The Tigers (19-5) were shocked in the OHSAA DII NE District 2 Final by Shaker Heights (9-15) on Saturday. The Red Raiders were deadly inside the paint on offense and limited the Tigers’ three-point shooters in the 72-67 upset.
1st Half
Shaker Heights won the tip to start Saturday’s ballgame in Wooster. Misses and miscues both ways led to a short scoreless period before Shaker Heights put 2 on the board. Both teams were aggressive early, tipping the ball out and playing tough defense. The Tigers would finally get on the board with a Gio Jackson Jr. 3-ball at the 5:36 mark of the first quarter. Shaker Heights would jump out to a 12-7 lead with 3:49 remaining in the quarter, but a few plays later Jackson threw down a dunk to make it a 1-possession game once again. A Braylon Gamble layup cut the lead to 1 but Shaker Heights went on a run at the end of the quarter to take a 5-point lead at 21-16. Throughout the first quarter, the Tigers were forced to take the ball to the hole as the Red Raiders played great perimeter defense and shut down the 3-point shot. The Tigers played tough defense on passes but had difficulty rebounding, giving Shaker Heights multiple second-chance opportunities. Massillon went on a run to start the second quarter. Chris Knight buried a 3 to tie the game with 5:50 left in the quarter, and a Gio Jackson layup put the Tigers on top. Heights continued to foul the Tigers hard under the basket, and after a jump shot retied the game, a pair of Xavier Williams free throws gave the Tigers the lead once again. Heights then went on a run to retake the lead, but Terrelle Keyes cut the lead down to 2 with a 3-pointer from the left corner. A Jadyce Thigpen free throw made it a 1-point game with a couple of minutes remaining, but the Tigers slipped at the end of the half and Heights built their lead up to 6 at 40-34.
2nd Half
Massillon met a nightmare scenario to start the third quarter. Shaker Heights started to hit perimeter shots while the Tigers missed theirs, and very soon the score was 48-34 in favor of the Red Raiders. A single free throw broke the scoreless streak for the Tigers with under 6:00 left in the quarter. It was then that Gio Jackson Jr. took the game into his own hands. He nailed a 3 to cut the lead down to 10 before slamming the ball home for his 14th point to take the Red Raiders’ lead down to single digits. Hard fouls continued from Shaker Heights; the Tigers missed free throws, and the Red Raiders were able to respond in the paint and hit clean jumpers that evaded the Massillon defense. Jackson continued to keep the Tigers in the game as the Red Raiders keyed on the Massillon seniors. He drained another 3 to cut the Shaker Heights lead down to 7, and after a few back-and-fourth jumpers, Chris Knight was able to get open and knock down a 3. A Terrelle Keyes 3 cut it to a two-possession ballgame at 58-54, and the Tigers locked down on defense to keep the score that way at the end of three. Gio Jackson swatted the ball into the stands early in the fourth quarter. The Tigers got the ball, and a Chris Knight floater cut the lead to 58-56. The game once again went back-and-fourth as the Tigers and Shaker Heights exchanged buckets. Massillon was unable to take advantage of turnovers such as a Terrelle Keyes steal, a travel, and a great defensive play on the boundary by Xavier Williams. A heavy foul game started with 3:00 left in the game and the Tigers down 2. A few plays later Jackson hit 2 free throws with 2:11 left to cut the lead to 1. Shaker Heights once again got position on the offensive glass as a putback increased their lead to 3. Xavier Williams was fouled and missed both free throws, but he responded with a steal and a score to make the game closer at 67-66. Heights, however, responded with the play of the game on a baseball pass from the backline and a layup to increase their lead to 69-66. The Tigers had a good look from the left corner for 3; the shot was left short and the loose ball went off of Massillon with 48.6 seconds remaining. The Tigers stole the ball and drew a foul but went 1-2 from the line. Heights was fouled but also went 1-2 from the line to keep the game at 1 possession. The Tigers took a timeout with 38.7 seconds left. Coming out of the timeout, Massillon attempted to find an open shot on the outside to tie the game. The first shot missed, but Xavier Williams grabbed the rebound and kept the game alive for the Tigers. Another Massillon timeout was called with 14.2 remaining. The Tigers tried another three, but the shot was wide. Xavier Williams once again grabbed the rebound. A Shaker Heights player fought with Williams near the baseline for the ball, pulling it away from him before stepping out of bounds. The officials, however, ruled that Williams was still in possession of the ball and that he stepped out (rather than calling a turnover on the Red Raiders or a jump ball), much to the chagrin of the Massillon crowd. The Tigers were forced to foul, and the Red Raiders’ free throws were good to put the score at 72-67. A late Massillon shot fell short– Shaker Heights ran out the time and ran onto the court to celebrate the upset and their district title.
Stats
Gio Jackson Jr. had a great game with 24 points. Braylon Gamble put up 13, Chris Knight added 10. Terrelle Keyes and Xavier Williams both scored 7. Jadyce Thigpen had 4 points; Jalen Slaughter scored 2.
Postgame Comments
Coach Josh Hose: “Our guys played extremely hard, tough basketball. We just had a few plays that didn’t go our way– rebounds bounced out of our hands, didn’t finish at the rim, we couldn’t win those 50-50 plays. Shaker Heights is a very tough team. We’ve played big, physical teams like Warren– we’ve fought through that before. We adjusted to some things at halftime and gave ourselves a chance but just could not get over that hump. Every time we’d cut it down Shaker Heights get a bucket. Fighting an uphill battle at the half was tough, but our guys had it in them to come back. We struggled a lot at the line (22-34) and we had a couple of good looks late but we could not get them to fall.”
“It’s hard for the seniors to go out this way after the effort they put up this season. They are special kids. The young guys really stepped up today. We’ll have some big shoes to fill next season.”
Photos and Highlights
