Pyramid Hill lights up
Women of Excellence Awards
16th Annual Music Festival
Late foul costs Badin
Dayton Christian's Harris sinks free throw in final second for win.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
HAMILTON — Dayton Christian High School sophomore Julian Harris probably wouldn't have been coach Chip James' first choice to shoot a free throw with the game on the line.
But given the situation his Warriors were in just a few seconds earlier, James was in no position to be picky.
With the game tied and Badin in possession of the ball, Dayton Christian was just hoping for overtime. But then Harris got a rebound and drew a foul with only four-tenths of a second remaining.
Harris made the first free throw and missed the second on purpose to lift the visiting Warriors to a 57-56 nonleague win Tuesday night, Feb. 17.
"The whole theme of the night for us was 'toughness,' because we knew how hard Badin plays," James said. "So that just epitomized the night for us, having a sophomore step to the line and hit a tough shot with the whole crowd yelling at him."
The free throw enabled Dayton Christian, which is seeded third in the Division III sectional tournament, to end the regular season 16-4.
Ninth-seeded Badin, on the other hand, dropped its third in a row to fall to 8-10.
"Just trying to make a play at a bad time," Rams coach Nick Argentati said of the reach-in foul in the waning moments. "We've got to be smarter than that. We've got to know that if we miss the shot, the game's going into overtime."
Badin, which played without injured starting point guard Corey Van Natta, trailed by as many as 13 in the third quarter after Dayton Christian hit five 3-pointers in a span of 2:02.
The Rams answered with a 20-6 run capped by a Scott Staarmann 3-pointer that gave Badin a 56-52 lead with 1:11 left. But the Rams didn't score again.
Staarmann, Colton Mehlman and Scott Purcell, who fouled out with 5:43 left in the game, all scored 12 points for Badin, with Mehlman adding 10 rebounds.
Nathan Serenius led the Warriors with 17 points, while Aaron Deister added 13. The game-winning free throw was just one of four points for Harris.
The Rams return to Greater Catholic League action tonight at Dayton Carroll.
