KETTERING — Columbus Bishop Ready outscored Taft 16-7 in the extra period to put away
the win, riding a 37-point effort from 6-foot-3 senior post-wing player Joe
Graessle. Senior guard Cody Culbertson added 15 points, driving left to the cup
over and over again against heavy pressure from Taft.
Taft, led by 6-foot-6 sophomore post player Adolphus
Washington’s 16 points and 5-foot-7 sophomore guard Orlando Berry’s 13 points,
committed turnovers and fouls at inopportune times.
“We had our chances,” Senators’ head coach Mark Mitchell
said. “We made some youthful mistakes. We had plenty of opportunities. I
understand because we were young. They’ve got a kid over there that’s real
special. Hats off to him.”
Graessle, the kid Mitchell was referring to, scored 19 by
halftime, hitting a variety of 3-point jumpers from well beyond the arch, each
one sending Ready’s fans into a frenzy.
Taft opened the game with a full court press, which led to a
17-13 lead at the end of the first period. That pressure led to more turnovers
by Ready in the second period, but the Silver Knights did just enough to take a
27-22 lead to the locker room at the half.
Turnovers by both teams punctuated the opening of the third
period, and Taft 6-foot-3 senior wing player Cameron Mitchell tied the score at
29 with free throws. Ready came right back with a layup to retake the lead,
31-29.
Taft then focused on sending the ball into Washington at the
post, where he went to work on the smaller Ready defenders. He tied the game at
31 on a nifty post move, with defenders hanging on, and then sent Taft to the
lead at 34-33 with an old-fashioned three-point play off a feed from the wing.
The third period ended with Taft clinging to that one-point lead.
The final period in regulation was nip and tuck, with Ready
managing to break Taft’s full court press and Taft managing to score off steals
and turnovers produced by its press. A 3-point jumper from Graessle sent Ready
to the lead at 41-38, but Taft tied it up again, this time at 46, with 2:57
left in regulation.
The game was tied at 50 with a minute in regulation and Taft
had the ball, seemingly setting up its offense to take the last shot of the
game. Washington drove right with 16 seconds left and sent an errant pass out
of bounds to give Ready one last gasp in regulation.
In the overtime session, Ready put some distance between
itself and Taft with a 5-0 run before the Senators could answer with three foul
shots from Berry to make the score 55-53. Another run by Ready, this time 4-0,
advanced the Silver Knights’ lead to 59-53 until Washington was able to hit one
of two free throws.
Another 7-0 run by Ready, mostly from the foul line and
layups from Culbertson and Graessle, ended the scoring for Ready at 66. Taft
senior Kevin Mitchell, a 5-foot-11 guard whose twin is Cameron Mitchell
(both are the sons of coach Mitchell) sank a 3-point jumper to close the
scoring for the Senators at 57. The Mitchell brothers chipped in 19 points (9
for Kevin, 11 for Cameron) for the Senators.
Taft, ranked sixth in the Associated Press state poll, ends
its season at 22-3, Dayton 2 District champion and Division III regional runner-up.
Ready improves to
19-6 and moves on to the boys D-III Final Four in Columbus on March 25 at Ohio
State University's Jerome Schottenstein Center.
