The Eagles fell behind 17-3 and later gave up 23 straight points in finishing 15-11.
“I felt like right before the half and then right after the half, we were a couple possessions away from being right there,” MCS coach Eric Gwinn said. “And then the next thing you know it’s 41-16, and that was a crusher.
“I feel bad for our guys. Obviously all of us wanted a better ending than what happened tonight, but give credit to Yellow Springs. They were just a buzz saw tonight.”
Middletown Christian held a brief 3-2 lead on a Jamaal Hunter 3-pointer, then trailed 17-3 early in the second period.
The Eagles remained in semi-contention into the third stanza, with a Hunter basket getting them within 28-16. But Kaner Butler’s driving layup sparked the 23-point run that put the Bulldogs in total command.
“They just dominated us,” MCS senior John Leisinger said. “I think at first we were a little nervous, but after the first minute, we were good. They just came out playing their best and we played about our worst, and that’s what you get when you play worst against best.”
Middletown Christian shot 24.4 percent from the floor and got doubled on the glass against its Metro Buckeye Conference rival. The Eagles split with Yellow Springs during the MBC campaign, winning in triple overtime Feb. 15.
That seemed like a long time ago Thursday night.
“When we came into that game, we took them lightly,” Bulldogs senior forward Isaiah Taylor said. “This game, we wanted to show that we’re the better team, and we didn’t want to let up.”
The 6-foot-4, 230-pound Taylor was an all-around force, racking up 19 points, 15 rebounds, six assists, two blocks and two 3-pointers.
Yellow Springs coach Steve Grasso called him a guard in a big man’s body this week, and that proved to be a perfect description.
“I’m hoping that on this stage, he has an opportunity to show what I think he has,” Grasso said. “He can play at the college level with no questions. There’s some teams that are interested, but they better hurry because people are going to be jumping all over him.”
Butler (12) and Ethan Dewine (10) also scored in twin digits for the Bulldogs (20-6), who shot 51 percent from the field, buried nine 3-pointers and committed only seven turnovers.
Taylor had a double-double by halftime, totaling 14 points and 10 boards.
“The ball’s coming my way, I’m hitting shots, my teammates are finding me … I was just playing the game,” he said.
This is the first district title for Yellow Springs since the 2003-04 season. The Bulldogs will play Jackson Center in an 8 p.m. regional semifinal Tuesday at Fairmont’s Trent Arena.
“It’s special for me because I was an assistant at Fairmont, and now I’m going back to bring a team to Trent Arena,” Grasso said. “These young men have played together for a lot of years even before (high school). We’ve instilled the team type of aspect, but they have a great love for each other. It’s a special group of young men.
“This is not just one game. This is not one tournament run. This is three years in the making. We worked so hard to come to this spot. When the ball moves into the right place with our guys, you see those 3s go down because the extra pass is made. That’s how we got to where we are. It’s through that hard work.”
Dre Shores paced MCS with 10 points Thursday. Hunter had five points, and C.J. Reisinger and Leisinger both marked four. Leisinger was 2 of 4 on field goals, making him the lone Eagle to shoot 50 percent or better on the night.
“We took away their undefeated record in the conference, so they were probably out to get us, which makes sense,” Leisinger said.
“I can’t feel too bad. We’ve done something that no other team has done here, and we’ve had a lot of good players before this. A lot of teams dream about playing at UD, and we got here. We got a sectional title. So other than this game, I’ve got to say it was a pretty good season.”
Leisinger, Reisinger, Hunter and Mason Fraley are Middletown Christian’s seniors.
“They’ve done such a great job for us this year, especially leading us when we had some younger guys who needed time to catch up and get some varsity experience,” Gwinn said. “Anytime you have four seniors that go out with 15 wins, it should mean a lot to them. To me, it comes down to how we’ve competed since probably the second week of December. These guys never quit. They worked hard all year.”
Mid. Christian 3-9-4-8—24
Yellow Springs 15-8-23-20—66
MIDDLETOWN CHRISTIAN (15-11) — Dre Shores 4 0 10, C.J. Reisinger 2 0 4, John Leisinger 2 0 4, Jamaal Hunter 2 0 5, Cameron Russell 0 1 1. Totals: 10-1-24
YELLOW SPRINGS (20-6) — Joe Plumer 3 0 6, Andrew Clark 1 0 3, Kaner Butler 6 0 12, Devon Perry 1 2 4, Ethan Dewine 4 0 10, Tony Marinelli 2 0 6, Jonathan Clark 1 0 3, James Browning 1 0 3, Isaiah Taylor 7 3 19. Totals: 26-5-66
3-pointers: M 3 (Shores 2, Hunter), Y 9 (Dewine 2, Marinelli 2, Taylor 2, A. Clark, J. Clark, Browning)
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