Staff report
PIQUA — Fairlawn senior Nathan Lessing put on another show Tuesday night to vault the Fairlawn Jets into the upper-bracket sectional finals in Division 4 action at Piqua High School.
Lessing hit 11 of 13 shots from the field, including 3-for-3 from three-point range, and was also 6-for-7 from the free throw line in scoring 31 points to lead the Jets to a 62-34 victory over the Botkins Trojans in semifinal action.
Lessing now has 2,214 points in his career, and that ranks him 24th all-time in Ohio. He is the only player in Shelby County history to reach to reach 2,000 points.
The Jets improved their county-best overall recoerd to 21-3, and will be back in action Friday night at Piqua against County rival Jackson Center in the sectional championship game at 7 p.m.
Botkins, which had a first-round bye in the sectional, saw its season end with an 8-15 record.
Lessing opened the scoring with a three-point play, and after a bucket by Drew Brautigam, he dropped in two more free throws to stakde the Jets to a 7-0 lead.
The Jets extended the lead to 17-4, Botkins scored four straight to make it 17-9, then essing ended the first-period scoring with a three-pointer to give the Jets a 20-9 lead after a quarter.
Botkins cut the lead to 21-13 in a bucket by Luke Bergman with 6:36 remaining in the second quarter, but over the remainder of the first half, and the first three minutes of the third quarter, Fairlawn outscored the Trojans 24-2 to race to a 45-15 bulge.
Luke Hickman added 11 for the Jets, who were red-hot from the field, canning 22 of 36 shots for 61 percent. The Jets also had 15 assists, with Nick Brautigam and Keshon Johnson handing out four each and Josh Reck three.
Botkins shot 50 percent, but took just 30 shots the entire game. Luke Bergman led the Trojans with 14 points.
Fairlawn (62) — Lessing 31, N. Brautigam 3, Hickman 11, D. Brautigam 9, Maddy 3, Johnson 5.
Botkins (34) — Heuker 7, L. Bergman 14, A. Bergman 9, Butcher 2, Madden 2.
Score by quarters:
Fairlawn`20`36`50`62
Botkins`9`15`19`34
Three-pointers: Fairlawn 8 (Lessing 3, Hickman 3, Maddy, Johnson); Botkins 1 (Heuker).
Records: Fairlawn 21-3, Botkins 8-14.
Next game: Friday, sectional finals at Piqua vs. Jackson Center, 7 p.m.
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Jackson Center 49, Covington 41
PIQUA — Jackson Center senior Brady Wildermuth led the Tigers to a good margin at the half, and they went on to beat Covington in the second D-4 sectional semifinal Tuesday night at Piqua, 49-41.
The Tigers are now 17-6 after their sixth consecutive victory, and they will play the Fairlawn Jets for the third time this season on Friday night at 7 for the right to play for a district title.
Wildermuth scored 15 points in the first half, hitting 5-for-9 from the field and 4-for-6 from the line to nearly match Covington by himself. That led the Tigers to a 25-16 lead after two quarters, then Wildermuth hit a bucket and a free throw to start the third quarter to stake Jackson to its biggest lead to that point at 28-16. Calvin Winner then converted off an assist from Wildermuth to make it 30-16.
The Tigers opened up a lead of as much as 16 in the second half, but Covington rallied back in the final quarter to make it close.
Wildermuth was unstoppable for the Tigers, pouring in 26 points. He also grabbed 11 rebounds for a double-double and five of those rebounds came at the offensive end.
He finished 8-for-13 from the field and 9-for-14 from the line.
Bryce Sosby had seven points and seven rebounds, and also handed out four assists for the Tigers.
Jackson was 15-for-31 from the field for 48 percent and Covington 16-for-47 for 34 percent for the game. Jackson also outrebounded the Buccs 34-20.
Covington (41) — Murphy 3, Pond 10, Miller 8, Blei 9, Atkinson 7, Parrett 4.
Jackson Center (49) — Platfoot 5, Sosby 7, Wildermuth 26, Winner 4, Elchert 3, Bunke 4.
Score by quarters:
Covington`8`16`26`41
Jackson`13`25`36`49
Three-pointers: Covington 7 (Miller 2, Murphy, Pond, Blei, Atkinson, Parrett); JC 3 (Platfoot, Wildermuth, Elchert).
Records: JC 17-6, Covington 12-12.
Next game: Friday, sectional finals at Piqua vs. Fairlawn, 7 p.m.
