Russia’s Hayden Quinter shoots as Lancaster Fisher Catholic’s Peyton Owens defends during a Division IV regional semifinal on Tuesday at Trent Arena. Quinter led the Raiders with 20 points and six rebounds.
Luke Gronneberg | Sidney Daily News
Russia’s Benjamin York drives against Lancaster Fisher Catholic’s Grant Keefer during a Division IV regional semifinal against Lancaster Fisher Catholic on Tuesday at Trent Arena. York scored 12 points.
Luke Gronneberg | Sidney Daily News
Russia’s Vince Borchers drives against Lancaster Fisher Catholic’s Ethan O’Rielley during a Division IV regional semifinal on Tuesday at Trent Arena. Borchers scored eight points, all in the first half.
Luke Gronneberg | Sidney Daily News
Russia’s Jaxon Grogean shoots during a Division IV regional semifinal against Lancaster Fisher Catholic on Tuesday at Trent Arena.
Luke Gronneberg | Sidney Daily News
Russia’s Dominic Francis shoots as Lancaster Fisher Catholic’s Sam Tencza defends during a Division IV regional semifinal against Lancaster Fisher Catholic on Tuesday at Trent Arena.
Luke Gronneberg | Sidney Daily News
Russia’s Brayden Monnin passes while covered by Lancaster Fisher Catholic’s Joey Ellis during a Division IV regional semifinal against Lancaster Fisher Catholic on Tuesday at Trent Arena.
Luke Gronneberg | Sidney Daily News
KETTERING — Russia’s regional semifinal against Lancaster Fisher Catholic on Tuesday at Trent Arena went a smoothly as its sectional games.
And ended with a margin as big.
The Raiders dominated from the start and beat Fisher Catholic 71-20 to advance to a Division IV regional final for the second consecutive year. Russia will face Troy Christian on Friday at Trent Arena. The Eagles advanced by beating Jackson Center 57-47 in Tuesday’s second semifinal.
Russia has played the Eagles in nonconference games each of the last two seasons and faced them in a regional semifinal last year. The Raiders won this year’s regular-season matchup 64-39 in the WPTW Holiday Classic on Dec. 28 in Piqua; they won last year’s tournament matchup 41-33.
“Parker (Penrod) is a great player,” Quinter said of Troy Christian’s senior point guard. “We’ve beat them all three times, but it’s a battle each time we play them, because they’re a great team. We know we have to bring 110 percent to beat them.”
The Raiders (26-1) won their first four tournament games with margins of at least 34 points. Tuesday’s margin was their largest since a 47-point win over Newton in a district semifinal.
“We knew we had to lock in, but we kind of expected this after watching film,” Quinter said. “We just came and played our game.”
Quinter scored a tournament-high 20 points and made 7-of-10 field goal attempts. He had six of the team’s nine steals; Fisher Catholic committed 18 turnovers.
The Raiders scored 28 points off turnovers.
“It starts on the defensive end,” Quinter said. “In practice, we go as hard as we can on defense, and that just translates into the game, and that leads to the results.”
With a victory on Friday, the Raiders will earn a state berth for the second consecutive year.
“If we want to go to where we think we can go, we have to defend,” Russia coach Spencer Cordonnier said. “You’ve got to guard. Defense wins championships. That’s what got us to 11-1 in Shelby County League, that’s what got us to district finals, and that’s what has gotten us to this point. From this point forward, who knows.
“… Friday night is going to be a great atmosphere.”
Fisher Catholic finishes 17-9 overall. The Irish won their second district title in program history to advance to Tuesday’s semifinal.
“We’re really proud of what we accomplished,” Fisher Catholic coach AJ James said. “It took some time to get the ball rolling. A district championship is about as good as we are right now. We’ve got to get better to compete with teams like Russia. They’re good, man.
None of Fisher Catholic’s starters are over 6-foot-0, and the squad struggled to rebound against Russia, which has four players on its roster 6-4 or 6-5, and only one below 6-1.
“That whole team, they’re a lot shorter than us,” Quinter said. “We’ve got a lot of height. It was pretty easy.”
The Raiders had a 48-21 rebounding edge and brought down 24 offensive rebounds.
“We talked in practice about trying to be physical, trying to box out,” James said. “But even when we did those things well, they still found a way to get the ball.”
Benjamin York added 12 points and Vince Borchers added eight, all in the first half. Felix Francis had three of the team’s nine blocks and had six rebounds; Quinter and Dominic Francis each brought down six rebounds apiece.
Both Cordonnier and James said a lopsided margin wasn’t unexpected. Fisher Catholic was the No. 7 seed in the D-IV Central district, and Russia, which was ranked No. 1 or 2 all season in Associated Press D-IV state polls, set its tournament path with hopes of facing a lower Central district seed in a semi.
“When I went and watched them, I knew it as going to be rough for us,” James said. “I knew it. I knew what we were getting into when we came into this bracket. But our goal was a district championship.”
Fisher Catholic didn’t make a basket until the second minute of the second quarter. The Raiders built a 17-1 lead by the end of the first and led 47-8 at halftime.
Quinter scored 17 points in the first half to help the Raiders take a lead. Russia struggled on its first shot attempt in the first half, but the Raiders got 19 offensive rebounds and scored 18 second-chance points in the half.
Russia had more blocks (six) than Fisher Catholic had field goals (three) in the first half.
The Raiders shot 28 for 61 (45.9 percent) from the floor; the Irish shot 8 for 38 (21.1 percent).
Friday’s regional final is scheduled to tip off at 7 p.m.
D-IV REGIONAL FINAL
Who: Russia vs. Troy Christian
Where: Trent Arena, Kettering
When: 7 p.m., Friday
Tickets: OHSAA.org/Tickets
Radio: ScoresBroadcast.com
Reach Bryant Billing at 937-538-4818, or follow @SidneyOHSports on Twitter and @BryantBillingSDN on Facebook.
