“We probably turned the ball over a little too much,” Southeastern coach Brian Hecker said. “They started doubling the basketball, and we talked about it and worked on it, but it’s hard to simulate that type of pressure and activity in practice.”
Cincinnati Christian sealed the game with 11 seconds left. Southeastern put a full-court press on Cincinnati Christian’s inbounds pass after the three-second violation, but two players ran past halfcourt and were wide open near the basket. Brady Roberts threw a pass to Christian Keese, and he hit a shot off the glass to put Cincinnati Christian up 54-49. Charlie Bertemes hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to narrow the final score.
“We were trying to foul but didn’t get to foul,” Hecker said. “It got away from us at the end.”
Southeastern led 47-45 with four minutes left, but Cincinnati Christian hit seven free throws to take a 52-49 lead with 41 seconds left. Though the Cougars sent Southeastern to the line for 23 total foul shots, they didn’t commit a foul over the last four minutes.
“We just had to continue to let the guys know that you couldn’t reach,” Cincinnati Christian coach Carl Woods said. “We told them, ‘Don’t bail them out, the pressure is working, we’re making them speed up and make choices they don’t want to make, so don’t foul and don’t bail them out.’ They listened. Sometimes they don’t listen, but they did.”
Trevor King led Southeastern with 19 points, while Andrew Lyons scored 17. Colton Spears scored three points on foul shots and went 0-for-5 from the field, well below his average of 13 points per game. Woods gave credit to Cincinnati Christian’s Elijah Taylor for the defensive effort on Spears.
“We knew they had a three-headed monster with those guys… and we just wanted to keep pressure on them,” Woods said.
Southeastern finishes 24-2 and will lose King, Lyons and Spears to graduation.
“They meant so much, not just on the court but in leadership in practice, and their basketball IQ,” Hecker said. “All of those little things they can do on the court while I’m on the bench — I just can’t say enough about those guys and what they’ve meant for this program.”
Keese led Cincinnati Christian with 15 points, while Dylan Woods scored 14 and Daniel Nimmo scored 11. The Cougars advance to face Tri-Village in a regional semifinal game next Tuesday at Trent Arena.
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