FAIRBORN – Westerville North boys basketball fans might have been wringing their hands March 21 when the Warriors led by only four points early in the second half of a Division II state semifinal at Wright State, but coach Shan Trusley did not join.
For all the comfortable wins the Warriors have enjoyed this season – 15 by 20 or more points, eight by at least 30 and four of 40 points or more – a competitive game on the season’s final weekend was the last thing that worried North.
“Maybe if you were sitting in the crowd you would have felt a little nervous, but I felt good about the situation [considering] where we’ve been,” Trusley said. “We had been in that situation before. We know it’s a four-quarter game and you have to play with us for four quarters.
“We tell the guys to keep the tempo, keep the pace and keep the pressure and eventually we will drag them kicking and screaming out to the deep water.”
North Royalton made a spirited charge in the middle quarters, but a game-high 25 points from senior guard Elijah McCree and 17 points and seven rebounds from junior forward Tony Cornett allowed North to pull away to a 74-49 win and advance to within a win of a second consecutive championship.
Junior guard Tyson Perkins finished with 11 points, six assists and three rebounds and Damion King added nine points and eight rebounds for the Warriors (26-1), who have won 21 straight games and will play Massillon Washington in the final at noon March 22 at University of Dayton Arena.
Massillon defeated Lima Senior 75-63 in the second semifinal March 21.
North led 7-0 before North Royalton (22-6) got the ball over half-court, 15-4 within the first 3 minutes and 23-8 after a first quarter in which it made five of its nine 3-pointers on the day.
Nolan Klingbeil, a 6-foot-8 center who was a focus of North’s defensive plan, helped bring North Royalton back into the game. He had 8 of his 18 points in the second quarter, helping to trim the Bears’ deficit to 33-25 by halftime.
Layups from Klingbeil and Lincoln Lee to start the third, the second of which came off Klingbeil’s steal from McCree, got North Royalton to within 33-29. The Bears would get no closer.
“We played calm, still played at our pace and made things happen,” Cornett said.
A Cornett dunk, Perkins’ layup off his own steal and a finger-roll layup from McCree over the next 3 minutes made it 43-33. North led 50-38 going to the fourth and finished 28 of 51 (54.9%) from the floor.
“That’s honestly our best pace when we’re moving fast,” McCree said. “Not many teams can keep up with us when we move that fast and just getting up and down the floor that much.”
Antonio Escano added 15 points and eight rebounds – matching Klingbeil – for the Bears, who outrebounded North 33-24 but had 21 turnovers to the Warriors’ 11 and shot only 4 of 22 (18.2%) from 3-point range.
“We did a really good job of taking them out of their sets; we just had trouble keeping [Klingbeil] off the glass,” Trusley said. “I would venture to say 16 of his points were on putbacks. He’s just a really big kid.”
North Royalton, which is 47-8 over the past two seasons, used a 10-game winning streak to reach its second consecutive state tournament.
“Things were going to go wrong for both teams throughout the game,” Bears coach Nick Lapsevich said. “Most teams would have panicked [after North’s early run] and given in but we did not. We got it down to four, but we just had some turnovers and we did not shoot the ball well. I will credit their defense for that.”
High school sports reporter Dave Purpura can be reached at dpurpura@dispatch.com and at @dp_dispatch on X.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Westerville North boys basketball reaches OHSAA state final
Reporting by Dave Purpura, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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