By Dan Messerschmidt
BOWLING GREEN — Carey’s first trip to the regional tournament didn’t end the way coach Jamie Young had planned, but he was happy nonetheless.
Africentric built a 16-point halftime lead, then coasted to a 62-40 victory in the Division III regional semifinal at the Stroh Center on the campus of Bowling Green State University. The Nubians will face Archbold —a 78-68 winner over Ottawa-Glandorf in the second game — on Saturday at 7 p.m. back at the Stroh Center.
“I’m disappointed we lost, but not with this group,” Young said. “We’ve never been here (regional) before.”
“It’s a great feeling to make school history,” senior Trey Bame said. “Every single game, we learned lessons. We have nothing to hang our heads about.”
Bame, along with classmates Brayden Wentling, Logan Smiley, Evan Plott, Cody Luzader, Chas Ropp and Jordan Littlejohn played their last game in a Carey uniform.
“In my freshman through junior years, we won no tournament games,” Luzader said. “To win four games this year is crazy. We showed the young kids it can be done.”
Africentric (20-6) left little doubt as to the outcome right from the start. The Nubians hit 11 of 16 shots in the first quarter and forced six Blue Devil turnovers. Eight of Africentric’s 25 points came directly off turnovers.
“We wanted to push the pace,” Nubians coach Michael Bates said. “We wanted to play up tempo as much as possible. We wore them down a little bit.”
Single-digit scoring in the middle two quarters — 11 points in total — paved the way for the Nubians. Africentric scored 12 in the second to open a 37-21 at halftime and led 51-26 after three quarters.
Jah Bennett scored 19 of his game-high 21 points in two quarters, 11 in the first and eight in the third.
“That’s a good team out there,” Young said. “We knew coming in that transition would be a problem. Early on, they were able to get out on the break. They were too quick for us to handle.”
Luzader led Carey (20-7) with nine points, while Griffin Summit and Smiley had six each. Hayden Stone grabbed six rebounds.
Tre Baumgardner’s 15 points seconded Bennett’s 21 for Africentric. James Hodge added eight and Bennett had seven boards.
“I’m very excited about getting back to the Elite 8,” Bates said. “The guys came out with the right mindset. They played with a lot of energy.”
“They got us out of our element with their quickness,” Young said.
“I’m proud of this group,” he added. “They battled to do everything they could to get us to this point.”
Africentric 62, Carey 40
Africentric 25 12 14 11 — 62
Carey 15 6 5 14 — 40
Stats
Africentric (20-6): Shots 28-51; 3-pt shots 2-9 (Tre Baumgardner, Jah Bennett); Free throws 4-12; Rebounds 33 (Jah Bennett 7); Turnovers 14. Scoring: Dorian Holloway 2 0 4, Tre Baumgardner 7 0 15, James Hodge 4 0 8, Calijha’Won Davis 1 0 2, Jah Bennett 9 2 21, Anthony Bowan 2 0 4, Austin Morris 1 0 2, Lyheen Hillard 2 0 4, Hervon Jacobs 0 2 2.
Carey (20-7): Shots 12-37; 3-pt. shots 6-16 (Logan Smiley 2, Brayden Wentling, Trey Bame, Cody Luzader, Reece Billock); Free throws 10-14; Rebounds 21 (Hayden Stone 6); Turnovers 20. Scoring: Brayden Wentling 1 1 4, Trey Bame 1 0 3, Jordan Dasher 2 0 4, Logan Smiley 2 0 6, Hayden Stone 1 1 3, Cody Luzader 1 6 9, Casey Crawford 1 0 2, Griffin Summit 2 2 6, Reece Billock 1 0 3.