by St. Joseph Academy And Girls Basketball Coach Karen Swanson-Haan Part Ways
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CANTON, Ohio– Richmond Heights (16-9) uses a strong frontline by an impressive display of outside shooting to help defeat Seneca East (19-6) by 50 points, advancing them one step farther to another state championship game appearance.
“So we got here kind of late so we knew we had to come in here and start with our defense,” Spartan’s junior guard Dorian Jones stated.”
Jones would finish with 21 points along with a game-high 22 points from Demarris Winters Jr to pace the offense. Four other players scored eight or more points during the win as well.
It’ll be hard to find a better way to start a game than how Richmond was able to start Tuesday night’s regional semifinal. It took seven minutes for the Tigers to knock down a shot as the full-court pressure from the Spartans along with their star-studded roster was too much to handle.
Demarris Winters’ and-one made it a 33-0 Spartan lead with just one minute left in the first quarter with the Tigers desperately trying to find something to fall through the hoop.
Once a 3-pointer from Aiden Hines was able to fall through, that’s when the Tigers started to finally score some points to close out the first half. With a 37-3 lead after the first quarter, the Spartans were cruising to another trip to the regional final as the speed and power are just too much to contain let alone try to slow down.
However, the Tigers continued to fight. They even outscored the Spartans 9-7 midway through the second quarter and once Dorian Jones subbed back into the game after that run, the Spartans ended the first half on a bang.
In fact, the final four minutes of the first half resulted in a 19-7 run as the Spartans headed into the break with an eye-popping 63-19 lead.
With a running clock throughout the second half, the Tigers continued to give the Spartans a fight. They even outscored the reigning back-to-back Division IV state champions 13-12 in the third quarter with the Spartans still ahead 75-32 heading into the fourth quarter.
“I actually got on them for the last three quarters because I thought they got comfortable, head coach Quentin Rogers said about his team following a strong first quarter. “First quarter I thought we came out and set the tone.”
Heading into Tuesday night’s matchup, the Tigers held its opponents to an average of 44.5 points per game but facing a 4-star and 5-star starting five that the Spartans have, those numbers can be ignored.
For Rogers and his team, the task at hand remains the same; to improve defensively and stay locked in.
“They know the routine, they all seem to compliment one another and I told them it’s all going to come together eventually, it’s just a matter of when,” Rogers explained through the adversity his team faced earlier in the season with a slew of losses against out-of-state nationally ranked teams.
They now play the winner of Warren JFK or Dalton for a trip to the state semifinals.
