Alter in the end overcame a 12-point halftime deficit to defeat CHCA 65-54 in the Division IV district finals on Sunday at the Cintas Center.
“We’re going to give up threes and they’re such a great three-point shooting team,” Alter head coach Eric Coulter said. “I knew that going in. They got hot early and needed us to overcome them shooting 50 percent in the first half.
“Even though zone is part of our culture, we might need to engage man-to-man and do some different things and that’s what we did.”
The Region 16 semifinals will see Alter take on Wyoming at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Cintas Center.
Alter trailed by as much as 16 in the first half as CHCA shot lights out from the three-point line. The Eagles were 10-for-19 in the first half, but were held to 25 percent shooting from the field in the second half.
A switch to multiple zone and man-to-man looks sparked Alter’s defensive prowess as they held the Eagles to three points in the third quarter.
Junior Peyton Bakos led the comeback charge with a 24-point effort. Alter took the lead before the third quarter ended. CHCA pulled back within one near the midway point of the fourth quarter before Bakos scored five straight points and freshman William Peagler Jr. made a no-look layup to extend the lead back out to six.
Bakos also had his own 9-0 run while Alter outscored CHCA by 19 during the third quarter. He hit the go-ahead three to give Alter its first lead and one it didn’t again relinquish.
“He sprained his ankle in the first quarter, so we had to get him re-taped and now he’s got that issue. But we got the best training in Southwestern Ohio. I thought [Peyton] had some big shots at key times,” Coulter said.
Jason Caimano connected on three straight three-pointers in the first quarter as CHCA started the game on an 11-2 run. Caimano scored 25 points and went 7-for-17 from beyond the arc.
CHCA (15-10) led 36-24 at halftime, but Caimano had the only points in the third for the Eagles.
“They were beating us to 50-50 balls and I thought they were playing actually harder than what we were,” Coulter said of his team’s first half effort. “I thought that their intensity, their energy was better, and part of that is when you hit shots.”
As a team, CHCA shot three times as many threes (36) as it did twos (12).
Bakos was joined in double figures by Peagler with 17, and senior Grant Guess and junior Thomas Nicholas with 11, respectively.
Nicholas sunk a dagger three with 1:30 left which put Alter up by nine, and he made six free throws in the final minute to close out the win.
This will be the third consecutive season Alter and Wyoming meet in the regional round. Alter won in 2024 and Wyoming got revenge last year, both contests being regional finals.
“They hit shots at key times last year to beat us,” Coulter said. “Not the best matchup for us. Wyoming is a very difficult team to match up with their inside presence and guys who have been there forever.
“I can’t say enough good things about them. They’re kind of in the position that we were last year. They have that target on their back.”
Wyoming controls paint in win over Urbana
Wyoming’s 44 points in the paint were more than enough to secure its district title win over Urbana.
The Cowboys started their lane dominance from the outset, scoring its first 12 points of the game right at the basket and continued on with great success.
“I thought we did a pretty good job guarding them in the first half and the half court,” Urbana head coach Jeremy Dixon said. “They only had three offensive rebounds the whole first half, but they scored on all three of them.
“We had a couple stick backs there in the last two minutes that we should have come up with the offensive or defensive rebound, and then a couple turnovers led to really quick points for them.”
The Hillclimbers had to live from the outside offensively but couldn’t get their three-point shots to fall. Urbana shot 4-for-19, with sophomore Drew Dixon having all of the makes as part of his team-high 14 points.
Credit: Steven Wright
Credit: Steven Wright
“They’re quick and they play really good team defense,” Jeremy Dixon said. “They play a couple different defenses and their zone, we didn’t do as well against their zone as I would have liked.”
Wyoming was led by 17 points by Darren Gray and another 15 from Kellen Wiley. The Cowboys shot over 50 percent from the field in each individual quarter.
The 21-win season was the fourth time in program history the Hillclimbers reached at least 20.
Urbana had one senior, Brody Donahue, on its roster who Jeremy Dixon referred to as losing their “glue guy” for next season while getting a chance to return its three leading scorers - juniors Grady Lantz and Kaden Underwood, and Drew Dixon.
“I will remember a great season,” Jeremy Dixon said of the 20 wins. ”It doesn’t come around that often at a community school like Urbana.”
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