Emmanuel Christian senior Fred Shropshire scored 14 points and junior Jason Channels added 12 for the Lions, who saw their 21-game winning streak snapped.
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“They were definitely the better team tonight,” said Lions coach Danny Moore. “It’s disappointing. It’s tough. The guys wanted to move on. We felt like if a few things went different tonight, maybe we’d get the chance. I’m proud of them and the season they had.”
Cincinnati Christian led 17-7 after one quarter, but the Lions went on a 7-0 run to cut the lead to three points. The Cougars led 21-18 at the half.
Cincinnati Christian used a 7-0 run to take a 36-27 lead with 1:32 remaining in the third quarter, forcing a Lions timeout. Vance scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half, including two key 3-pointers.
Emmanuel Christian pulled to within six points at 40-34 early in the fourth quarter, but wouldn’t get any closer. The Cougars made 17-of-18 free throws, including 13-of-14 in the fourth quarter to seal the win.
“We tried to extend the game by fouling them, but they went (17-for-18),” Moore said. “What do you do at that point? We didn’t shoot how we wanted to tonight. Execution-wise, we would’ve liked to have been better, but we did a lot of things well, too.”
Cincinnati Christian’s Logan Woods had 12 points and KJ Swain added 10 for the Cougars (20-6), who advanced to play Jackson Center in a D-IV regional semifinal game at 8 p.m. Tuesday at the University of Dayton Arena. It’s the second time in four years the Cougars have advanced to the regional semifinals.
“Three years ago seemed like a long time,” said Cougars coach Carl Woods. “It was a journey to get back to this stage of the tournament. It’s tough. We weathered the storm. (Emmanuel Christian) is unbelievable. They fight. They never wavered.”
The Lions graduate six seniors — Shropshire, Casey Swank, Noah Willis, Jaden Nourse, Kyle Miller and Seth Potts — who won 56 games, made two district final appearances and won the program’s first Metro Buckeye Conference championship in school history.
“The culture that our six seniors have created will carry us into the next wave,” Moore said. “We’ve got good returners. We’ll take a month off and then we’ll be right back at it, trying to get back and I’m sure our seniors will help us along the way.”
Jackson Center 33, Cedarville 30: Indians senior Colby Cross had a game-high 17 points for Cedarville, which finished its season 20-6.
“I’m proud of our kids,” said Indians coach Ryan Godlove. “I thought they played our hearts out. They’re a tough team to comeback against and I thought even though we got ourselves into a couple holes, that our kids kept fighting. They kept their heads up, kept playing and gave ourselves a chance to tie it at the end.”
The Indians trailed 31-22 early in the fourth quarter when Cross came alive. He scored eight straight points to pull Cedarville within one point at 31-30 with 3:39 remaining.
“He did a fantastic job,” Godlove said. “We tried to iso him the way he was playing and he did a fantastic job making decisions, knocking down big shots. It’s what he’s done all year for us. I’m really proud of him.”
A bucket by Camdyn Reese with about 40 seconds remaining gave the Tigers a 3-point lead.
The Indians had the on a side out-of-bounds play in front of their bench with about seven seconds left, but threw the ball away underneath the basket as they tried to get a quick layup.
After a missed free throw by the Tigers, Cedarville got the ball back, but Jackson Center began fouling to prevent them from getting a good look at the basket. Cross’ last-second heave fell short.
“The fouls really hurt our chances at the end, we weren’t able to get a good look at all,” Godlove said.
The Indians advanced to the districts for the first time since 2006 and won 20 games for just the second time in the program’s history.
“I was super proud of our guys to get 20 wins, make it here to the district finals and play the way we played, I’m just proud of our guys and their effort tonight,” Godlove said.
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