Shawnee senior Zion Crowe scored 17 points as the Braves fell to 13-8 and 6-4 in the division, one game behind Jonathan Alder. The Braves have finished runner-up in the division the last three seasons.
“We’ve had a good year and we put ourselves in a position to be able to get a share of the league title,” siad Braves coach Chris McGuire. “We knew tonight was going to come down to execution. JA is always solid, runs their (offense) well and takes advantage of mistakes. We felt good about it with three minutes left and it was a tie game. They executed down the stretch, got some easy baskets and we weren’t able to score some points. That’s kind of what they do, possession by possession execution.”
Pioneers junior Peyton Heiss had 23 points and senior Will Jackson added 12 for Jonathan Alder (13-8, 7-3).
The Braves jumped out to a 15-11 lead early in the second quarter on a 3-pointer by junior Darian Dixon, but the Pioneers fought back to take an 18-15 lead on a 3-pointer by Heiss. Shawnee tied the score at 22 on a 3-pointer by Crowe as time expired in the first half.
The Braves knew Jonathan Alder would do whatever it took to stop Crowe, the CBC’s leading scorer at 20.6 points per game. They worked hard to get open shots for other players in hopes it would open the floor for Crowe.
“We needed to hit some of those open shots to make them guard and extend on some of those other guys,” McGuire said. “We just weren’t able to knock those down. They were good shots. We got good shots from a lot of guys and they just didn’t fall.”
The Pioneers went on a 10-3 run to start the second half to grab a 31-25 lead. Shawnee went on a 9-2 run, tying the score on two free throws by Dixon with about five minutes remaining.
Jonathan Alder got five straight points by Heiss, a layup by Carter Harrington and two free throws by Heiss to make it 43-34 with less than a minute remaining.
Shawnee wouldn’t get closer than seven points the rest of the way.
“They made plays down the stretch that we weren’t able to make and then we’ve got to scramble to do some things to extend the game,” McGuire said. “Credit to (JA). They’ve had a good year, battled through it and earned this one tonight.”
Shawnee will face another CBC Kenton Trail Division foe for the third time in the postseason. The Braves, who moved up to Division II this season after making back-to-back district final appearances in D-III, will play Bellefontaine (9-12) at 3 p.m. Feb. 18 in a D-II North 1 first round game at Springfield High School. They beat Bellefontaine twice in the regular season.
“We’ve got to be able to bounce back from this,” McGuire said. “It’s a big disappointment in not being able to get this one done. Last week we didn’t play really well. We’ve got to get back into it and start a new season. Bellefontaine played us really tough at their place.
“In the tournament, it boils down to who’s motivated to keep playing. We’ve got a week to prepare for them knowing we’re going to get their best shot. We’ve got to kind of put this behind us, start 0-0, have a great week of practice and put ourselves in the best position to be able to move forward as far as we can go.”
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