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West comes through in clutch, beats South Point

 

  

By Alex Hider

 ahider@civitasmedia.com

  LANCASTER — It’s not always pretty with the Portsmouth West softball team, but the Senators always seem to find a way to win.

  West senior pitcher McKenzie Whittaker out-dueled South Point’s Abby Hannah, and the Senators scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth to seal a 2-0 victory and a trip to the regional finals.

  “They don’t quit,” West head coach Phil Ridout said.

  Both pitchers were fantastic all game long. Whittaker struck out five batters in her seven innings of work, allowing just two walks and four hits.

  Through five innings, Hannah may have pitched even better. Heading into what proved to be the decisive fifth inning, she had retired ten straight batters and 12 of the last 13 she had faced.

  But after falling behind 0-2 leading off the sixth inning, second baseman Kayleigh Coleman broke the streak with a base hit into right field.

  She wouldn’t be on base for long. After Coleman moved to second on a wild pitch, center fielder Megan Shupert sent a hard grounder into left field. But thanks to a misplay by the Pointer outfield, the ball rolled all the way to the fence and allowed Coleman to come home.

  Suddenly, just six pitches into the sixth inning, the Senators (20-7) held a 1-0 lead.

  Shupert has come up with clutch hits in each of the Senators’ last two wins. On Saturday, she belted a three-run homer in the fifth inning to give West a 4-1 win over Albany Alexander.

  “It’s effort and timing. I just can’t say enough about every one of them,” Ridout said.

  West wasn’t done. After Cassidy Tackett moved Shupert to third base with a single, Terra Butcher brought her home with a ground out to short.

  Now pitching with the lead, Whittaker slammed the door shut in the seventh. She induced three South Point (17-10) ground outs to clinch the win and a spot in the Elite Eight.

  Whittaker was at her best on Thursday when she found herself in a jam. She stranded eight Pointer baserunners, four of which were in scoring position.

  South Point’s best chance to score came in the fifth inning. Hannah led off the frame with a single, and advanced to third on an outfield error off the bat of Lexi Smith. With just one out, the Pointers had runners on the corners and the go-ahead run just 60 feet away.

  But, Whittaker needed just three pitches to induce a pop out to shortstop Daisy May Holsinger and a groundout to Coleman to end the inning.

  “She gives 100 percent, because she can’t give more than 100,” Ridout said of Whittaker’s performance.

  West got a number of big defensive plays to keep South Point off the scoreboard, but none was bigger than Coleman’s 4-3 groundout in the seventh. With one out, Abbey Winkler sent a hard shot down the first base line. West’s Cassidy Tackett wasn’t quite able to handle it, but Coleman gobbled up the ball and tossed to Tackett at first to record the out.

  “I’m tickled to death with the hitting, but it’s the defense. Everyone is moving and backing up,” Ridout said.

  With the win, West is just one win away from a trip to Akron for the Final Four. They will face off with conference rival Wheelersburg Saturday at noon in the regional finals. The Pirates have already beaten West twice this season, winning 10-1 on April 7 and 4-1 on May 5.

  “We’re not going to change. We’re going to make them adjust to us,” Ridout said.

  “I said when we played them, ‘I just hope we play them in the regional finals.’ Here we are,” he added. “I had faith in our girls. I knew what they were capable of.”

  West’s last trip to the regional finals came in 2003. That season, the Senators beat Wheelersburg 3-1 in the Elite Eight to advance to the state tournament.

Box Score

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7		R	H	E
South Point	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	0	4	0
West	0	0	0	0	0	2	x	—	2	6	1

INDIVIDUAL STATS

  South Point — A. Winkler 1-3, H. Rawlins 1-3, S. Griffith 1-3, A. Hannah 1-3

  West — K. Coleman 1-3 (R), M. Shupert 2-3 (2B, R, RBI), C. Tackett 1-3, T. Butcher 1-3 (RBI), D. Holsinger 1-2

  W — M. Whittaker (CG, 7 IP, 0 R, 5 K, 2 BB, 4 H)

  L — A. Hannah (CG, 6 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 K, 0 BB, 6 H)

  Records — South Point 16-10, West 20-7

  Reach Alex Hider at 740-353-3101 ext. 1931 or on Twitter @PDTSportsWriter

 

Weber: It starts with a message, Pt. 2

Photo by Sandy Phipps

Originally published at http://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com

Alex Hider

ahider@civitasmedia.com

This is Part 2 of a two-part series on the life of Kentucky Warriors wide receiver Michael Weber. Read part one of the story online at www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/sports.

All Michael Weber has ever wanted to do was play football. Since he was a child, when his stepfather sat him down and taught him the game, football has always been there; the invisible hand that has guided him throughout his life. As a child growing up without a dad, football was there to inspire him. In high school, with temptation all around him, football was there to keep him “busy.” And when Weber graduated high school in 2002, football was there with a chance to continue his education.

Weber would spend just two seasons at West Virginia State (he ran into what he describes as “normal college troubles: no money, no guidance, bad grades”), but football would be waiting for him with another opportunity. For two seasons, from 2004-2005 he would get his first taste of semi-pro action with the West Virginia Lightning.

Around the same time, Michael would marry his girlfriend Kelly Archer and start a family. With two beautiful daughters, Maleah and Keyonna, it finally seemed his life was turning around after a difficult childhood.

For the first time in his life, Michael no longer needed football to be his guiding light. Needing to take care of his new responsibilities as a father, he knew he had played his last snap with the Lightning.

Weber joined the Army in 2006. The military provided a good, stable income for his family and molded him into a model citizen. The lifestyle seemed to suit him well. He rose quickly through the ranks, reaching the rank of staff sergeant in the minimum four years. But the success he experienced in his new career path came with a price.

The honeymoon phase he experienced early in his marriage was over. The Army demanded a lot of Michael’s time, keeping him away from his wife and children. There’s an old adage, “absence makes the heart grow fonder.” That couldn’t be further from the truth for Michael and his family.

“My marriage wasn’t great,” he said. “It was just kind of stale, and there wasn’t much I felt I could do about it. I felt kind of hopeless.”

The tipping point came in 2011, when Michael was shipped out for his second tour in Iraq in just three years. As he said goodbye to his family yet again, his daughters, unsure if he would ever come home, couldn’t contain their emotions.

“I saw my girls bawl their eyes out at the airport, and I just couldn’t get that image out of my head,” he said. “That second year I was there was just torture.”

Though he wasn’t done with his obligations to the military, Michael had had enough. In 2012, he was granted a “general discharge under honorable conditions” from the U.S. Army. Archer had had enough, too. She filed for divorce soon after he returned.

Without his family or football to guide him, Michael was lost.

“Those were some dark days for me,” he said. “All I could think was to put on a book bag and start walking and get as far away as I could.”

That’s exactly what he did.

With little more than $300 dollars and a backpack full of supplies, Michael set off on foot from River Park in Huntington in early summer 2012. His goal: Los Angeles, California.

According to a July 13, 2012 article in the Morehead News, Weber used his journey to raise money for March of Dimes, a charity involved in helping families of prematurely born babies. The inspiration for the trip came after an encounter on his flight home from Iraq.

”When I saw the baby in an incubator on my return flight I knew that I had to do something,” he told the News.

Weber’s four-month journey was not without its perils: narrow roads, careless drivers, snakes, dogs and severe weather. But Michael never feared for his life.

“There was danger all the way, but I wasn’t in a good place so I wasn’t scared,” he said. “That was good for me, and it allowed me to feel like I could do it.”

But for all the dangers he faced, there were just as many people who were willing to help him on his way.

“I met some great people out on the road,” he said. “It showed me that there are still good people in the world, and you can’t give up hope.”

Four months after he left Huntington, Michael arrived in Santa Monica, California. Overcome with relief, joy and pride, he took the final steps of his 2,430-mile journey into the Pacific Ocean. For the first time since he returned home from Iraq, he felt a sense of purpose.

Reinvigorated, Michael caught a plane back to Huntington. After four months on the road, he missed his friends and family from his hometown. Thinking his trip had made a difference in his life, he expected a grand homecoming when his plane landed at the airport.

Lora Weber, his mother, wanted to be there for his son’s return, but was stuck waiting for a bus in Ironton, Ohio. She called her son to tell him that she would be late.

“He said, ‘Don’t even bother coming, there’s no one here,’” she said.

It turns out, Michael’s trip didn’t have quite the impact he had thought it would have on his hometown. He hoped his journey would raise awareness for March of Dimes and inspire his friends and family. His dream didn’t come true; life had moved on without him. Nothing had changed.

“It kind of brought me down a bit,” he said. “I’ve seen more people rally behind me throughout 11 states. But the one place I’m from, born and raised, it didn’t make much noise. Quite frankly, people didn’t care.”

Again without a purpose, Michael began to slip into the depression that had taken hold of him when he returned from Iraq. Out of options, ideas and money, he moved back in with the McFeeleys, the family that had taken him in as a teenager. And just when it seemed things couldn’t get any worse, Richard Cox, Michael’s step-father, passed away on November 22, 2012: Thanksgiving. Though Michael and Cox had had their problems over the years, he had just lost the closest thing he had ever had to a father.

“I never thought in a million years that it would tear me up the way it did, but it did,” he said.

Grieving, depressed and disappointed, Michael was again searching for purpose in his life. His mind was constantly racing, but it kept ending up in the same place.

“I figured, ‘Man, what if my dad is out there somewhere?’” he said.

Lora was wondering the same thing. Knowing her son needed his father more than ever, she scoured Facebook searching for her high school sweetheart Bobby Jewitt, who she believed was Michael’s father. After countless months of searching she finally found his profile and sent that fateful message in late 2013.

It turned out the Bobby was married with a family and living in Rockville, Maryland. Obviously, the news was quite jarring to Jewitt, who didn’t even recall reuniting with Lora in the winter of 1982.

“At the time, I didn’t remember,” Bobby said. “I was in shock. I was in total disbelief.”

Despite his reservations, Bobby agreed to drive back to his hometown of Huntington to have lunch with Michael. As he drove the winding roads through the mountains of West Virginia, Bobby could barely contain his excitement.

“Once I took the trip from Maryland to West Virginia, I was already starting to feel that this was real: He’s my son,” Bobby said. “I just wanted to understand what happened, how it could have taken 30 years to find this out.”

Michael, who’s recent luck had taught him to take good news with a grain of salt, kept his feelings in check.

“I was a little standoffish,” he said. “Whether it’s me or the universe, it seems like right at the last moment it doesn’t go my way. It’s like a big game of Chutes and Ladders, and I keep getting to space 99 and sliding all the way back to the bottom. It’s just frustrating.”

But from that very first meeting, both Bobby and Michael knew they were father and son. From their facial structures, to their sense of humor, to their mutual love of the old Los Angeles Raiders, the guys didn’t need the 99.9-percent positive DNA test to tell them they were related.

“It was the look in his face to…everything,” Bobby said.

Since their first meeting earlier this year, Bobby and Michael have done everything they could to make up for the 31 years they missed as father and son. Michael has now met all of Bobby’s eight siblings as well as his own family.

“The biggest emotion I felt was relief. I’ve got a family now. It doesn’t matter who they are, it doesn’t matter if I see them, I just have a family out there,” Michael said.

“He’s loved,” Bobby said. “He’s got a family that’s there for him and has got his back and can give him anything he could possibly need.”

Throughout his military service, his walk across America and his bouts with depression, Michael never lost the itch to play football. Though it had been nine years since he had put on pads, he was willing to give it another shot. Finally, Michael received a second fateful message, this time from friend and former teammate Jermaine Payton: the Kentucky Warriors were willing to give him that shot.

Months later, Bobby Jewitt sits in Spartan Municipal Stadium next to his soon-to-be daughter-in-law, Jasmine Anderson. The decent turnout for the game can be credited more to the White Castle truck parked behind the end zone than the Warriors’ matchup with the 1-8 Wildcats. In fact, Michael discouraged his father from making the 6-hour trip to Portsmouth, but Bobby wouldn’t have it. He just loves watching his son play too much.

The Warriors start out with the ball, and after a botched kickoff by Carter County, they set up on the Wildcat 38-yard line. Michael and the rest of the offense come out for their first play of the game.

Michael had told Jasmine to have her phone ready in case anything happened. It doesn’t take long.

Just as he had done in his high school homecoming game, Michael breaks off the line and slices through the secondary. Suddenly, he’s all alone, completely behind the defense. The ball is a bit under thrown, but it doesn’t matter. He could walk into the endzone if he wanted to, but he isn’t about to let the universe steal his dream from him.

Just a few months ago, Michael Weber never thought he would ever meet his father, let alone score a touchdown for him. Now, his dreams have come true.

“If you’re going through anything, if you’re waiting on someone, keep waiting. If you’re going through something, keep going, because you know what? It might take 31 years for you to find the answers to your problems,” he said. “It all starts with a message.”

Shirt

Alex Hider can be reached at (740) 353-3101 ext. 1931 or on Twitter @PDTSportsWriter

Michael Weber: It starts with a message

Photo by Sandy Phipps

Originally published at http://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com

Alex Hider

ahider@civitasmedia.com

This story is the first part of a two-part series on the life of Kentucky Warrior wide receiver Michael Weber. Part two will run in Thursday’s edition of the Daily Times.

Michael Weber has scored plenty of touchdowns, but this is the first time he has no idea what to do. Ripping off his helmet, he first runs towards the sidelines then directly to the Warrior bench. As his feet touch the weathered track of Portsmouth’s Spartan Municipal Stadium, his eye catches a middle aged man bounding down the stairs. In his excitement to reach the field, the man jumps over the wall as opposed to taking the stairs a section over. It’s for the best, he’s just spent six hours in the car and is eager to stretch his legs.

“Already? Already?” the man says as he embraces the Warriors’ leading receiver. Weber can’t choke down his tears long enough to respond.

“You did it!” the man says. “I love you, son.”

Growing up in Huntington West Virginia, Michael Weber was the only one in his family who didn’t know his father. As a baby, Michael’s mother, Lora, thought that he had the same father as her other son, Kenneth Collins. But as Michael grew older, Lora began to notice some differences between the brothers. Where his brother’s skin was much lighter, Michael’s stayed dark. She also began to notice differences in facial structure.

“When Michael stayed dark I said, ‘Nope. He’s got to be Bobby’s,’” she said. “But, I had no idea how to find the man.”

Lora and Bobby Jewitt were high school sweethearts at Huntington High School. The two ran into each other in Huntington in late 1982 and briefly reignited their relationship before Bobby left for college at the University of West Virginia in Morgantown. In a world before social media, Lora had no way to contact Bobby without a phone number or address.

But that didn’t mean Michael didn’t have father figures. When he was two years old, his mother would marry his stepfather, Richard Cox. The couple would have two children together, making Michael one of four half-siblings. Though Weber grew up in a large family, he often felt lonely without a father of his own.

“I was kind of just the odd man out,” Weber said. “There were four kids growing up in the house, and I’m watching my step Dad’s kids…that got in my mind, like he loved them more. I would come to find out that that wasn’t the case, but as a kid, you couldn’t help but be jealous.”

Michael’s identity struggles along with Cox’s battle with alcoholism made for a rocky step-father, step-son relationship. Though Cox’s transgressions cut him to the core, they taught Michael an important lesson.

“He did teach me to be a man, but he did a lot of that by showing me what not to do,” Weber said.

But despite their differences, there was always one thing the two could bond over: Football.

When Richard wasn’t drinking, he would sit Michael down and tell him about his favorite sport, everything from the rules of the game to classic stories of Hall of Famers. Soon enough, Michael was imagining himself decked out in silver and black, lining up at receiver for the Los Angeles Raiders next to his all-time favorite player, Tim Brown. When he finally got the chance to go out for peewee ball when he turned 11 years old, his coaches began to notice many of Brown’s traits in Weber’s game, namely quickness, elusiveness and soft hands.

Though Michael was excelling on the football field, his home life had never been worse. Cox was drinking more than ever. Lora, trying to provide a living for her husband and four children, spent most of her time working, away from her young children. With little to no parental supervision, the temptations to get caught up in the wrong crowd were greater than they had ever been. But, forever trying to impress the father that he never had, Weber kept on the straight and narrow path.

“I lived my life by the book. I got in trouble, of course, but I was a straight-A student,” Weber said. “I always had this pressure to be this good kid when my Dad came back; and I didn’t even know who my Dad was.”

As life in his childhood home continued to deteriorate, Weber was offered a lifeline from his friend, Denny McFeeley. His father, Dennis, opened his home and offered Michael place to stay. He couldn’t say no.

“I told my Mom ‘I gotta go.’ She knew that and trusted me,” he said. “I’ve been the poster child for ‘It takes a village.’ And it really has. It has taken an entire village to get me here.”

Though it was difficult to let her son go, Lora knew that the McFeeley’s offered Michael a lot more than she could ever provide.

“I just wanted better for him, because basically he was my only one that was in school and wanted to be someone,” she said. “It was a help to me when he went to stay with them.”

Even though he was no longer living in her house, Michael continued to stay close with his mother. He stopped by and visited whenever he could. She got him his first job at the Rally’s she managed when he turned 15. And though Lora was often busy at work and couldn’t attend Michael’s football games, he imagined her in the stands and used her support as motivation

“Everything I am, the man I grew up to be, is all because of my Mom and the things she spoke to me as a kid. I took them to heart,” Weber said.

Not only did the McFeeley’s provide a stable home environment during the young man’s formative years, but Dennis acted as yet another father figure to Michael, one that he could actually emulate.

“He’s by far the greatest man I’ve ever met thus far in my life. I mean that,” Weber said. “He showed me how to be man, what you should do, how you should treat people.”

Through all of the troubles and turmoils of his teenage years, the football field was always the one place Michael could go to get away from it all. Playing his dream position of wide receiver at Huntington High School, Weber played under legendary head coach Bob Sang. While most of his playing time came during a disastrous 1-9 season his junior year, he relished every opportunity to step on the field and compete.

During that junior season, his mother was finally able to make it to one of his games. With the Highlanders threatening to score in the red zone on Homecoming night, Michael saw Lora arriving late into the stadium. Excited to see her, but careful not to jump offside, Michael slyly gave his mother a quick wave.

Suddenly, the ball was snapped. Mimicking his boyhood idol Tim Brown, Weber broke off the line and used his lightning-quick speed to blow right by his defender. As fate would have it, the ball came right to him in the corner of the end zone.

At the time, Michael Weber thought that would be the last time one of his parents would watch him score a touchdown. He was wrong.

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Alex Hider can be reached at (740) 353-3101 ext. 1931 or on Twitter @PDTSportsWriter

‘Burg’s Smith making up for lost time

Photo by Ruth Boll

Originally published on http://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com

Alex Hider

ahider@civitasmedia.com

Brooke Smith’s high school career hasn’t exactly panned out the way she thought it would. As an ambitious freshman, she imagined graduating as a four-year letterman with over 1,000 career points. But even with a 29-point effort in Wheelersburg’s sectional championship game with South Point, Smith is still well over 500 points away from her goal.

Undoubtedly, there are a lot of things that Smith would change about her four years with the Pirates. But the struggles she went through in her underclassman years have turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

“I don’t think I would be as good as I am now without my injuries. I really don’t,” Smith said. “It made me better. And that was one of my goals, to be better than I was.”

When Smith arrived at Wheelersburg High School in the fall of 2011, she expected to contribute at the varsity level right away. With a small program always looking for depth, she hoped to step in and fill a role for the Pirates. Nothing was going to stop her from making an impact with the team, not even a sore right knee that developed during volleyball season.

But her knee couldn’t keep up. In a preseason scrimmage against South Point, Smith was fouled going up for a layup and crumpled to the ground. She couldn’t ignore the pain any longer. Her coaches finally convinced her to see a doctor.

A few days later, Smith received the diagnosis: A torn ACL in her right knee. Her freshman year was over before it began.

“I was devastated,” she said. “I thought ‘This is going to take forever.’”

After surgery to repair the ligament, Smith began the long road to recovery. Her initial goal was to be ready to go for summer league in June.

At first, she struggled with the frustrating and tedious process of re-training her knee. Simple tasks like straightening and bending were difficult and painful. In addition, insurance issues caused Smith to fall behind in her rehab. Six months passed, and doctors still could not clear her for full activity.

With summer ball out of the question, she knew it was time to take her rehab into her own hands. Using exercises recommended by her doctors, Smith began working out three times a day during her summer break. While her friends were relaxing at the pool, she was outside at 8 a.m., 3 p.m. and 7 p.m., strengthening her right leg with lateral movement exercises — no matter the temperature.

She did take a break when her family took a vacation to the beach: She cut her workouts down from three-a-days to two-a-days.

“I was so upset I couldn’t do anything in the summer, but I had to get back,” she said.

When she wasn’t strengthening her knee, Smith was doing whatever she could to improve her game. That meant working on her ball-handling skills. By the end of the summer, she could dribble two balls behind her back and between her legs at the same time. In fact, Wheeelersburg head coach Dusty Spradlin was so impressed with Smith’s progress that he made her dribbling drills a mainstay in Pirate practices.

Fully healed, Smith finally got her first taste of varsity basketball in her sophomore year. Through she had been a prolific scorer on her junior high and AAU teams, varsity ball was a completely different game. As the newbie on a veteran-laden team, she did most of the dirty work, taking a backseat role. She averaged 2.9 points per game while playing in all 22 of the Pirates’ games.

“It was kind of hard for me at first…but I had to get used to it somehow,” Smith said.

It wouldn’t take long for Smith to find her place. She earned second team All-SOC honors for her play in the 2012-13 season as the Pirates shocked southern Ohio by taking the SOC II championship.

Wheelersburg’s season ended with a disappointing loss to West in the sectional finals, but that didn’t slow Smith down. She took up track, reaching the regional tournament in the 800 meters. All the while, she continued to work on what she considered the weakest aspect of her game: 3-point shooting.

As summer rolled around, Smith finally seemed to have found her stroke. She came out on fire in her first summer league game, leading her team in scoring in the first period. As the first quarter neared a close, she grabbed a steal and streaked for the basket for two more. With a defender closing in, Smith hesitated…and fell to the floor in pain, clutching her left knee.

She knew what it was right away, and the doctors later confirmed: Another ACL tear, this time in her other leg.

Smith didn’t want to think about another injury, let alone the months of rehabilitation she knew were in store. It almost didn’t seem worth it. She sat down with her father, and seriously considered giving up basketball for the first time in her life.

But those feelings didn’t last long. The next day, she began her road to recovery all over again.

“I realized I had been through this before, I could do it again,” she said.

Though she wouldn’t have surgery until August of 2013, Smith set a goal to return to action before the end of the upcoming basketball season. With a minimum of six months of rehab in front of her, there was little room for error if she wanted to be back on the court by the end of her junior year.

But by that point, Smith was a walking medical textbook. She knew exactly what exercises would strengthen her knee and when to start doing them. All the while, she continued to do what she could to improve her outside shot. While her teammates scrimmaged in practice, Smith would be stretching on the sidelines or shooting at an empty basket.

By February, Smith was tearing up the SOC in JV games. A few weeks later, she was on the court during Wheelersburg’s tournament game against Valley.

In the 18 months since her last knee injury, Smith’s game has grown exponentially. This season, Smith is averaging nearly 16 points and four rebounds per contest. The work on her 3-point shot — the only aspect of her game she could improve with her knee injury — is finally starting to pay off. In her last two games, Smith has made nine 3-pointers.

With Smith finally playing to her full potential, the Pirates have never looked stronger. She, along with her close friends and teammates, have propelled the Pirates to a 20-2 record, a share of the SOC II title and a sectional title.

“She works at it,” Spradlin said. “She missed almost two years of her career, and she knows the importance of every time she’s on the floor.”

She may be completely healthy, but Smith still works just as hard as she did while rehabbing. She tries to be the first one in the gym before practice and the last one to leave. She says she isn’t trying to prove anything through her work outs; it’s just what she expects out of herself.

“I never think to this day that I’ve had two surgeries. I don’t let it affect me; I don’t ever think about,” she said. “It happened to me, I worked hard to get back, and here I am. I think that’s what anybody should do if that happens to them.”

It may not have happened the way she expected it, but Brooke Smith and the Wheelersburg Pirates are on the brink of school history.

“I missed two years. Now, I’m just trying to make up for it every way that I can.”

Reach Alex Hider at 740-353-3101 ext. 1931 or on Twitter @PDTSportsWriter

Minford tanks Unioto, advances to sectional finals

 

 

Originally published on http://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com

Alex Hider

 ahider@civitasmedia.com

  MINFORD — It may have taken nearly four hours, but Monday’s win was well worth the wait for Minford.

  After enduring a two-hour rain delay, the Falcons racked up 11 hits — four for extra bases — to push seven runs across the plate. Seth Jenkins added a complete-game, 10-strikeout effort, and Minford defeated Unioto 7-2 to advance to the sectional finals.

  Though Monday’s contest began under clear skies, the weather began to turn just three batters into the game. With Unioto’s Alek Adkins at the plate and Casey White on third base with one out, umpires enforced what was originally a 30-minute delay due to thunder. However, that proved to be just the beginning of a line of thundershowers that kept players off the field for nearly two hours.

  Both teams made the most of the delay, playing tick-tack-toe on a baseball that was tossed between dugouts. The Falcons and Sherman Tanks even held an impromptu jousting match/chicken fight, much to the delight of fans.

  As the delay dragged on, it was apparent that the Falcons’ extraordinary chemistry was helping keep focus in the dugout.

  “It’s a great group of kids. They’re having fun playing the game,” Minford associate head coach Brent Daniels said. “It’s a tribute to them, they like coming out here and playing…I’m tickled to death with them right now.”

  Though White scored on an error soon after play resumed, it didn’t take long for the Falcons to answer. After Dylan Shockley got things started in the bottom of the first with a double, Eli Daniels promptly brought him home a pitch later with an RBI single.

  The Falcons went back to the well in the third inning, as another Shockley double lead to another Daniels RBI single that gave Minford a 2-1 lead.

  Jenkins retired the first two batters of the fourth inning, but Unioto had a rally up its sleeve. Designated hitter Payton North reached on an error, and then moved to second on a single by leadoff hitter Clay Edler. After White walked to load the bases, North scampered home on a wild pitch to tie the game at two.

  Though Jenkins would bounce back to get Oyer to fly out to left to end the inning, his issues with two outs continued to haunt him throughout the game. Eight Sherman batters would reach base with two outs throughout the game, giving Unioto ample opportunities for extra runs.

  But, Jenkins always seemed to come up with a big pitch when it counted. He was able to strand 10 Unioto runners, six of which were in scoring position. In addition, both of the runs he allowed were unearned.

  “I thought (Jenkins) pitched a great game tonight,” Daniels said. “He got himself out of a couple of jams, and we made some nice plays in the field to get himself out of some jams.”

  Minford took the lead back in the fifth, as both Jared and Aaron Alley came up with clutch swings. With the bases loaded and one out, Jared Alley hit a screamer to short that Oyer couldn’t handle, allowing Shaun Merciel to score. Two pitches later, Aaron Alley sent a lazy sac fly to right field to score Matt Joyce. 

  The Falcons added three insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth. Matt Parker and pinch-hitter Matt Gullett led off the inning with singles, bringing up Joyce. He followed with a double to the left field gap, scoring courtesy runner Jacob McCaleb. Later in the inning, Gullet came home to score on Shockley’s sac fly, and two pitches later, Joyce would slide in to home after a wild pitch.

  “We did some good situational hitting tonight to get the runs in,” Daniels said. “These (playoff) games are not going to be the 10-run rule games, these are going to be tight ball games.”

  With the win, the Falcons advance to the sectional finals, which will be played at Minford on Thursday. They will take on either Athens (who Minford beat 11-3 in the sectional semis in 2014) or Warren. The Bulldogs and Warriors complete their game tomorrow at 5:15 p.m. Athens led Warren 4-2 in the middle of the fourth inning on Monday before the game was postponed due to rain.

  “We scrimmaged Athens earlier this year,” Daniels said. “They’re a much better ball club right now, it’s going to be a tight ball game for sure. I don’t know much about Warren, I’ll have to do some scouting on them.”

  No matter who Minford plays on Thursday, Daniels is confident in his club.

  “If we just keep hitting the ball, keep hitting it and fielding it, we’re going to be right where we need to be,” he said.

  Box Score

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7		R	H	E
Unioto	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	—	2	5	1
Minford	1	0	1	0	2	3	x	—	7	11	2

  INDIVIDUAL STATS

  Unioto — C. Edler 1-2, C. White 1-2 (R), A. Adkins 2-3, R. Sigler 1-3, P. North 0-3 (R)

  Minford — M. Joyce 1-3 (2B, 2 R, RBI), D. Shockley 2-3 (2 2B, 2 R, RBI), E. Daniels 3-3 (2 RBI), J. Alley 1-4 (2B), I. Tolle 1-3, M. Parker 1-2, S. Merciel 1-3 (R), J. McCaleb 0-0 (R), M. Gullet 1-1 (R)

  W — S. Jenkins (CG, 7 IP, 2 R, 0 ER, 10 K, 5 BB, 5 H)

  L — R. Sigler (CG, 6 IP, 7 R, 5 ER, 2 K, 1 BB, 11 H)

  Records — Minford 17-2

  Reach Alex Hider at 740-353-3101 ext. 1931 or on Twitter @PDTSportsWriter

 

Portsmouth beats Piketon on 10th-inning suicide squeeze

 

 

Alex Hider

 ahider@civitasmedia.com

Originally published on wwww.portsmouth-dailytimes.com

  PORTSMOUTH — Last season, Portsmouth and Piketon played an epic 14-inning game in the opening round of the Division III playoffs. But Wednesday’s sectional semifinal game between the Trojans and Redstreaks may have done it one better.

  Sky Oliver tied the game with a two-out, two-RBI single in the bottom of the seventh, and Ryan Williams scored on a squeeze bunt by Zach DeLotell in the bottom of the tenth to give the Trojans a thrilling 3-2 victory at Hatcher Field.

  Defense and pitching powered both teams in the early innings of Wednesday’s game. Piketon’s Jacob Chester allowed just four hits in the first six innings of the game, with just one of those hitters advancing past first base. The Redstreak lefty also recorded all eight of his strikeouts in the first six innings.

  Meanwhile, Portsmouth’s Andrew Shackart found himself working through some control issues. The senior walked four batters and hit four with pitches throughout the game. As a result, he found himself working out of jam after jam. The Redstreaks loaded the bases in the second, fifth and sixth innings.

  Piketon would get runs across in the fifth and sixth innings thanks to a wild pitch and a Talon Osborne RBI groundout, but Shackart always seemed to have a trick up his sleeve to limit the damage. He induced bases-loaded fly outs in the second and fifth innings, and struck out Riley Harris to end the threat in the sixth inning.

  Piketon left 11 runners on base on Wednesday, nine of which were in scoring position.

  “(Shackart) has always pitched in the big games, I’ve got a lot of confidence in the kid,” Rhea said. “When he’s got confidence in himself, he’s hard to beat. He keeps hitters off-balanced, and he worked himself out of a couple of jams late in the game.”

  But as well as Shackart was pitching, Portsmouth couldn’t seem to get anything going at the plate. That all changed in the seventh inning.

  Chester began the seventh by forcing Mikey Potts to ground out to short and getting Reese Johnson to fly out to right. The Trojans were quickly down to their final out, with the bottom of the lineup due up.

  “I kept telling our kids to be more disciplined, to take until they got a strike and move up in the box,” Rhea said.

  Blake Wedebrook, Dylan Mullins and Austin Mullins took the advice to heart. All three recorded consecutive singles, bringing up Oliver.

  Last season, Oliver came up with a game-saving diving catch in the final inning Portsmouth’s playoff win over Piketon. True to form, he came to the rescue again, this time with a shot to right field that scored Wedebrook and Mullins to tie the game at two.

  Somehow, Shackart was even better in extra innings. He allowed no hits or walks in the three extra frames, and just one Redstreak batter reached on an error.

  Shackart also got help from his teammates behind him. Williams came up with a diving grab at short in the eighth, Potts saved a double by gloving a screaming line drive at third in the 11th and Oliver patrolled center field like a hawk, running down five fly balls throughout the game.

  The game remained deadlocked until the 10th inning, when Williams got things started with a one-out double to the gap in right-center. Hunter Gibson followed with a grounder to short that moved Williams to third, putting Portsmouth just 90 feet away from an improbable victory.

  Enter DeLotell, who stepped to the plate in the 10th inning at 0-for-4 on the day. Rhea knew it was his time to shine.

  “Everybody in the building knew we were going to squeeze at some point, so I let him take a couple of pitches,” he said.

  Two pitches later, Rhea flashed the sign, and DeLotell squared to bunt.

  “Big-time pressure, and Zach DeLotell came through with an excellent squeeze bunt,” Rhea said.

  With the victory Portsmouth advances to face the Zane Trace Pioneers, who beat Eastern Brown 11-1 on Wednesday. After a 10-inning game and an emotional victory, Rhea plans to take it easy on his team the next few days.

  “We’re probably going to let them rest a little,” he said.

  Saturday’s sectional final game is scheduled for 11 a.m. at Zane Trace High School. 

  Box Score

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10		R	H	E
Piketon	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	—	2	6	1
Portsmouth	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	1	—	3	12	2

  INDIVIDUAL STATS

  Piketon — Z. Jordan 1-4, T. Osborne 0-3 (RBI), E. Fremder 0-3 (R), R. Harris 1-5, J. Chester 1-3, J. Day 1-5 (R), N. Williams 2-5

  Portsmouth — D. Mullins 2-4 (R), S. Oliver 2-5 (2 RBI), R. Williams 2-5 (2B, R), H. Gibson 1-4 (3B), Z. DeLotell 1-5 (RBI), R. Johnson 1-4, B. Wedebrook 2-4 (R), A. Mullins 1-5

  W — A. Shackart (CG, 10 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 5 K, 4 BB, 6 H)

  L — J. Chester (CG, 9.2 IP, 3 R, 3 ER, 8 K, 0 BB, 12 H)

  Records — Portsmouth 12-14, Piketon 5-17

 Reach Alex Hider at 740-353-3101 ext. 1931 or on Twitter @PDTSportsWriter

Minford advances on Rowe’s buzzer-beater

Originally published on http://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com

Alex Hider

ahider@civitasmedia.com

CHILLICOTHE — Brandon Rowe didn’t call glass, but that’s OK. His Minford Falcons are still headed to the Convo for the third straight year.

With the Falcons trailing by two with 2.7 seconds remaining, Rowe took an inbounds pass and banked home a deep 3 as the buzzer sounded. The shot gave No. 2 Minford a wild 52-51 victory over third-seeded Circleville Friday night in the sectional finals at Southeastern High School.

“I didn’t really know how much time was left, so I just pulled up, took the shot and put one in,” Rowe said.

“He did what great players do: They win ballgames,” Minford head coach Josh Shoemaker added.

https://vine.co/v/O2jZKumXi76/embed/postcard

The Falcons (19-4) fell behind late in the third quarter, as Circleville (18-5) took control with a four-minute, 14-2 extended run. Tiger senior Justin Hill recorded three steals during the span, all of which led directly to fast break points on the other end. Hill scored seven points in just under four minutes, and finished with 13 points on the night.

Rowe knocked down a 3-pointer as the third quarter came to a close, but Minford still trailed by eight as the final period.

“We told them with four minutes to go, we needed to cut it to four,” Shoemaker said. “We just had to keep going, just keep plugging away and chipping into the lead.”

After Circleville’s Michael Camp opened the fourth quarter with a bucket, the Falcons went to work. Minford scored three straight baskets to cut the Tiger lead to 41-37 with just over four minutes to play — right on schedule.

“We had the mindset that we just needed to go out and focus,” Rowe said. “We had to get our shots falling. We did that, and we got a few key stops, too.”

With the game back within reach, the Falcons put their offense in the hands of Rowe. He scored Minford’s final 17 points, all of them coming within the final five minutes of the game.

“He really put us on track in the fourth quarter,” Shoemaker said.

Rowe traded baskets with Circleville down the stretch, keeping Minford within striking distance. With less than a minute remaining, he had cut the deficit to just a single point.

With time running low, the Falcons were forced to foul to preserve time. The Tiger senior Will Griffin made both shots of a 1-and-1 to extend the lead to three, but Rowe had other ideas.

https://vine.co/v/O2Ipg2O5pWM/embed/postcard

Rowe took the inbounds pass and went coast-to-coast, absorbed a foul on a layup attempt and put the shot home. The bonus foul shot tied the game up at 49 with just over 20 seconds remaining.

On Circleville’s next possession, the Tigers held the ball for the last shot. Junior Michael Camp (13 points) buried a jumper to give his team the lead — but there were still five seconds left on the clock.

With a foul to give, the Tigers hacked Minford near half-court on the ensuing inbounds play. With 2.7 seconds left, the Falcons took a timeout.

Shoemaker didn’t draw up anything special in the huddle.

“It’s our same side out-of-bounds play,” he said. “With 2.7 seconds, we knew we could get two dribbles and a shot, and he did exactly what we told him to.”

In the first half, Minford was able to play the quick and athletic Tigers to a draw thanks to solid play in the post from sophomore Dillon Shepherd and junior Trey Kelley. The two each grabbed seven rebounds, helping contribute to a 27-13 edge that Minford enjoyed on the glass throughout the night.

“I thought we did a great job rebounding and going after the ball,” Shoemaker said. “We had to limit them to one shot. That was our goal, and I feel like we succeeded.”

With the win, Minford captured its third straight sectional title and will advance to the district tournament next weekend at Ohio University. The Falcons will play either top-seeded Warren or fifth-seeded Logan Elm next Saturday at the Convocation Center.

“We won the league, and now we’re going to the Convo. We have one more goal, and that’s to win a district title,” Shoemaker said. “We want Kenton Gullion and Mike Miller, our two seniors, to go out winning a district title.”

“I’m just proud of my kids. They didn’t quit,” he added. “A lot of teams could have folded, but our kids fought back and they did a tremendous job.”

Box Score

	1	2	3	4	F
Circleville	13	8	18	12	51
Minford	11	10	10	21	52

INDIVIDUAL STATS

Circleville — C. Cooper 2-0-6, M. Camp 5-2-13, J. Taylor 2-0-6, W. Griffin 4-4-12, J. Hall 5-3-13, R. Moats 0-1-1

Minford — J. Alley 1-0-3, K. Gullion 3-0-6, B. Rowe 9-3-25, D. Shepherd 4-0-8, T. Kelley 3-0-8, M. Miller 2-0-4

3-point Field Goals — Circleville 5 (C. Cooper 2, J. Taylor 2, M. Camp), Minford 7 (B. Rowe 4, T. Kelley 2, J. Alley)

Records — Minford 19-4, Circleville 18-5

Shirt

Reach Alex Hider at 740-353-3101 ext. 1931 or on Twitter @PDTSportsWriter

Now free, Setty looks forward to contributing

A year ago, Southern Illinois forward Treg Setty found himself at a crossroads. After a rough 8-23 season, his head coach, Chris Lowery, had been fired, and his team was left in shambles. Out of his element and hundreds of miles from home, Setty felt like he needed a change.

Terry Prather, The Ledger Independent

“I just didn’t like my situation there, personally,” said Setty of his freshman year at Southern Illinois. “I decided to find myself something else.”

Having graduated from Mason County High School in Maysville, Kentucky, Setty wasn’t used to losing. A powerhouse in a state known for basketball, Setty won a state championship his freshman year and was a key contributor for the majority of his high school career.

“My favorite memory is probably my junior year, when we won the regional championship,” said Setty. “If you win the regional championship, it’s a pretty big deal. I was a big part of it.”

WATCH: Another of Setty’s high school memories, an American Idol audition.

Despite playing poorly in the state tournament, Setty still caught the eye of Miami, OH, Ohio University, and Southern Illinois. Though he liked what Ohio had to offer, Setty fell in love with the Salukis.

“They were pretty good when I was growing up,” said Setty. “They made a lot of NCAA Tournaments and they went to a couple Sweet Sixteens. They were fresh on my mind.”

Hoping to keep his recruitment from becoming a distraction, Setty committed to Southern Illinois after his junior year.

“I felt like I needed to get something stable in my life that wasn’t changing. I wanted to get something solid,” said Setty. “I always felt like if I hadn’t committed so soon, I would’ve had more (offers) come my way.”

Setty arrived in Carbondale when many other Salukis were headed out the door. With many players transferring, he was forced into action quickly. While many freshman are granted a redshirt season to acclimate to Division I basketball, Setty was forced to learn on the fly.

“As a freshman, I don’t know if I should have been thrown into that situation,” said Setty. “I wasn’t as physically developed as I should have been.”

Though there were some bright spots, including a 20-point performance against Illinois State, Setty felt uncomfortable with his role on the team and the six hours between him and his family. But when he asked for a transfer, Southern Illinois told him no.

“I wasn’t doing my stuff in the classroom,” said Setty.

With a 2.5 GPA, Southern Illinois told Setty they couldn’t let him transfer for fear that they could face NCAA sanctions. The Academic Performance Rate, the test used by the NCAA to regulate graduation rates, requires transferring students to have a 2.6 GPA. Even though he was merely points away, he was stuck in Carbondale until he could get his grades up.

But Setty would catch a break. When CBS Sports’ Jeff Goodman caught wind of his story, he came to his aid. He made Setty the focus of a scathing article centered on the NCAA’s transfer restrictions. Within days, Setty’s predicament had become a national story.

“He tweeted #FreeTregSetty and it just blew up,” said Setty. “It was all over, it was on the news. It was crazy.”

While the article ultimately helped Setty find the right situation for him, he does have regrets about how the situation was handled.

“I wish it wouldn’t have happened like that, because I burned a lot of bridges at SIU doing that,” he said. “But in the end, it worked in my benefit because it gave me some notoriety, and helped me spread my name and my cause a little bit.”

Despie the publicity, Setty still needed to get his grades up in order to become eligible to transfer. Through hard work and determination, he was able to achieve a 3.0 in his final semester at SIU, which was enough to qualify.

“I earned it,” said Setty. “I was proud of myself for pushing through.”

While Setty was working hard to make it out of Carbondale, Ohio assistant coach Anthony Stewart was working hard to bring him to Athens. A former assistant coach at SIU who lost his job along with Lowery, he had recently been hired by new Ohio head coach Jim Christian.

“We figured our assistants might stay with SIU,” said Setty. “But our coaches got fired and we kind of lost contact with them. When I got my release I got a call from Coach Stew, I was surprised. I had no idea he came to OU.”

With Ohio already on Setty’s radar, it was easy to make the decision that he should have made two years earlier: he would become a Bobcat.

“I was thankful everything turned out great,” he said. “I was thankful to be able to get here.”

Ohio University Athletics

Because the NCAA requires transfer students to sit out a year before competing for their new team, Setty has yet to make his debut for the Bobcats. But he says that he has grown more in his year off than he has at any other point in his basketball career.

“I’ve learned to keep my head, keep my cool and just calm down a little bit,” he said. “I feel like once the season comes around next year I’ll be a lot more mature, at least a lot more than I was when I was a freshman or sophomore.”

When Setty finally sets foot on the court for Ohio, he will still be the youngest player on a very veteran Bobcat team. While that may mean taking a back seat, for Setty, that doesn’t bother him one bit.

“I think I’ll be a role player,” he says. “You know, take a charge here and there, grab some rebounds. When I’m out there, I just want to make some things happen.”

It is only a few months until he can finally step into that role. He’s counting down the days until he can finally cross that baseline and check into a game for the Ohio Bobcats. Only then will Treg Setty truly be free.

Weekend in review: 2013 MAC Tournament

With a NCAA Tournament birth on the line, the Ohio men’s basketball team traveled to Cleveland for the 2013 MAC Tournament. The reigning champions of the tournament, the Bobcats needed to win two games in as many days to guarantee a spot in the big dance. So I loaded up my old Audi and made the three hour trip to cover the games for Speakeasy Magazine. Here’s my weekend at a glance:

Friday, March 15, 8:30 p.m.

I am in awe of the view from my seat on the floor at “The Q.” I’ve covered dozens of games in my journalistic career, but none on a stage as big as this. The energy level in the arena is electric. Both teams in the early game, Akron and Kent State, are local favorites and both cheering sections are loud. Top-seeded Akron wins a close game, 62-59, by taking advantage of missed free throws by Kent State. If Ohio can hold off Western Michigan, they will face Akron tomorrow in the Championship.

Friday, March 15, 9 p.m.

Junior guard Nick Kellogg warms up before Ohio’s semi-final game with Western Michigan. In an earlier matchup with the Broncos, Kellogg hit only one of four three pointers and Ohio snuck out of Kalamazoo with a two point victory. The Bobcats would need more production from him on a bigger stage in order to fend off a tough Western squad.

Saturday, March 16, 12 a.m.

I had to make the most of this photo op in an empty Quicken Loans Arena after Ohio defeated Western Michigan 74-63. After leading by 17 at halftime, Ohio saw its lead dwindle to just two midway through the second half. Kellogg would hit three of his four three pointers, and finish with nine points. But more importantly was the leadership from senior point gaurd D.J. Cooper. His deep three pointer with 10 minutes remaining stopped Western Michigan’s run and sparked Ohio to a 26-17 run for the rest of the game. After the game, Cooper was excited to face Akron for the third time in the 2013 season. “It’s only right,” he said. “We love playing Akron.” But I had 18 hours to kill until game time. Time to check out C-Town.

Saturday, March 16, 12 p.m.

Ah, Cleveland. It may not be the prettiest city. It may not be the most exciting. But boy, do they know their food. And there is no better place to get a taste of Cleveland than at Westside Market. An institution in the city since 1840, the indoor/outdoor market features fresh produce, specialty butchers, and food vendors from all corners of the earth. Signs featuring words of all languages offer fresh pasta, gyros, perogies, and headcheese. Vendors in plainly decorated stalls shout to patrons offering specials and samples. I wish I could stay here all day and eat my way around the world, but my stomach can only handle so much.

Saturday, March 16, 12:30 p.m.

I settle on a Cleveland favorite: Frank’s Bratwurst. If you’re looking for variety, don’t come to Frank’s. Your options are limited to hard or soft roll, and with or without sauerkraut. After handing over my cash (no plastic taken here), I go with a crispy hard roll and smother my brat with kraut. But no sasauage in Cleveland is complete unless it is topped with Bertman’s Stadium Mustard. This spicy brown sauce has been a staple in Cleveland since it was served in old Municipal Stadium. While bratwurst is king in my hometown of Cincinnati, Frank’s may have stolen my heart.

Saturday, March 16, 5:30 p.m.

Unfortunately, my view for the MAC Championship game is less than stellar. I’ve been relegated to the upper level press section for tonight’s final, but I spy plenty of open seats court side on press row. Hopefully I’ll be able to sneak down there before tipoff. Both teams shoot around as tipoff looms in less than an hour. The last time these two teams took the court, Akron lead a stunning 18-point comeback in Athens as Ohio went ice cold in the second half. The Bobcats will need to stay hot and make outside shots if they want to go dancing.

Saturday, March 16, 6:00 p.m.

The Ohio student section is nearly full, and there’s still thirty minutes until tipoff. Even though “Fest Season” kicked off this weekend in Athens, hundreds of students traveled north for tonight’s championship game. Though Akron’s campus is a mere 45 minute drive from Cleveland, Quicken Loans arena would be split 50/50 between Zips and Bobcats. There would be no home court advantage for the hometown heroes.

Saturday, March 16, 9:00 p.m.

Blue and green confetti explodes from the cannons mounted on the side of The Q’s massive center court scoreboard. Akron’s head coach Keith Dambrot holds the MAC Championship trophy high above his head as his teammates surrond him. Lost in the hoopla, Ohio quietly returns to its locker room. There would be no NCAA Tournament for them this season. “It’s disappointing,” said senior forward Reggie Keely after the game. “We came out here to win a championship. We came to cement our legacy and we couldn’t get it done.” In one if their worst shooting performances of the season, Ohio would make only one three pointer in their 65-46 loss. Cooper, one of the most decorated point guards in program history, was held to just three points and no field goals. “I apologize to my teammates,” he said. “The ball didn’t fall how it usually does.”

Saturday, March 16, 9:10 p.m.

As his teammates cut down the nets, Demetrius Treadwell leaps over the press table and into the stands. His family is waiting for him. After a few long hugs, an Akron official calls for him. “Tree! We need you over here!” His family watches from the stands as he is named player of the tournament. Akron’s sophomore forward averaged 13.5 points and 11 rebounds throughout the tournament. Playing without floor general Alex Abreu, who was arrested for drug trafficking a week earlier, Akron was able to revise its offense and get the ball to its bigs. “I’m just happy we won and we’re moving on to the NCAA Tournament,” said Treadwell.

Saturday, March 16, 10:30 p.m.

Cleveland’s most iconic building gets the full Zip treatment as The Q clears out. Blue and gold floodlights at the top of the Terminal Tower announce Akron’s had third MAC Tournament victory in the last five seasons. With their sights set on the NCAA Tournament, coach Keith Dambrot was asked how far he thought his team would go. Dambrot said he hoped his team drew a good matchup, and he hoped that he wouldn’t have to face VCU and his former assistant Shaka Smart. As fate would have it, Akron would draw the Rams in the Tournament’s second round, and VCU trounced Akron 88-42.

As a consolation, Ohio was offered a birth in the NIT. While Cooper said he would cherish any opportunity to continue his senior season, the Bobcats would bow out in the first round with a 61-57 loss to Denver. The final week of Ohio’s most decorated senior class is one that many Bobcat fans hope to forget quickly.