Tuesday, March 07, 2000
Elder wins Division I sectional title
Panthers rally to defeat West Hi 56-54
BY DAVE SCHUTTE
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Elder rallied from a 14-point deficit to beat Western Hills 56-54 in a Division I sectional championship game Monday at UC's Shoemaker Center.
Elder plays Lakota West 7p.m. Saturday in a district championship game at the University of Dayton Arena.
Junior guard Jake Bazeley was one of the stars for the Panthers, scoring 21 points to rally Elder during the second and third quarters when the comeback started.
“The Western Hills defense was geared toward stopping Mike (Kelsey) and Joel (Wainscott),” Bazeley said. “I was open most of the night and took advantage of it.”
Bazeley got his first chance to play against St. Xavier the final game of the season when Sean Rowland suffered an eye injury in the third quarter. Bazeley responded with 11 points, including the game-winner.
“We let No. 24 (Bazeley) get away too much,” Western Hills coach Lannis Timmons said. “We didn't expect him to play that well.”
Bazeley took charge in the third quarter, scoring eight points to bring Elder within four at the break, 44-40.
“One of the differences was when Malcolm (Andrews) got in foul trouble,” Timmons said. “He's one of our best defensive players and having him on the bench hurt us.”
Elder's long uphill battle came to an ending in the fourth quarter when the Panthers took a 49-48 lead on a field goal by Wainscott. West Hi never regained the lead although they had a chance to send it into overtime.
“We had a play set up at the end,” Timmons said. “It was designed to get it into the pivot but the shot wasn't there. Maybe it was my fault for putting the ball into a couple of kids hands too much.”
Free throw shooting during the final 2:20 sealed it for Elder.
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