. Baxter 2-4 0-0 4, Basinger 4-9 4-5 12, Barraza 1-2 0-1 2, T. Baxter 4-14 4-6 14, Best 2-9 0-2 4, Sautter 1-9 1-2 3. TOTALS: 14-46 9-16—39.VAN BUREN (20-3)Bishop 2-6 0-0 6, Homan 2-4 2-2 6, Lance 3-3 4-6 13, Martin 1-5 0-0 2, Rampe 5-10 0-3 10, Ortega 1-2 1-2 4. TOTALS: 14-30 9-13—41.Col. Grove 6 16 12 5—39Van Buren 16 10 8 7—413-POINT GOALS: Columbus Grove 2-15 (T. Baxter 2-7, Best 0-4, Sautter 0-4); Van Buren 6-11 (Ortega 1-2, Bishop 2-6, Lance 3-3).REBOUNDS: Columbus Grove 35 (Basinger 9, T. Baxter 9); Van Buren 22 (Rampe 7, Martin 5).TURNOVERS: Columbus Grove 10; Van Buren 13.