Cardinal Stritch guard Jhaiden Wilson is lightning quick and, when he's on, can make rain fall with his high-arcing barrage from beyond the 3-point line.
Motivated by a heart-breaking loss at the same stage in last year's tournament, the 5-foot-8 senior had 38 points in the Cardinals' 75-65 victory over Eastwood in a Division III district semifinal at Central Catholic's Sullivan Center.
Wilson mixed eight 3-pointers into his scoring line, and Stritch (14-4) won its 13th consecutive game with support from sophomore Romel Hightower, who had 13 points and 15 rebounds.
“I knew coming in that I had to be ready to play as a senior,” Wilson said. “I remember the feeling from losing here last year, and I didn't like that feeling at all. I want to make a run.”
Last March on this same court, Stritch was outscored 14-4 in the fourth quarter in a 44-43 loss to Evergreen, which scored the winning points on a back-door layup with three seconds remaining.
The Cards also got 11 points from sophomore Brenden Revels on Thursday night, and eight points and eight rebounds from senior Ross Thompson.
“He does it night in and night out,” Stritch coach Jamie Kachmarik said of Wilson, who averaged 26.1 points per game during the regular season. “You can face-guard him, double him, or do whatever. He's just got a knack for scoring, and he's got the heart of a champion. He plays extremely hard.”
Stritch, the champion of the Toledo Area Athletic Conference, will face Northwest Ohio Athletic League champion Archbold (20-4) in Saturday's district final here at 1 p.m.
The Blue Streaks advanced by using a 24-2 third quarter to break open a tight game in a 56-37 win over Ottawa Hills in Thursday's second semifinal at Central.
Stritch broke out to a quick 10-0 lead on the Eagles (15-9), and never trailed in the game, but also never really shook Eastwood either.
The Eagles, who were led by junior Jacob Meyer's 27 points and 12 rebounds, trimmed the Stritch lead to 16-14 after one quarter, and trailed 38-31 at halftime.
“This was a tough one for me,” Kachmarik said. “I live in the Eastwood school district, and my kids go to Eastwood. I was happy for Jacob [Meyer]. He's a great kid and a heck of a player. Todd [Henline] does a great job, and his kids played hard.”
The Cardinals upped their lead to 48-39 on Wilson's seventh 3-pointer of the game with 2:22 left in the third quarter, and took a 50-43 edge to the final period.
Eastwood pulled within five points three more times – the last on an Isaac Badenhop 3-pointer that made it 67-62 with 50 seconds remaining – but could get no closer as Stritch hit 16 of its 18 free throws in the game's final 6:51.
“We'd get within three or four and then we'd have a bad turnover and it would lead to an open 3 or a layup,” Eastwood coach Todd Henline said. “Then, they'd start their run again. They can go on runs. You play your butt off for seven minutes and then they'd make a 10-0 run.
“But, I'm proud of our kids. They battled and competed and did some nice things. We just could never get the lead and get over the hump. We were always playing from behind, and we had to work twice as hard to do that.”
Wilson, who had 22 points by halftime, was 13-of-20 from the field in the game, including 8-of-13 beyond the arc.
Eastwood also got 13 points from Badenhop, eight points from Lake Boos, seven from Andrew Arnston, and six points and six rebounds from Case Boos.
The Cardinals were 24-of-47 (51 percent) from the field, including 9-of-19 on 3-pointers, went 18-of-22 at the line, and edged the Eagles 33-30 in rebounding to help overcome 19 turnovers.
Eastwood was 26-of-64 (41 percent) from the field, including 7-of-23 on 3-pointers, and was 6-of-12 at the line. The Eagles committed 13 turnovers.
In the second game, the first half gave no clues as to what would follow.
Ottawa Hills (10-4) was able to run its half-court offense efficiently enough to take a 13-11 lead after one quarter, and stay within 20-19 at the break.
But the Blue Streaks dominated the third quarter to take control, outscoring the suddenly ice-cold Green Bears 24-2 in the period. Archbold hit nine of its 13 field-goal attempts in the crucial eight-minute stretch, while Ottawa Hill missed all nine of its third-quarter shots.
“We got a lot of good looks in the first half, but the ball just didn't go through the basket,” Archbold coach Joe Frank said. “We just said, 'Stay with it. Get those good looks, and they're going to go the second half.'
“Our kids started playing a little bit more loose and, when the shots start to go in, everybody gets a little more confident. We played hard on the defensive end, and we ran the ball up and down the floor really well, and they had a hard time with our transition.”
Archbold, which has won nine straight games, took a 44-21 edge to the final quarter, and coasted to victory.
Was Archbold's huge third quarter more a product of defense or offense?
“When it goes like that, it's pretty much everything,” Frank said. “We all know, when the ball goes through the basket, it looks prettier for everybody.”
The balanced Streaks were led by senior guard Noah Gomez with 12 points, Alex Roth had 11 points, D.J. Newman scored 10, and Austin Roth and Trey Theobald had eight points each. Newman, Theobald and Austin Roth each grabbed five rebounds.
Ottawa Hills was paced by sophomore A.J. George's 12 points, senior Eli VanSlooten had seven points and seven rebounds, and junior Brayden Miller scored six for the Green Bears.
Archbold was 21-of-41 (51 percent) from the field, including 8-of-20 on 3-pointers, went 6-of-7 at the line, and topped the Bears 25-18 in rebounding.
Ottawa Hills was 12-of-33 (36 percent) from the field, including 6-of-13 on 3-pointers, and was 7-of-12 at the line.
First Published March 5, 2021, 3:12 a.m.
