by KENT, Ohio– Two late free throws from point guard Davey Thompson put the game away for McKinley down the stretch, helping them come away with a 64-60 win over Toledo Whitmer.
The win advances them to the Division I, Region I regional championship game Saturday night against the winner of St. Ignatius and St. Ed’s on Saturday night.
The first half was controlled by the Bulldogs, offensively and with the pressure defensively. They controlled the glass, leading to a slew of second chance points that Whitmer couldn’t keep up with Tuesday night.
Both teams went back-and-forth throughout the first quarter before junior guard Davey Thompson found confidence in his outside shooting. He knocked down two 3-pointers in the closing minutes of the first quarter to push the Bulldogs ahead 17-10.
From there both teams struggled to knock down shots, as they combined to shoot 7-for-30 in the second quarter, including missing all seven 3-point attempts. Points came at a premium and when they started to fall for the Bulldogs, the Panthers had little to no answer.
The Panthers committed 11 first-half turnovers, with Thompson scoring 10 points to pace the Bulldogs at halftime. Purdue commit Antione West was a non-factor in the first half as it appeared he was battling some kind of injury. That led to Andre Young III stepping up in a big way with eight points and seven rebounds with his team trailing 26-19.
Bowling Green commit Makhi Leach started making plays for the Panthers early in the second half. He went on a personal 5-0 run to get his team within four, 34-30, midway through the third quarter, forcing the Bulldogs to call a timeout.
The momentum started to shift as Antione West, Leach and Young became more aggressive offensively. In fact, in the first five and a half minutes of the quarter, the Panthers outscored the Bulldogs 16-8 to take their first lead of the game, 35-34, at the time.
The Bulldogs went on a couple of mini scoring runs to eventually take a seven-point lead with 4:55 left in the fourth quarter. That’s when Leach and West started to take over the game. They helped the Panthers go on an 8-0 run in the next minute and a half to regain a one-point lead with under four minutes left in the game.
The final two minutes of the game saw the Panthers with plenty of opportunities to tie or even take a late lead. Leach was unable to finish near the rim and Charles Johnson lost control of the ball near the rim for some key missed opportunities in crunch time. Reed Sims connected on one-of-two free throws with 26 seconds left to give the Bulldogs a 62-60 lead.
Unable to convert on the other end, the Panthers were left with little hope as Davey Thompson went to the free throw line up by two points with 8.7 seconds left. From there, he made both free throws, ultimately putting the game out of reach for the Panthers, now one of eight teams left in Division I.
For the game, Anthony Chavers finished with a team-high 16 points along with 15 from Ed Webster and 12 from Thompson.
For the Panthers, Leach paced the team with 19 points followed with 17 from Young III and 15 from West during the loss.
