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BARBERTON, Ohio– There is no quit in the Gilmour Lancers this season.
With the help of senior forward Ben DeMell, the Lancers are heading to the Division II regional championship game after defeating Youngstown Chaney 59-52 Thursday night.
DeMell ended the night with a game-high 26 points and seven rebounds to pace the Lancer offense. Ryan Mueller had 11 points along with seven points apiece by Adisa Molton and Brandon Rose.
“With him being such a big-time athlete and competitor, he just had a calling presence to him,” Gilmour coach Dan DeCrane said about DeMell’s performance. “He just did a tremendous job, it’s a joy to coach him.”
“We really needed someone to come through tonight and I was very fortunate enough my teammates were looking for me and I was able to come through for them,” DeMell said.
The emphasis early on in the Lancer huddle was to win the second quarter, DeCrane explained. With his team trailing 12-5 after the first quarter, he knew that a spark was needed in order to things going on the offensive side of the ball.
“Our emphasis was to win the second quarter,” he said. “I thought we played a great second quarter and we just kept finding ways to hang in there and I thought (Chaney) got a little rattled.”
The Lancers faced a 24-22 deficit at the break.
With Chaney unable to capitalize on turnovers and opportunities to start the second half, the Lancers were able to tie the game at 37 apiece heading into the final quarter.
That’s when they turned things on.
After trailing for most of the game, the Lancers were able to take their first lead of the game early in the fourth quarter following a Vinny Bandwen layup.
Gilmour takes its first lead of the game, 39-37, early in the 4th Q. pic.twitter.com/crMkfVbgx6
— Michael Trivisonno (@MichaelTriv_) March 12, 2021
From there, they were able to control the remainder of the fourth quarter by forcing the Cowboys into difficult shots and a slew of turnovers. That was the difference in the game within the closing minutes as the Lancers controlled the pace of play, eventually gaining an advantage that was too much to overcome for the Cowboys.
“We had to push the patience, had to play fast but not to mistakes and I thought we started to do that in the second half,” DeCrane said. “We got layups, ran the floor well and found ways to finish at the rim.”
For Chaney, Sharrod Taylor led the way with a team-high 18 points. Quincy Jones and Cameron Lawrence rounded out the scoring with 11 and 8 points, respectively.
With the win, the Lancers will face off against St. Vincent-St. Mary March 13 at 1 p.m. for a trip down to Dayton. It’s the first time the Lancers have reached a regional final since 1992 and DeCrane credits his team’s success with the schedule throughout the year.
“It’s been fun,” he said. “We played a murder’s row schedule and it changed on the fly with Covid. This team was battle-tested.”
