PIQUA — Botkins and Russia each advanced in Division IV sectional finals on Thursday at Piqua’s Garbry Gymnasium and will face off in a district semifinal on Saturday.
Botkins cruised to a 71-33 win over Riverside in the first game on Thursday in Piqua.
The Trojans built a 16-5 lead by the end of the first quarter, then used an 18-11 edge in the second to take a 34-18 halftime lead. They pulled away with a 28-11 edge in the third and 9-4 edge in the fourth.
Jameson Meyer led No. 1 seed Botkins (22-2) with 20 points while Jacob Pleiman scored 19, Carter Pleiman scored 14 and Jaydon Wendel scored nine.
Myles Platfoot and Gavin Osborne each scored 10 points for the Pirates while Kaleb Schindelwolf scored nine. Riverside finishes 4-19 overall.
The Trojans beat Russia 55-48 and 62-46 in Shelby County Athletic League games in regular season.
Russia 72, Newton 55
The No. 3 seed Raiders pulled away late to win a Div. IV sectional final on Thursday in Piqua.
The game was tied at 25 at halftime, but Russia took control of the boards in the second half.
The Raiders opened a 50-36 lead after three quarters, and Newton could not recover.
Russia finished with a 30-14 edge in rebounding and scored 25 second-chance points to Newton’s four.
Newton had jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the opening quarter on baskets by Quentin Smith and Chandler Peters.
Russia then answered with nine straight points on three 3-pointers by Xavier Phlipot. After another Peters basket, Hayden Quinter hit a 3-pointer for Russia.
Hudson Montgomery hit a shot for Newton and Harold Oburn added two free throws, before Russia’s Ben Bohman would score inside to make it 14-10 headed to the second quarter.
Montgomery and Peters scored in the second quarter to tie it at 14, before Russia would open it back up to a five-point lead with a Bohman basket and another 3-pointer by Phlipot.
With Newton trailing 21-16, both Peters and Smith scored to make it 21-20. Braylon Cordonnier scored for Russia to make it 23-20, before Newton ran off five straight points.
Montgomery scored for the Indians and Peters followed with a three-point play to make it 25-23 Newton with 1:04 remaining in the half.
But, the Raiders’ Ross Fiessinger scored just before the buzzer to tie the game 25-25 and Russia took over in the second half.
Phlipot led Russia with six 3-pointers and 20 points. He was 6 for 10 from behind the arc. Quinter added 15 points, Bohman scored nine and Brayden Monnin scored eight points.
Peters led Newton with 24 points and Montgomery scored 15 points.
