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Preppers make statement in regional tournament
(by Steve Novak - March 26, 2009)
Preppers make statement in regional tournament
By STEVE NOVAK
The longest season in University School basketball history came to an end last Saturday when the Preppers fell in the Division II regional championship contest at the Memorial Civic Center in Canton.
The Preppers refused to quit, almost overcoming a 15-point deficit. But in the end, Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary prevailed with a 64-54 triumph.
US finished the season with a 19-6 record and made school history by defeating Akron East, 74-66 in overtime, earlier in the week to become the first US team to advance as far as the Elite Eight. The Preppers won the district championship in 2002, but lost in the regional semifinals to Akron East.
In several ways, the SVSM regional finale was similar to the Preppers' game earlier last week when they defeated Akron East. The Preppers outscored Akron East, 12-4, in overtime and coming back during regulation. It took a comeback of larger proportions for US against SVSM.
US trailed by 10 points at the half, but the deficit could have been larger had it not been for the 12 points scored in the second period by Prepper sophomore Jack Bentz. Coming off the bench, Bentz hit four three-point shots in the period.
As the third quarter progressed, SVSM extended its advantage to a 15-point lead at 42-27. But the third quarter ultimately belonged to US senior Nolan Thompson.
In the eight-minute span of the third period, Thompson scored 17 points, including a three-point shot to beat the buzzer.
"Nolan just decided he wasn't going to let us get blown out," coach Chris Osolin said. "He just took over the third quarter."
Osolin said that while Thompson was racking up the points, the Preppers also changed to a defensive 2-3 zone. He said this was at least temporarily effective in slowing down the SVSM scoring machine.
"We kept them outside the perimeter a little bit more," Osolin said. "They were left standing around a little bit, and it threw them off."
US kept cutting into the SVSM lead in the early part of the fourth quarter. The Preppers' Cameron Chittock said that he and his teammates were able to cut the lead to two points with about three minutes left in the game. He said part of it involved staying focused on the defensive end of the floor.
"We got tougher on defense," Chittock said. "We were able to get some rebounds and to seal their big men off."
But both Chittock and Osolin agreed that the final three minutes of the game proved to be the difference maker.
"The first four or five minutes (of the fourth quarter), they never stopped fighting. We had them on their heels," Osolin said. "But, we gave up a few offensive rebounds. They were making sure that Nolan didn't get any more good shots. They've got a 6-7 player in the middle, and they turned their defensive intensity up in the last minutes."
With an added surge of intensity also with its offense, SVSM was able to stretch its lead back to 10 points by the time the final buzzer sounded.
"We gave up a couple of offensive rebounds," Osolin said, explaining how SVSM increased the two-point lead in the final minutes.
In addition to the 17 points by Thompson, and the 12 scored by Bentz, US senior center Dan Murphy scored 11 points and had seven rebounds.
The Preppers' 19 victories included wins over several highly regarded Division I teams, including Mentor and Shaker Heights. Osolin said he had been thinking for several weeks about what he'd finally tell the players when the playoff victories came to an end.
"It's always the hardest part. I told them I was really proud of their effort and their ability to keep their focus in these games," he said. "We just fell short. We had them (SVSM) scared. I'm very proud of what they did, and of playing toe to toe with such a good program as St. Vincent-St Mary.
"And I told them, 'You guys made history,'" he said. "We're losing five seniors. But I told the underclassmen that the weight room will be open on Monday."
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