“It just wasn’t in God’s will tonight for us to advance,” said CCS coach Carl Woods, whose program had never advanced to the regional level before this year.
“I’m feeling good. Those guys have set so many records at that school and brought the entire student body, alumni, everybody together. They electrified and put a spark in this school, so hopefully we can keep it going.”
The Cougars climbed out of a 10-point hole and took their only lead (34-33) on a Dylan Woods 3-pointer with 50 seconds left in the third period, but the Commodores responded with 15 straight points to take command of the fast-paced contest.
PHOTOS: Nick Graham’s gallery from the game
Woods scored 17 points, Christian Keese had eight and Josh Oates added seven for Cincinnati Christian (22-6).
“All the way from the beginning of the season, nobody expected us to get this far but us,” said Oates, a senior guard. “It hurts, but I’m proud of our guys for making it this far. I won’t forget this for the rest of my life.”
Orion Monford (21), Logan Dray (13) and Plummie Gardner (11) topped the scoring for Perry (24-3). It was an emotional week for the Commodores, who lost assistant coach Herb Lane in an automobile accident Monday.
Perry will meet Columbus Wellington in an 8:30 p.m. state semifinal Thursday at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus. Delphos St. John’s and Cleveland Heights Lutheran East will play in the first semifinal at 5:15 p.m.
“I can’t put it into words,” Commodores coach Matt Tabler said. “I’m so happy for our community, and I’m proud of our kids. Coach Lane was looking down on us. Tonight is for him.”
Gardner finished the third period with five quick points to erase that 34-33 deficit, and the Cougars didn’t score for the first three minutes of the fourth quarter.
Perry made its first regional appearance last season and rushed to an early lead against Yellow Springs, then lost 61-43.
“Last year, this was a whole new realm for us,” Tabler said. “We’d never been to a regional, and we didn’t know how to react when someone punched us. They punched us right in the face last year, and we couldn’t get up off the floor. Tonight, Cincinnati Christian gave us a big, big punch. Our kids remained calm, and that’s something you get with experience.”
CCS declined to throw in the towel after falling behind 48-34, running off eight straight points to make it 48-42 with 2:35 left. But the Commodores pulled away at the foul line.
“It was tough to come back that far and see the light and then just watch it disappear,” said Keese, a senior forward. “But that’s a good team we lost to. I wish them the best of luck, and I’ll pray for their coach.”
“There were a lot of shots that just rimmed out for us. There was nothing we could do about that,” added Dylan Woods, a senior guard. “They stepped up and hit big shots, and we couldn’t finish on our side.”
Keese grabbed eight rebounds, Oates had seven and Daniel Nimmo chipped in six for Cincinnati Christian. Jakoby Lane-Harvey tallied all eight of his points in the second half and hauled in nine boards for Perry. Dray and Kobe Glover contributed seven rebounds apiece.
The Commodores piled up eight 3-pointers between Monford, Gardner and Dray. The Cougars converted a trio of treys while misfiring many times from short range.
“We had so many blown opportunities,” Carl Woods said. “A couple missed layups, so many balls roll in and out … it seemed like a cat was on that rim. Those are shots that typically kill momentum. When you don’t convert those and they roll in and out on you like that, it’s like, ‘Wow.’
“I thought our effort was there defensively. When we needed a big shot, we could not get that big shot. When they needed a big shot, they got that big shot. I feel that was the difference maker in the game.”
Perry sank 15 of 19 free throws, 12 of 15 in the last stanza. CCS was 9 of 13.
Dylan Woods was the catalyst for Cincinnati Christian’s third-quarter surge with 10 points. He scored two in the fourth period.
“Dylan Woods is a terrific player, and we had to keep running somebody at him,” Tabler said. “I thought Jamal (Whiteside) did a good job for the most part down the stretch just bothering him enough to take some unbalanced shots and for us to get some rebounds.”
This is Tabler’s 10th season at the PHS helm. Qualifying for state is gratifying for a guy who was told the Commodore program would never be a big winner.
Lane’s death added another layer of emotion to regional week.
“Herb’s been there with me the last two years,” Tabler said. “He’s always been a friend, but we’ve become really good friends over the last two years. Every game day, he always gave me a call to make sure I was calm. Obviously I missed those two calls this week, but his family’s been tremendous. We’ve gotten so many things from so many schools. In a time of tragedy, everyone’s bonded as one, and it’s so nice to see.”
The Cougars are losing 10 seniors, including Stephen Lunt, Elijah Taylor, Nick Hesselgesser, Sam Wells, Brady Roberts, Xavier Brown and Nimmo. Yet Carl Woods is expecting success to continue. He said the program has a solid foundation.
“I feel very proud of what we did with this program,” Dylan Woods said. “We set some records for people to go after for years to come. Hopefully they can do something even bigger and make it state.”
“You have to start somewhere,” Keese said. “We made a lot of history for this school. It feels good to be a part of it.”
Cincinnati Christian 8-11-15-10—44
Lima Perry 16-8-14-19—57
CINCINNATI CHRISTIAN (22-6): Josh Oates 3 0 7, Dylan Woods 6 3 17, Elijah Taylor 1 2 4, Nick Hesselgesser 1 0 2, Christian Keese 4 0 8, Brady Roberts 0 1 1, Daniel Nimmo 0 3 3, Xavier Brown 1 0 2. Totals: 16-9-44
LIMA PERRY (24-3): Plummie Gardner 4 0 11, Orion Monford 7 4 21, Logan Dray 3 5 13, Jakoby Lane-Harvey 1 6 8, Kobe Glover 2 0 4. Totals: 17-15-57
3-pointers: C 3 (Woods 2, Oates), P 8 (Gardner 3, Monford 3, Dray 2)
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