Monroe Central’s Dream Season Ends In District Finals vs. Hiland
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MORRISTOWN - All good things must come to an end, so it's been said.
That was such the case for the Monroe Central boys' basketball team Friday night.
The top-seeded Seminoles (23-2) saw their best season in program history come to an abrupt halt, 54-43, in the Ohio Division IV Eastern District final to No. 2 Hiland (20-6) inside a standing-room-only 'Hangar' at Union Local High School.
"We completed four of our five goals," Monroe Central first-year head coach Mason Lang said. "We wanted to win more games than last year, and we did. We wanted to win the sectional, and we did. We wanted to win the OVAC Class 2A, and we did. We wanted to go undefeated against our rivals, and we did. We wanted to win a district tournament title, but we just couldn't finish the job tonight."
Monroe Central graduates just two players - one starter - as the future is bright.
"I think our kids learned a lot from tonight. I thought they pushed us around. I thought they were quicker to the loose balls. I think a lot of that comes from the weight room and I hope these guys know that we've got to get in there."
The Seminoles dug themselves a huge hole right from the start as a handful of turnovers in the first quarter combined with some red-hot shooting by the Hawks saw the Monroe Countians behind 14-9 after one quarter.
"We knew they were going to bring some pressure. They succeeded in that aspect," Lang added. "If you want to win big games, you've got to eliminate the mistakes. Their pressure got to us and sped us up more than we wanted to be sped up."
A 17-13 Hiland scoring advantage in the second eight minutes pushed the margin to 31-22 at the half as the Hawks' Sammy Detweiler hit a shot just prior to the buzzer.
Monroe Central stormed out of the locker room in the third quarter, scoring the first six points to make it a 31-28 contest with 5:11 on the clock.
Hiland had an answer, though, as the Hawks ran off nine of the final 11 points for a 40-30 lead entering the final chapter.
The Seminoles didn't help themselves with seven of their 17 turnovers in the quarter.
The multitude of turnovers resulted in less shots from the floor
A quick 5-0 spurt by Hiland bumped the count to 45-30 and the lead reached as high as 16, 49-33, with 4:30 remaining to play. Monroe Central got closer than 10.
Co-Eastern District Player of the Year Tucker Howell and Chance Allen - both juniors - netted 12 points each. Freshman Cooper Howell had seven, while junior Dylan Parden and sophomore Caedyn Silva evenly divided a dozen.
Hiland's Sammy Detweiler led all scorers with 18. Sam Wengerd and Caleb Mishler were next with nine apiece, while Nick Wigton added eight.
The Hawks led 20-16 off the glass as Wigton grabbed eight to tie Tucker Howell for game honors. Half of Hiland's boards came on the offensive end.
Hiland advances to the Ohio University Regional in Athens on Tuesday against the Central District champion, either Westerfield Northside Christian or Galion Northmor in a 6 p.m. tip.