Special sports year continues for Springfield Wildcats

Skill, discipline, a star or two and fans from across the area flocking to a basketball palace to bask in the glory of the game.

No TV timeouts. No kiss cam. No t-shirt guns or food giveaways.

Just basketball.

How could it go wrong?

Drama is guaranteed when you’ve got that many games on the docket, right?

Well, the first three were pretty much duds.

Top-ranked Cincinnati Moeller beat Walnut Hills by a baker’s dozen.

Mason outlasted Centerville in a game with some tense moments but not a lot of action.

Cincinnati La Salle blew out Northmont 62-33.

That left us with the nightcap — Springfield against Oak Hills, another Cincinnati school.

And the Wildcats came through.

They had a halftime lead, but the Highlanders controlled most of the second.

The invaders from the south led by as many as five, and it looked like they would end the postseason run of Springfield and the brilliant career of Danny Davis.

Then all hell broke loose in the last minute of regulation, beginning with a Davis three-pointer that made it a one-point game.

In a blink the Wildcats then had the lead after a defensive stop and a fast-break layup, but the drama was only just beginning.

There would be a loose-ball foul, a questionable lane violation and a game-tying free throw by Oak Hills and a potential go-ahead try from the charity stripe that was off the mark.

The Highlanders again had an advantage early in overtime, but Michael McKay put Springfield on top with a three-pointer from the top of the key, and the Wildcats made this lead stand up with a clutch steal by Leonard Taylor and some clinching free throws by Michael Wallace.

Not only was it a great basketball game, but these Wildcats are a great story.

At the Nutter Center on Wednesday night, they get another shot at extending what has been a banner year for the marquee athletics programs in Springfield.

RELATED: Cardiac Cats come through again

Davis and Taylor were both part of a football team that made the playoffs last fall after five straight losing seasons.

Now they are heading to the regionals in basketball for the second time in three years hoping to inspire more youngsters to follow in their footsteps and continue building on traditions new and old.

“I feel like the greatest Wildcat on Earth right now,” Taylor, a junior, said afterward. “I feel like the start of football season was good and then it just came over to basketball season.

“And now it’s just gonna keep going over to baseball and for the girls, too.”

Davis, a senior who is headed to Wisconsin to play football next year, was thankful for the community support.

A raucous Springfield cheering section welcomed the Wildcats onto the floor with a rousing pregame cheer and kept up the noise most of the night.

“It was big,” Davis said. “The support they gave us today, traveling to Dayton about 45 minutes away, but it’s not just people in Springfield. Everybody surrounding us has come together, and that’s why we pulled through tonight. They did a fantastic job of screaming and rooting for us and I just thank God for it.”

And if the youngsters were caught up in the emotion, well their leader was on the same page.

Isiah Carson, the seventh-year coach of the Wildcats and a two-time All-Ohio performer at Springfield South a decade ago, simply called the night awesome. Twice.

“It’s awesome. Awesome,” said Carson, net still draped around his neck.

“We just want to make our community proud. We want our community to be known in a positive manner. Springfield builds champions, too. We’ve got people out there doing great things, too.

“Our city has had such a bad rap the past 10 years, so we’re just trying to turn things around and make this place a positive place like it was when I was a kid. And here we are, doing just that.”

The next chance comes Wednesday.