COLUMBUS - Moeller Crusaders coach Carl Kremer knew the Mentor Cardinals were a sneaky bunch, having learned that from a scrimmage in November with the school from the Lake Erie League.
That's why Moeller wouldn't allow Mentor sharpshooter Jaron Crowe, a 6-foot senior guard, to get the ball in Friday's Division I state semifinal as time ran out in regulation. "We chased them around all night," Kremer said during his postgame comments with reporters after Moeller's hard-fought 66-59 overtime victory before 11,935 in the Jerome Schottenstein Center at Ohio State University.
What Mentor came up with at the end of regulation was a desperation shot that clanked off the rim after junior forward Matt Solden heaved the ball at the basket. That miss sent the game into overtime tied at 53.
Moeller opened the extra period with 6-9 senior forward Griffin McKenzie, who is headed to Xavier University, missing both ends of a double-bonus. But the Crusaders ended the OT period, and the game, with an 8-0 run as junior guard Charlie Byers raced up court with a rebound and passed to a teammate as time expired.
The win takes Moeller to a record of 22-4 and returns the school to the finals for the first time since 2007, when they brought the title back to Cincinnati. Mentor, which finished No. 5 in the final Associated Press poll, ended the season 23-4.
Moeller 6-foot senior guard Josh Morelock scored 17 points, junior forward Alex Barlow (5-foot-11) tossed in 21 and Byers (5-foot-10) added 17. While Barlow used a steady hand to control much of the ball movement for the Crusaders, Byers and Morelock took the game into their hands at critical times.
Morelock went 5 of 6 from 3-point range (5 of 8 overall), striking back-to-back during a critical stretch in the fourth period when the teams exchanged the lead with 5 minutes left in regulation.
Byers went 7 of 11 from the field (1 of 2 from 3-point range).
"We knew it was going to be a war," Mentor coach Bob Krizancic told reporters after the game. "I thought they did a great job," he said of Moeller.
The Cardinals had come away from that same scrimmage in November with good knowledge about what Moeller could do, but didn't expect Morelock's rain of 3-pointers.
"Those threes came at just critical times," said Krizancic, D-I co-coach of the year.
The barrage of 3-pointers made by both teams set several tournament records, according to the Ohio High School Athletic Association. The 12 put down by Mentor broke the D-I record of 10 in a game by one team (1993, Stow-Munroe Falls vs. Elder). The 18 by both teams (Moeller connected on six treys, with Morelock hitting five of those) also broke the D-I record for treys scored by both teams (12 in 2007, 2002, 1999, 1996).
Mentor guard Crowe's 7 3-pointers broke the D-I tournament record of 6 held by several players, the most recent coming in 1998.
After the first period ended in a 7-7 tie, Mentor took control of the scoreboard with a 23-point outburst to take a 30-22 lead to halftime. The Cardinals maintained an 8-point cushion well into the third period until Moeller was able to tie the score at 38 with 1:12 left on a layin by Barlow.
Byers made a twisting baseline layup with 42 seconds remaining to give Moeller a 40-38 lead with 42 seconds left. Free throws by Byers and Morelock, sandwiched around a trey from Crowe, ended the third period with Moeller clinging to a 43-41 lead.
Moeller, in the state finals tournament for the fifth time, is one of eight schools in Columbus this weekend who have previously won a state title. Moeller won state titles in 2007, 2003 and 1999. Mentor's appearance was its debut in the state finals tournament, one of five schools to do that this year.
For the D-I state championship, Moeller plays the winner of the Friday night semifinal, which featured Massillon Jackson (23-2) vs. Gahanna Lincoln (26-0).
