Staff report
PIQUA — Jackson Center held high-scoring Nathan Lessing in check throughout and came away with a 44-41 victory over the Fairlawn Jets in the upper-bracket sectional final in the Division 4 boys basketball tournament at Piqua Friday.
The win was the eighth in a row for the Tigers, who are now 18-6 heading into a district championship Friday against Tri-Village at the UD Arena.
Fairlawn, which had two regular-season wins over the Tigers, end the season 21-4.
“That was a huge win for us,” said Jackson Center coach Scott Elchert. “We’ve had our share of setbacks this season in the league, but we told them that we needed to learn from them and get ready for the tournament. We did a great job against Lessing and we had other players step up for us.”
Fairlawn came out and threatened to leave the Tigers behind in the early going, sprinting to an 8-0 lead behind five points from Luke Hickman.
Ironically, high-scoring County Player of the Year Nathan Lessing scored Fairlawn’s first three points of the game, then went scoreless the remainder of the half.
But behind the play of Hickman, the Jets were able to eek out an 18-17 halftime lead. Hickman hit four of his five shots from the field in the first half and scored 10 points, along with grabbing six rebounds.
Jackson Center got on the board on a pair of free throws by Brady Wildermuth, and scored the final six points of the opening quarter to cut Fairlawn’s lead down to two at 8-6.
After Hickman scored to open the second half, Jackson took its first lead on a two by Bryce Sosby and a three by Trent Platfoot at 11-10. But at the other end, Hickman drained a three to put the Jets back on top. Drew Brautigam scored with 1:35 remaining in the second quarter and that proved to be the last points of the half.
The in the third quarter, the Tiger defense took control, holding the Jets to just five points, enabling Jackson to take a 29-23 lead into the final period.
Keshon Johnson hit a three to cut the lead to three, but the Tigers responded with the next three to push it back to six. But Hickman responded with another three to make it three again with 5:12 remaining in the contest.
Gavin Booser scored in close to make it five again, then after a steal by Lessing, the Jets went the other way and Drew Brautigam was fouled. However, he missed both and the Tigers responded with a bucket by Trent Platfoot to push the lead out to seven with just three minutes left.
After two Lessing free throws, the Tigers ran some clock and sprung Wildermuth for a bucket inside, but Cody Kurtner hit a three for the Jets to cut the lead back to four again with two minutes remaining.
Then after a timeout, Johnson came up with a steal and Lessing was fouled on a putback attempt. Lessing hit both free throws to cut it to 38-36, then the Tigers were called for traveling with 90 seconds remaining. Kurtner then drained another three and the Jets were back on top at 39-38.
Jackson attempted a three but Nick Brautigam got a hand on it and was then fouled. But he missed the front end of the one-and-one, and Lessing fouled Wildermuth at the other end. He hit both and the Tigers were back on top 40-39 with just :26 remaining.
Then coming out of a timeout, the Jets turned the ball over and Jackson freshman Calvin Winner calmly sank both free throws for a 42-39 lead with only 15 ticks remaining.
Fairlawn was not able to get a shot away, and Sosby was fouled. He iced it with two more free throws.
Platfoot had 14, Wildermuth 13 and Sosby 11 for the Tigers.
Hickman had 16 and Curtner 11, eight of those in the final quarter, for Fairlawn.
Lessing had nine and finished his brilliant careeer with 2,223 points, the only player in Shelby County history to go over 2,000.
Jackson hit 15 of 29 from the field and Fairlawn 14 of 35, but the big difference came at the line — the Tigers were 11-for-14 and Fairlawn just 5-for-13.
Jackson Center (44) — Platfoot 14, Booser 2, Sosby 11, Wildermuth 13, Winner 2, Bunke 2.
Fairlawn (41) — Lessing 9, Curtner 11, Hickman 16, D. Brautigam 2, Johnson 3.
Score by quarters:
Jackson`6 ` 17 ` 29 ` 44
Fairlawn`8 ` 18 ` 23 ` 41
Three-pointers: Fairlawn 8 (Hickman 4, Curtner 3, Johnson); Jackson 3 (Platfoot 2, Sosby).
Records: Fairlawn 21-4, JC 18-6.
Next game: Friday, district finals at UD Arena vs. Tri-Village, time to be announced.
