First Posted: 2/21/2015
LIMA — The Garage, home of champions.
That’s the latest tag for the cozy home of the University of Northwestern Ohio.
UNOH’s men’s basketball team claimed the Racers’ first hoops league title with a 71-59 victory over Loudres on Saturday at the Garage.
UNOH (24-6) ends the regular season as the Wolverine Hoosier Athletic Conference tri-champions at 19-3. Davenport and Cornerstone also both won Saturday to also finish at 19-3.
“It’s a real good feeling,” UNOH junior point guard Josh Scott said. “Coming in my freshman year we didn’t have much of a chance in this league and being in this position, we really wanted to go out and get this ‘W.’ It feels great to have the championship.”
UNOH, No. 17 in the nation, earned the No. 2 seed in the WHAC tournament and will play host to Madonna at 7 p.m. Thursday in the first round of the WHAC tourney. Davenport is the No. 1 seed.
“I’m relieved, happy and proud in describing the process of the last three years and it came to the pinnacle with today’s game,” UNOH eight-year coach Chris Adams said.
The 24 wins marks a UNOH school record, as the old mark was 22 set last year. It was the Racers’ sixth straight win and they are 20-2 since starting the year 4-4.
Scott (Defiance) led the Racers with 19 points, eight assists and five rebounds. He hit two 3-pointers and was 5 of 6 at the foul line, with the game on the line.
“Josh Scott had one of his better games as a player here at UNOH,” Adams said. “He gutted it out, showed his savvy and willed his team to win today. … I can’t say enough of those two (Scott and Cross) today.”
Cross (Ada) had 16 points and sank key three-point play in the final minutes. Ed Jenkins had 10 points, six assists and two 3-pointers. Lawrence Jackson had nine points.
“Now we made a name for ourselves,” Cross said. “It’s a good feeling.”
Jackson’s three first-half 3-pointers helped UNOH shoot 65 percent in the first half, including 8 of 15 on 3-pointers. That sparked the Racers to a 38-21 halftime lead.
“We had a lot of energy and we pride ourselves in defense,” Scott said. “When we get stops and get out in transition, we’re really hard to guard. We get shots to go in with that, we’re even harder to guard.”
In the second half, Lourdes continually got the ball inside on drives, along with three 3-pointers from E.J. Blackwell (20 points) to get back in the game.
With 7:46 left, UNOH’s lead was 53-43, when Scott hit a 3-pointer.
Lourdes chipped it to nine, when Cross hit an 8-foot hook and the foul shot after he was fouled to make it 59-47 with 3:22 left.
“I told coach I wanted the ball in that situation (during a timeout) so we could get something going,” Cross said.
Defensively, UNOH’s Ziar Anderson held three-time WHAC player of the year 6-foot-5 Zach Steinmetz (18-point average) to seven points and eight rebounds.
Lourdes got as close as seven, 66-59 with 42 seconds left, but Scott hit two foul shots to help seal it.
Lourdes won the boards, 30-26. UNOH shot 53 percent from the field and was 10 of 19 on 3-pointers. Lourdes shot 41 percent from the field.
“It feels great, we really want to make a name for ourselves (by making the NAIA National Tournament),” Scott said.
Women’s game
UNOH 71,
Lourdes 45
The UNOH women wrapped up the regular season on a high note. The Racers ran past Lourdes to post their fourth straight win and go 8-2 over their last 10 games.
The Racers (16-14, 14-8 WHAC) earned the No. 5 seed in the tournament and will travel to Cornerstone for the first round of the WHAC tournament at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.
On senior night, two of the seniors led the way, with Sammi Dervisevic (Shawnee) getting 15 points, six rebounds and five assists. She hit 3 of 9 on 3-pointers.
“It’s emotional, but we still have the tournament,” Dervisevic said.
Another senior, Maddie Coldren, had 14 points and seven rebounds. Another senior, Lauren Hopfner had eight points, five assists and four rebounds. Shakeia Salters come off the bench for 14 points Natalie Billing had eight points and eight rebounds.
“I’m very proud of our girls. It’s a great way to send our seniors off,” UNOH coach Kyle Menchhoffer said. “But we’re not done yet.”
The Racers won the boards, 30-24. UNOH shot 48 percent from the field and held Lourdes (8-22, 4-18 WHAC) to 30 percent shooting. The Racers’ defense forced Lourdes into 19 turnovers.
“Right now our defense has really kicked it up a notch,” Menchhofer said.
The Racers led 30-20 at the half, then ran off a 14-0 burst to start the second half. That pushed the UNOH lead to 44-20 and it was never in doubt after that.
In the second half, with a 25-point lead most of the way, the seniors Dervisevic, Bria McFadgen, Brooke Boening, Hopfner and Coldren were all smiles and laughs.
“I really enjoyed starting the game with them (the fellow seniors) and finishing the game with them,” Dervisevic said.
