Delaware Hayes, Olentangy Orange to battle for Division I boys basketball regional title
With the nickname “Playoff Jake” comes great responsibility for Delaware Hayes senior point guard Jake Lowman.
A quarterback during the fall, the 6-foot-3, 225-pound Lowman has taken center stage in the Pacers’ past two history-making wins.
On the heels of an 18-point performance in Saturday’s district final win, the program’s first in 38 years, Lowman scored 17 points Wednesday night to help power Delaware past Hilliard Bradley 56-40 in a Division I boys basketball regional semifinal at Ohio Dominican.
Teammate Jesse Burris, an Ohio University signee who added 15 points and six rebounds, said the Pacers’ student section bestowed that nickname on Lowman. A performance that included three 3-pointers even drew the attention of Bradley’s student section, which sometimes teased Lowman about his build.
“Jesse and Landon (Vanderwarker) have been scoring all season so I knew coming into the tournament, I could be a secret weapon basically,” Lowman said. “When I got a mismatch, I tried to get the ball and if they double-teamed, I kicked to my teammates and they finished. I don’t know what it is, but these rims are nice. …
“All the pressure is on Jesse and Landon. I have to take some off. That’s my job.”
The Pacers’ first regional final Saturday night will be against Delaware County rival Olentangy Orange. Orange and Delaware were the top two seeds, respectively, in the district tournament and were ranked fourth and sixth in the final Associated Press state poll.
Carter Piatt-Brown added 12 points for the Pacers (26-1), who won their 20th consecutive game and never trailed after a 6-0 run early in the second quarter.
Delaware outrebounded Bradley 35-20 and led by as many as 18 points late.
“We were trying to space them out and get them out to guard us more so we could open up some driving lanes,” Delaware coach Adam Vincenzo said. “It’s hard to do what you want to do against them, but in games like this, we have guys that go make plays. I don’t want to hold them back. Go make plays, be fearless and go be us.”
Cade Norris’ 22 points and five rebounds led Bradley (21-6), which was in its fourth regional in seven seasons.
“I can’t remember the last (time) we’ve had a game where it was harder to feel comfortable about a lot of the matchups,” Bradley coach Brett Norris said. “We sprinkled some zone in but man, we couldn’t rebound, and we’re not a zone team, so I didn’t have a lot of faith in that.”
Olentangy Orange 50, Newark 42
The prized defensive statistic from Orange’s fourth-quarter comeback in the first semifinal at ODU took coach Anthony Calo by surprise.
Largely held in check offensively through the first 24 minutes, Orange (26-1) held Newark without a field goal for 11:34 while pulling off a 14-0 run to clinch its second consecutive regional final appearance.
“Did they really?” Calo said of Newark’s drought. “They are so disciplined and so tough … but I think we have a really tough program too, and we believe we’re building something special. We believe our kids are tough. We believe our kids are gritty. We’ve shown that back-to-back years.”
Orange held Newark’s leading scorer, Steele Meister, to five first-quarter points and none thereafter. The first-team all-district selection averaged 19 points and 8.5 rebounds during the regular season and finished with 11 boards Wednesday.
Keegan Knupp’s 14 points and six rebounds and 12 points each from Devin Brown and Levi Davis highlighted Orange’s balanced effort. Brown added 14 rebounds.
Making its second consecutive regional appearance and 28th overall, Newark (22-5) led for much of a first half that featured seven ties and six lead changes.
Braylon Morris’ 3-pointer with 4:28 left in the third gave Newark a 31-29 lead, but that would be the Wildcats’ last field goal until Jake Quackenbush and Morris hit 3-pointers in the final minute.
In between, Knupp’s putback of a Davis miss to beat the third-quarter buzzer put Orange ahead 34-33, its first lead since midway through the second.
Davis dunked and made a lay-in, Knupp followed with another layup and Knupp's dunk off a steal with 2:54 left made it 44-33 and essentially iced the outcome.
“The dunk really shifted the momentum,” Davis said. “We talked about getting to the rim more and attacking because our 3-pointers weren’t really falling. We needed any way to win and attacking the bucket was the way.”
Morris led Newark with 21 points.
“We changed our defenses up and giving Orange only one basket at a time really helped,” Newark coach Jeff Quackenbush said. “They got up a few possessions in the fourth quarter and they’re hard to guard when they do that.”
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Delaware, Orange to battle for OHSAA boys basketball regional title
