Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
COLUMBUS — South Webster was just one shot away from taking a late lead over Cornerstone Christian on Friday.
And in a game between two even teams, not getting that shot to fall made all the difference as the Jeeps, eventually, fell by a 66-58 final in a Division VII state semifinal at Ohio Dominican.
“When you play at this level, nobody you play is going to be bad,” South Webster coach Norm Persin said. “You’ve got to play your game, and I thought we played a really good game. It was just a play here and there where we didn’t. We missed some shots and we missed some lay-ups.”
The Jeeps entered the contest with four senior starters, led by 6-foot-8 senior Eli Roberts. The program had not played in a state semifinal since the 2006 season — a season in which it carried the state championship trophy back to South Webster.
CREDIT: Ed Litteral
The Patriots, led by Army commit and Ohio’s all-time leading scorer Quinn Kwasniak, entered the contest with a record of 20-8 and were appearing in their first semifinal appearance since the 2018 season.
Neither showed any rust or nerves in the early-goings. Both team’s stars got going with Roberts hitting a pair of free throws before an old-fashioned three-point play from Kwasniak gave the Patriots their first lead.
SW’s Christian White drove and kicked out to Roberts for a triple from the wing, which was quickly answered by Kwasniak on a midrange jumper.
The Jeeps responded with a 6-2 run with scores from Roberts, Owen Mault and a fastbreak score from Hunter Barnard, forcing a timeout with 4:05 to play in the first and producing an 11-7 lead for the Jeeps.
Even after the timeout, it was all South Webster for the remainder of the quarter. Consecutive triples from Barnard and Dylan Shupert stretched the lead before a runout basket to beat the buzzer by Barnard made it a 26-16 lead at the end of one.
The Jeeps shot a brilliant 10-of-13 from the field in the opening quarter, but would significantly cool down for the rest of the half as the Patriots turned up their defensive pressure.
Cornerstone Christian turned the game around in the second stanza, holding the Jeeps to only six points while Kwasniak and sophomore Hudson Funk began to light it up from downtown.
A triple with 1:30 to play in the half from Funk gave Cornerstone a short-lived 32-30 lead before South Webster’s Beau Stephens tied the game in the interior to tie the game at 32-32 at the break.
“Even though we were up 10 early, we knew that [Kwasniak] was going to score and that he was going to get hot on us,” Persin said. “It’s just a matter of time. Then, we couldn’t make plays. We didn’t shoot it well in the second quarter and from there, it was nip and tuck. We were just one play away.”
The second half saw a lot of the same with each team taking a short-lived lead before the other would counter.
Time and time again, neither team could extend the lead beyond three points until the final minute of the third when Kwasniak was fouled beyond the 3-point line with 53.2 seconds to play. Kwasniak knocked down all three attempts and, following a close-range miss for the Jeeps, he splashed in a tide-turning 3 with five seconds to play to give the Patriots a 50-44 lead heading to the fourth.
The final quarter was even more of a seesaw battle with Roberts and Kwasniak trading shots before the outstanding role players for the Jeeps made a massive impact.
With 4:05 to play, Brycin McClintic ripped down an offensive rebound before sinking a put-back to cut a seven-point lead to five.
On the ensuing possession, Shupert played lockdown defense on Kwasniak to force a wild shot, leading to a huge triple from Christian White with 3:18 to play, making it a 55-53 game.
White forced a turnover on the following possession, setting up the shot of the game.
The Jeeps moved the ball against the Patriots’ zone before finding a wide open Roberts in the corner in front of the Jeep bench.
Roberts set loose on his signature high-arcing 3, but it just grazed the back iron and bounded into the hands of Kwasniak.
Kwasniak went for a runout layup, but Roberts swatted his attempt out of bounds with 2:37 to play. However, Darrian Davis scored on a crafty move on the interior for the Patriots to extend the lead again.
Roberts was able to counter as the teams came out of a timeout. White found him on a flare screen for a triple. But Kwasniak, as always, had an answer. Coming out of a timeout, Kwasniak was able to wiggle free to bury a 3 to make it a 60-56 game with 1:14 to play.
A put-back from Barnard made it a two-point game late, but an interior score from Kolsen Keeper pushed the lead out one more time for the Patriots.
“This is our group. We’re going to battle every single night,” Persin said. “That’s just the way we play. We’re going to battle and we’re not going to give up. Our kids are scrappy. They’re tough. But when you’re playing against a player like [Kwasniak], you’re almost going to have to play perfect.”
Following a late foul, Cornerstone’s Funk provided the final dagger with 34.6 seconds to play.
After missing the second of two free throws, Funk hustled to pressure Roberts, following a long miss. He was able to jostle the ball free and win possession for the Patriots, before pushing it to Kwasniak who dribbled more clock out.
CREDIT: Derrick Webb/SOSA
Unfortunately for the Jeeps, that mishandle would be the closest they would get to a late chance as they missed a pair of shots late after Kwasniak split his pair. The state’s all-time scoring leader closed the game out at the free throw line to finish with a game-high 36 points.
South Webster will graduate four outstanding seniors. Roberts, Shupert, White and Owen Mault combined for 41 points for the Jeeps in the losing effort.
“In two years, we’re in the regional finals and then we’re in the Final 4,” Persin said. “They’ve had two great years [with Persin] and being a new coach, installing a new system and asking them to do things my way, they’ve followed the script and they’ve hung in there. We were successful.”
Roberts pulled down a game-high seven rebounds and blocked three shots while White handed out six assists.
The cupboard is not bare for the Jeeps, thought, as Barnard, McClintic and Stephens lead a talent group of underclassmen who hope to do what they did last season — make it one game further.
“It just wasn’t meant to be tonight,” Persin said. “We had a great year and we played a rugged schedule. We won a lot of games and we got here [to the Final 4]. The bad part about is sports is that somebody has to win and somebody has to lose.”
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