by COLUMBUS, Ohio- Last year, Harvest Prep ended its season in the state semifinal. Despite the loss, the Warriors brought back eight players to help carry them to a state championship one year later against Lutheran East on March 23.
Head coach Davis Dennis told his team prior to tipoff against the Falcons that he wanted his team to be confident and not cocky with a team bringing back more than half of the players from a year ago.
The past experience proved to help Harvest Prep secure its first boy’s basketball state championship in school history, knocking off Lutheran East by a final score of 55-42.
“Our guys executed the game plan, made plays, had heart and were motivated,” coach Davis explained after the win. “I thought we did what we’ve been doing on defense….credit to our players, they did a good job today.”
Lutheran East head coach Sam Liggins explained after the game that his team didn’t embrace the moment early on and were a bit overwhelmed.
That certainly showed on the court as Lutheran East knocked down just three of their first 16 shots from the floor. With the Falcons being unable to score the ball to start the game, they faced the challenge of playing from behind the whole game.
Harvest Prep controlled the pace of the game all throughout the first half and took advantage of that with their lead continuing to grow as the game went on.
The Warriors shot a staggering 75 percent from the floor in the second quarter and Harvest Prep went into halftime with a comfortable 33-23 lead behind junior guard Christopher Anthony’s game-high 14 points.
Lutheran East never took the lead against Harvest Prep and made just one more field goal than the Warriors while taking 26 more shots.
With a Falcons team graduating just one senior this season, coach Liggins believed the lack of experience from his young team was a result of the poor shooting performance Saturday evening. For the game, they made just 2-of-26 3-pointers while shooting 31 percent from the floor during the loss.
“You can’t teach experience,” he said. “When we won (the state championship in 2017), we had nine seniors. We came one game short and these guys should be proud of themselves.”
Lutheran East got within nine points in the fourth quarter but never got within striking distance due to the effective and efficient shooting from Harvest Prep. A layup with 1:23 left to play from senior forward Elijah Glenn put the Warriors up 53-42, starting the celebration.
For Harvest Prep, Christopher Anthony paced the offense with a game-high 21 points. Elijah Glenn and Soul Hines rounded out the scoring for the Warriors with 14 and 13 points, respectively.
For Lutheran East, junior forward Nehemiah Benson led the offense with 13 points and nine rebounds. E.J. Farmer contributed with 8 points while Jay Billingsley and Jalen Knott rounded out the scoring with 6 points apiece.
For coach Liggins, he explained that it was all about embracing the moment following the long journey it took to get down to Columbus and play during the final day of the high school basketball season.
“Some people never get to experience a moment like this,” he explained. “These guys should be proud of themselves and we have a chance to do it again next year too.”
