Jonathan Alder’s Jackson Izzard attempts a potential game-winning shot late in overtime on Saturday. The Pioneers, however, fell to DeSales, 32-30, during the Division II district championship game at Central Crossing High School. (Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
It was all right there for the Jonathan Alder High School boys basketball team… it being a Division II district championship.
The Pioneers were at the free throw line with slightly more than a minute to play in regulation Saturday afternoon.
The score was tied at 24-all and all JA needed was to hit a pair of free throws and then play their stellar man-to-man defense in order to ride out the remaining time.
Like a bad “B” movie script that goes sour, it wasn’t mean to be.
The DeSales Stallions went on to edge Alder, 32-30, in overtime to advance to this week’s regional tournament at Ohio University in Athens.
For fans of high-flying offense, Saturday’s game wasn’t for you.
If you prefer both teams playing lock-down defense, it couldn’t have been more entertaining.
“We knew this was going to be a physical, defensive game,” said Alder coach Zach Ross. “Both teams know each other pretty well and this was the type of game we were expecting.”
Both teams played outstanding defense for the entire 36 minutes.
From the opening tip to the final OT buzzer, each squad made the other work extremely hard for its points.
JA, the tourney’s top seed, took a 3-2 lead three minutes into the contest when Jackson Izzard drained a three-pointer.
Jackie Santa-Emma returned a 5-3 edge to the Pioneers by scoring on an offensive rebound a couple of minutes later.
Henry Walker’s free throw gave JA a 6-3 edge with a little more than two minutes left in the opening stanza.
DeSales’ Austin Mann, though, tied the score at 6-all with a three pointer.
The teams swapped possessions down the stretch and the contest remained deadlocked going into the second period.
The Stallions took a brief 9-6 margin when Atticus Schuler knocked down a shot from beyond the arc.
Izzard’s jumper narrowed JA’s gap to 9-8.
Santa-Emma then made a nifty spin move for a layup that gave the Pioneers a 10-9 lead.
Jonathan Alder built a 16-11 advantage over the next several minutes on buckets from Logan Stevens and Walker.
Izzard and Santa-Emma were credited with assists as an unselfish Alder offense exploited rare gaps in the Stallions’ defense.
DeSales, facing a five-point deficit with the second-quarter clock winding down, attacked the basket.
A turnover along the baseline, however, returned possession to the Pioneers.
Alder worked the timer down to its final seconds.
A late shot attempt failed to hit the mark, leaving JA up by five at the turn.
The third-seeded Stallions were not going to go away, even when Walker’s layup pushed Alder out to a 20-13 margin with slightly more than four minutes left in the third stanza.
A basket from Desmond Watson narrowed DeSales’ gap to 20-17.
Points remained difficult to come by as the third quarter came to a close.
Santa-Emma juked an opponent with a nice head fake. He followed with a shot that sent the Pioneers into the fourth quarter with a 22-17 lead.
Alder began the final set of regulation by running some time off the clock in its motion offense.
Kobe Righter, though, transitioned a steal into a shot that pulled DeSales to within 22-19.
Both squads came up with empty possessions for the next several minutes.
Along the way, Santa-Emma picked up his third and fourth fouls, which gave Pioneer Nation cause for concern.
Righter again knotted the low-scoring, defensive battle at 22 with a trifecta.
Izzard tried to break the stalemate. However, his three-ball with slightly more than three minutes to play rimmed in and out of the bucket.
Watson scored at the other end of the court as the Stallions took a 24-22 lead with 2:50 left in regulation.
Fans on both sides of the gym saw the tension mount when Santa-Emma spun in the lane against a defender for a 24-all tie.
The Stallions missed a shot over JA’s stiff defense.
Walker came down with the rebound and was fouled with 1:06 to play.
He couldn’t get the front end of the one-and-one to fall.
The Stallions regained possession, but couldn’t get a potential game-winning shot to drop.
DeSales took a 27-24 margin when Righter drained a three-ball early in overtime.
Santa-Emma was whistled to the sidelines with his fifth foul, putting a big gap in Alder’s offense at a critical time.
The Pioneers missed three shots at a basket during a single possession.
Walker, though, was fouled on an offensive rebound and was sent to the charity stripe.
This time, he hit both ends of the one-and-bonus to narrow JA’s gap to 27-26.
Both teams swapped possessions and Alder regained a 28-27 edge when Izzard fed the ball to Walker on the low block.
That margin lasted all of 17 seconds.
Watson followed with a jumper that gave the Stallions a 29-28 advantage with 1:31 left in the OT session.
Izzard added to the suspense with 1:09 on the clock.
He sank a pair of free throws that pushed JA back to a 30-29 lead.
Mann came up with a clutch shot with approximately 20 seconds to play to give the Stallions a 31-30 edge.
Alder burned its final two timeouts over the next 11 seconds to set up a play.
Izzard got a good look at the basket, but the shot failed to hit the mark.
JA knocked the ball out of bounds, giving DeSales possession with 3.1 ticks remaining.
Rather than allowing the Stallions to burn out the remaining seconds, Alder committed a strategic foul before the ball was put in play.
DeSales’ Chris Fleisher, who had missed key free throws earlier in the game, was sent to the charity stripe.
He hit the front end of the one-and-one to give the Stallions a 32-30 lead.
Alder came up with the rebound when Fleisher missed his next offering.
JA heaved a long, desperation three-point attempt that fell well short of the mark.
“This game came down to who was going to make their last basket,” said Ross. “Jackson had a very good look at the basket, but it just didn’t fall.
“Our guys played hard and had a great season (20-5),” he said. “I really love this team.”
DeSales
Righter 5-2-14, Watson 3-0-6, Mann 2-0-5, Fleisher 1-2-4, Schuler 1-0-3, Thompson 0-0-0, Carpenter 0-0-0, Garrick 0-0-0. Totals 12-32.
Three-point goals: Righter 2, Mann 1, Schuler 1.
Jonathan Alder
Walker 4-3-11, Santa-Emma 5-0-10, izzard 2-2-7, Stevens 1-0-2, Welsch 0-0-0, Heinig 0-0-0, D. Begin 0-0-0, T. Begin 0-0-0.Totals 12-5-30.
Three-point goal: Izzard 1.
Jonathan Alder’s Henry Walker drives to the basket during Saturday’s game against DeSales. (Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)