Russia’s Braylon Cordonnier, right, celebrates with Ross Fiessinger after the Raiders’ 27-25 win over Jackson Center in a Division IV regional final on Friday at Trent Arena in Kettering. The win earned the Raiders their first state berth since 2002.
Luke Gronneberg | Sidney Daily News
KETTERING — How do you earn a state berth when you score one point in the fourth quarter, seven in the second half and miss 6-of-7 free throws in the final few minutes?
Russia interim coach Spencer Cordonnier’s explanation: the team had “somebody looking over us.”
Jackson Center rallied after trailing by 10 points at halftime but couldn’t make enough baskets, and Russia held on to win a Division IV regional semifinal 27-25 at Trent Arena.
The win earns the Raiders (25-3) a spot in a state semifinal. They’ll face defending D-IV champion Richmond Heights at 8:30 p.m. next Friday at University of Dayton Arena.
Russia head coach Dave Borchers died as a result of a car accident last October, only about two weeks before the squad began practice.
The Raiders have strived to “be like Dave,” this season. They will now get a chance to next Friday at UD.
“We had somebody looking over us,” Cordonnier said. “I don’t know if we could have shot any better in the first half, and we fought like crazy in the first half, but in the second half, we just could not get anything to go. Then our leading scorer goes 0 for 7 from the free-throw line. It’s unbelievable that we came out on top.
“Hats off to Jackson Center. We knew what it was going to be, and that’s what we got.”
What everyone got to witness on Friday was a defensive battle unlike the squads’ Shelby County Athletic League regular-season matchups.
Russia rallied to hand the Tigers a 42-41 loss in both teams’ season opener on Nov. 25. Jackson Center had won 26 straight before Friday’s regional final, including a 65-53 win over the Raiders on its home court on Jan. 6.
The Raiders defense was a bit improved on Friday; they held the Tigers to 10 points in the first half.
Hayden Quinter, who led Russia with eight points, said stopping Jackson Center senior guard Jace Mullenhour was the key.
“Jace is a big part of their offense,” Quinter said. “We knew we had to stop him if we wanted to win. …We put length on him. That’s what we did with (Troy Christian’s) Parker Penrod, (Botkins’) Carter Pleiman and (Catholic Central’s Tyler) Galluch. We put (length) on him, and it worked pretty well.”
The Raiders scored 15 straight points in the first half after Jackson Center had scored the first four. The squad led 20-10 at halftime and 26-18 at the end of the third.
Mullenhour hit a 3-pointer in the first 10 seconds of the fourth to cut the gap to five. After three scoreless minutes, Bryson Roberts made a basket to cut the gap to 26-23.
Then began Russia’s struggles at the free-throw line, which allowed Jackson Center to stay in it as it missed field goals and struggled to get offensive rebounds.
Lucas Hartle made two free throws with 1:21 left to pull the Tigers within 26-25. Quinter missed a one-and-one with 51 seconds left, but the Tigers missed another shot on their next possession, and a jump ball on the rebound resulted in the Raiders getting possession.
Quinter missed a put-back attempt but drew a foul with 21.5 seconds. He missed two free throws, but junior Felix Francis battled Jackson Center players for the rebound and drew a foul.
Francis missed his first one-and-one attempt, but a Jackson Center line violation gave Francis a second chance. He made the first attempt to push the lead to 27-25, then missed the second.
After a timeout, Jackson Center worked the ball to Nolan Fark in the left corner, and his 3-point attempt hit off the rim. Quinter secured the rebound, and the buzzer sounded to earn the Raiders a state berth.
Quinter celebrated with teammates as Russia’s crowed erupted. After accepting the regional championship trophy, the Raiders cut down the nets, with a picture of Borchers placed on the back of the rim as they did so.
Borchers’ son Zeb, who played junior varsity this season, came down from the crowd and cut down the net after players had finished cutting individual pieces.
“We’ll never forget him,” Russia senior guard Zane Shappie said of Dave Borchers. “He’s what has carried us through. He gives us motivation every night.”
Rebounds were key for the Raiders. Jackson Center managed three offensive rebounds in the second half; the Raiders had a 32-26 overall rebounding edge, including a 17-12 edge in the second half.
Russia shot 10 for 32 (31.3 percent) from the floor and 6 for 14 (42.9 percent) from the free-throw line. The Tigers shot 8 for 37 (21.6 percent) from the floor and 8 for 10 from the free-throw line.
“We had to keep being relentless, keep being dogs,” Shappie said. “That’s what we’ve been all year. I don’t know how many shots just rolled out. I thought there was a lid on there sometimes. Free throws, layups, everything.
“We knew down low was where you win this game. That’s how they play, and that’s how we want to play. You’ve just got to fight, and you’ve just got to give it everything down there.”
Quinter had 11 rebounds. Shappie finished with seven points and had four rebounds. Brayden Monnin and Braylon Cordonnier each had four rebounds.
Mullenhour finished with eight points. Hartle and Camdyn Reese each had five rebounds for Jackson Center.
It was the final game for Jackson Center coach Scott Elchert, who announced his retirement earlier this season. It was the 28th season for Elchert, who guided the squad to five regional final appearances in the last 10 years and state berths in 2012 and 2016.
The victory earned Russia its first state berth since 2002.
Contact Bryant Billing at (937) 538-4818, or follow @SidneyOHSports on Twitter and @BryantBillingSDN on Facebook.
