Joey Walker of Jonathan Alder comes up with a loose ball and looks to pass it to teammate Grant Welsch (1). Also pictured for the Pioneers is Reed VanKirk (14). JA beat the Vikings in the Division II sectional finals. (Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
Jonathan Alder is a basketball team that likes to control a half-court tempo and employ a series of offensive sets.
That strategy has worked well for the Pioneers for much of the 2021-22 season.
Third-seeded Alder, however, had to somewhat rethink its thinking about midway through a 56-40 boys Division II tournament victory over No. 13 River Valley.
“They are wide as a defense and that made it tough to run sets against them,” said JA head coach Zach Ross. “At halftime, we talked less about sets and more about just going out and playing.”
That about-face worked well for the Pioneers (18-6) as they captured a sectional championship.
Jonathan Alder got out to a fast start as Peyton Heiss dropped in a pair of three-pointers and Tyler Begin and Taber Headings each added one.
Begin’s trifecta staked JA to a 9-2 margin.
Headings’ three-ball doubled Alder’s lead at 14-7 with three minutes left in the opening period.
Carson Smith dropped in a trey for the visitors and cut River Valley’s deficit to 14-10 by the conclusion of the opening quarter.
River Valley’s defense began to make life a little tougher for the Pioneers during the ensuing series.
The Vikings, at times, made it difficult for JA to get the ball inside the paint.
Neither team stoked much in the way of offensive fireworks during the second period.
The Pioneers had several good looks at the basket, but a number of shots failed to hit the intended mark.
River Valley had several second-chance opportunities as it hit the boards hard. Most of those efforts, however, were not productive.
A free throw from Smith gave the Vikings their only lead of the game at 15-14.
After an exchange of possessions, Joey Walker was able to take the ball to the hoop and returned a 16-15 edge to JA.
The Pioneers never trailed the rest of the way.
Heiss hit a jumper and later scored on a backdoor play after an assist from Grant Welsch.
That bucket led to Jonathan Alder’s 20-15 halftime lead.
The Pioneers slowly began to establish their dominance once the third quarter got underway.
Headings fed the pumpkin to Walker for a 22-17 margin.
Welsch then tickled the twine with a trifecta that pushed the home team out to a 25-19 lead.
The Vikings came up with several empty possessions and watched as Alder began to clear away rebounds.
Headings, in particular, did heavy-duty work on the boards and finished the contest with 12 rebounds.
“Taber is a great rebounder,” said Ross. “When he does that, it makes us that much more of a strong defensive team.”
JA’s defensive work came up with numerous stops and caused a large amount of Viking turnovers during the third quarter.
The Marion County team finished the game with 12 miscues and was limited to 31% shooting from the floor.
Alder capitalized on those mistakes and took its first double-digit lead at 32-21 when Heiss dialed up a deep trifecta with 4:30 left in the third period.
Heiss also hit a jumper that pushed JA out to a 35-23 spread by the end of the set.
River Valley had trouble cracking the Pioneers’ defensive code during the fourth quarter.
The Vikings, in apparent frustration, turned their physical play into numerous fouls.
As such, Jonathan Alder was sent into the double bonus with more than five minutes remaining in the contest.
Walker bounced a backdoor pass to Heiss, who converted a traditional three-point play with 3:51 left in the game.
Heiss’ charity toss pushed the Pioneers out to a 45-33 margin.
Jonathan Alder padded its lead to 54-35 on free throws by Welsch and Heiss.
JA hit 20-of-27 from the charity stripe during the game to help secure the victory.
With a little more than a minute to play, Ross cleared his bench.
Drew Mark hit a late basket to provide the Pioneers with their final points of the afternoon.
Jonathan Alder will return to tournament action on Tuesday.
JA will travel to Westerville North High School to face third-seeded Bloom Carroll in the district semifinals.
The game’s tip-off is set for at 7 p.m.
Jonathan Alder
P. Heiss 7-9-26, Walker 2-7-11, Welsch 1-4-7, Headings 3-0-7, Begin 1-0-3, Mark 1-0-2, Harrington 0-0-0, Jackson 0-0-0, Scott 0-0-0, N. Heiss 0-0-0. Totals 15-20-56.
Three-point goals: P. Heiss 3, Headings 1, Begin 1.
River Valley
Br. Mosher 3-0-8, Lang 3-0-6, Beard 2-2-6, Ebert 3-0-6, Smith 1-1-4, Myers 1-2-4, Kenney 1-1-3, Boyd 1-0-2, Bl. Mosher 0-1-1. Totals 15-7-40.
Three-point goals: Br. Mosher 2, Smith 1.