A Ram split: Badin handles Monroe, while Trotwood blasts Ross

After a rough stretch to end the regular season, the Badin High School boys basketball team got a much-needed morale boost to open the sectional tournament.

The Rams took the first six points against Monroe, never trailed and looked comfortable throughout while turning a four-point halftime lead into a 55-36 blowout Saturday in a Division II opener at Fairmont’s Trent Arena.

Badin (9-14), which had lost seven straight, faces No. 7-seeded Valley View in the semifinals Tuesday at 6 p.m.

“This is what they needed,” Badin coach Gerry Weisgerber said. “We had a rough stretch at the end of the year, so seeing the points go on the board, seeing our side of the board with more points, lifted a lot off their shoulders, and I think we’ll be a lot more relaxed come Tuesday night.”

Badin led by as many as seven in the first half, up 18-11 with 3:57 left, but Monroe drew within one on a 6-0 run by Tristan Backas and went into the locker room down 23-19.

It didn’t take long, though, before the Rams found a groove offensively to match the defense that came out strong to open the game. Badin opened the third quarter on a 13-2 run to make it a 15-point game, and Monroe (9-14) never drew within 12 after that.

“I’m disappointed in the fact the things we valued this year, the things that gave us chances to win, we didn’t do any of those today,” Hornets coach Kenny Molz said. “I think we were fortunate to be down by only four in the first half. Being undersized with a team like that, which is pretty tall and lanky, we have to block out and limit their second shot opportunities, and we failed to do that consistently.

“It looked like offensively we didn’t trust execution at times. After one or two passes, we would just go on our own, and it almost looked like we were in our first or second game of the season. I don’t know what it was, trust or what.”

Backas still managed to score a game-high 24 points to go along with a team-high six rebounds, but just three others got on the board for the Hornets, the next highest scorer being Lawrence Puleo, who had seven points.

The Rams, who had seven second-chance points and 16 points off turnovers, saw balanced scoring from nine different players, led by John Marot’s 12 points and Daunte DeCello’s 10. Jakob Tipton and Justin Pappas both grabbed seven rebounds to lead Badin’s 34-23 advantage on the boards.

“I thought we competed well for four quarters,” Weisgerber said. “They made that run to make it a four-point game at the end of the second quarter, but then we got some steals, some easy layups, and that’s something we haven’t done much of lately. Once we started going, the emotion was there and we just took it to them. Everybody played well. Guys did what they were supposed to do, and that’s what we need at this point in the season.”

Trotwood-Madison 124, Ross 59: Ross hung with top-seeded Trotwood for about four minutes in their Division II sectional opener at Fairmont, but a one-point deficit quickly turned into a 20-point gap that would only continue to grow.

Trotwood (22-2) went on an 18-0 run and led 33-12 by the end of the first quarter as Ross (6-17) was unable to break its press. The winners finished with 25 steals, most of them turning into easy layups or pull-up 3s.

“That’s a good team,” Ross coach Brian Gunter said. “They knocked down shots and made the most live-ball turnovers I’ve seen. We made some costly live-ball turnovers in the middle of the floor and they got some easy lay-ins, but it happens against good ball teams. I told our guys we’re not worried about the scoreboard, just go out and compete, and we did. We have this time off, but we’ll get back in the gym and start working again.”

Torrey Patton finished with a game-high 30 points in three quarters before heading to the bench, along with the other Trotwood starters, and five others reached double digits for scoring. Ryan Zapf had 12 points to lead Ross, while Grant Ridge added 10.

Monroe 6-13-6-11—36

Badin 12-11-15-17—55

MONROE (9-14): Lawrence Puleo 1 4 7, Shawn Poindexter 1 0 3, Thryceton Deckard 1 0 2, Tristan Backas 8 6 24. Totals: 11-10-36

BADIN (9-14): Jakob Tipton 4 0 8, Caleb Meyer 1 0 3, Evan Grawe 1 0 3, Seth Thompson 2 0 4, Daunte DeCello 4 2 10, Alex Jones 0 2 2, Kyle Young 2 0 6, Justin Pappas 2 2 7, John Marot 4 4 12. Totals: 20-10-55

3-pointers: M 4 (Backas 2, Puleo, Poindexter), B 5 (Young 2, Meyer, Grawe, Pappas)

Trotwood 33-25-41-25—124

Ross 13-15-10-21—59

TROTWOOD-MADISON (22-2): Amari Davis 6 1 13, Hexikiah Shaw 3 0 7, Myles Belyeu 6 0 12, Amir Foster 7 3 19, Carl Blanton 3 4 10, Malacki Mathews 2 0 6, Sammy Anderson 4 4 13, Justin Stephens 3 0 6, Keshawn Hughley 0 1 1, Drae Harris 1 0 2, Torrey Patton 12 3 30, Terrence Gates 2 1 5. Totals: 49-17-124

ROSS (6-17): Ryan Zapf 4 1 12, Cooper Shields 1 2 4, Landon Angel 2 2 6, Drew Slay 2 2 6, Zach Smith 3 0 8, Grant Ridge 4 2 10, Joey Wright 2 0 5, Cody Geers 0 1 1, Joe Valentine 3 0 7. Totals: 21-10-59

3-pointers: T 9 (Patton 3, Mathews 2, Foster 2, Shaw, Anderson), R 7 (Zapf 3, Smith 2, Wright, Valentine)

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