BOWLING GREEN — When a team relies heavily on the 3-point shot, one off night shooting can be disastrous, especially at tournament time.
Harvest Prep befell just such a fate in the Division III regional semifinal at the Stroh Center on the campus of Bowling Green State University.
Colonel Crawford connected on eight of 19 3s compared to one of 21 for the Warriors. The Eagles then held off a late Harvest Prep rally to advance to the regional final with a 55-46 victory.
Colonel Crawford (26-0) will face Ottawa-Glandorf — a 61-56 winner over Eastwood in the nightcap — back at the Stroh Center on Saturday at 1 p.m. for a berth in the state Final Four.
“I really thought the team that was going to win the game was the team that made the most 3s, and they did,” Harvest Prep coach David Dennis, Sr. said. “We shoot 3s and obviously they shoot 3s and they shot the ball pretty well. And when they did that, it put us in a hole. They made theirs, we missed ours.”
Both teams struggled shooting in the first period. Harvest Prep (20-4) was three of nine from the field and the Eagles were three of 12. The score was tied at 8-8 by period’s end.
It was the middle two quarters where Colonel Crawford took control of the game.
“At that point in the game, we were trying to get out in (transition), and we got good looks,” Colonel Crawford coach David Sheldon said. “A lot of times (point guard Mason Studer) beat the initial pressure. And then there’s help. You’ve got shooters, you’ve got layups.”
The Eagles hit seven of 13 shots in the second quarter and committed just one turnover to build a 26-16 halftime lead. Colonel Crawford then came out of the locker room to connect on seven of 12 shots to help build a 43-26 bulge after three quarters.
“Our goal was to limit them from doing that because chasing a whole lot, we had to help on their drives,” Dennis said. “They passed the ball out. They made shots and got confidence. Everything started falling.”
Carter Valentine scored 17 of his 18 points for the Eagles in the middle two frames, to lead the way.
From there, it was a matter of holding off what Sheldon knew was inevitable — a run by the Warriors.
“We knew a team like that is going to make a run. There’s a lot of time left,” Sheldon said. “We knew they had the athletes to do that, and we just hung in there and big credit to our guard play.”
A large part of said guard play was Studer, who pushed the ball up through pressure most of the night.
“They were definitely athletic, for sure,” Studer said. “We haven’t faced anything like that all year. I’ve personally played against that a lot in AAU, so it was no different than any of those games.”
As anticipated, Harvest Prep stormed back. The Warriors whittled away at the Colonel Crawford lead, getting within five twice on baskets by Nyelle Shaheed, the second making it 46-41. Harvest Prep had two chances to cut it to three but could not.
“We came back in the fourth quarter by limiting that (shooting) with our small lineup,” Dennis said. “We got it down to five points and had the ball twice. We missed a layup and could have been three. We threw the ball away and they finished the game with free throws.”
The Warriors were actually as close as four, at 50-46, on a basket by Adonus Abrams with 29 second left. But as Dennis indicated, the Eagles made five of six free throws to close it out.
“We pushed it up and they made some turnovers, that’s the bottom line,” Sheldon said of the fourth quarter. “We got a little careless with the ball at times and then when we were getting inside, we weren’t finishing. They came down and made some big shots against us.”
Abrams scored 12 of his team-high 17 points in the fourth quarter. The Eagles aided the cause by committing seven turnovers, nearly half of their game-total 15.
“In the fourth quarter, you know a Sheldon — we’re going to spread the floor a little bit, make free throws, shoot layups,” Sheldon said. “That’s what we do. We work on it all the time in practice. These guys have done that their whole career. Fortunately, we got over the hump the last two minutes and got out of here with a win.”
Studer led Colonel Crawford with a game-high 19 points and eight rebounds. Valentine was next with 18 and Braxton Baker finished with 11, including a pair of 3s and making five of six free throws at crunch time.
Brandon Roddy seconded Abrams’ 17 points with 14 for Harvest Prep. Shaheed added 12 points and 10 rebounds.
“Credit to (Colonel Crawford) and their coaching staff for their plan and hard work,” Dennis said. “Credit to my guys for not giving up. They laid it on the line. We had an opportunity to win. We just fell short.”
The win puts Colonel Crawford in a regional final game for the first time in school history, but Sheldon said the Eagles are viewing it as the next game.
“It’s special for this program, but right now, we go one game at a time,” Sheldon said. “Before the game, we didn’t talk about a regional championship. It’s Harvest Prep. When it’s all said and done, you reminisce and talk about what it’s all about.”
Box score
Harvest Prep 8 8 10 20 — 46
Colonel Crawford 8 18 17 12 — 55
Harvest Prep (20-4): Shots 20-52; 3-pt. shots 1-21 (Adonus Abrams); Free throws 5-8 Rebounds 28 (Nyelle Shaheed); Turnovers 13. Scoring: Zyaun Hutson 1 0 2, Marshawn Oliver 0 1 1, Brandon Roddy 7 0 14, Adonus Abrams 7 2 17, Nyelle Shaheed 5 2 12.
Colonel Crawford (26-0): Shots 18-39; 3-pt shots 8-19 (Carter Valentine 3, Mason Studer 2, Braxton Baker 2, Nolan McKibben); Free throws 11-15; Rebounds 26; Turnovers 15. Scoring: Mason Studer 6 5 19, Braxton Baker 2 5 11, Nolan McKibben 1 0 3, Carter Valentine 7 1 18, Jacob Maddy 1 0 2, Carson Feichtner 1 0 2.