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Skyhawks, Patriots fall in tourney openers

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VANDALIA — A pair of Greene County area teams bowed out in back-to-back games, during the first round of the Division I boys high school basketball sectional tournament, Feb. 23 at Butler High School’s Student Activity Center.

First, a flat Fairborn squad fell 48-38 to a tall bunch of Springboro Panthers.

Then, an underdog Carroll team gave No. 4-seeded Sidney everything it could handle early on before falling 48-35.

Fairborn entered the game as the tourney’s No. 8 seed, but No. 11 Springboro proved to be too tall of an order.

With five Panthers listed as 6-foot-3 or taller, Springboro’s height seemed to take the Skyhawks out of their up-tempo offensive routine.

“I’m not sure if the bigger court got to them, or the amount of minutes they played this year was a factor — our top six have played an incredible amount of minutes all year. I don’t know whether that finally caught up to them, or what, but we were flat from the start,” Fairborn coach Billy Harchick said. “But Springboro is a good team. They’re big. They’re huge, compared to us. I think fighting over that, we just got tired. That’s what it leads to.”

Shaunn Monroe led all scorers with 21 points, and fellow senior O.J. Person also got into double-figure scoring with 10. Tylen Eatmon, Joe Nickel (five points), Jared Bates, and Jared Bodekor (two) played their final high school games.

Springboro’s William Yates, Kamerson Dickerson, Michael Berner and Conner Grevey shared high scoring honors for the Panthers with eight points each, while Garrett Powell added seven.

Sidney 48, Carroll 35

In the night’s final contest No. 12-seed Carroll was tied with the favored Yellow Jackets at 28-all with 3:57 yet to play in the third quarter, but Sidney went on a 17-5 scoring surge for the next 10 minutes combined to take command 45-33.

Andre Gordon led everybody with a 30-point game, while Ratez Roberts added 13 for Sidney.

“Sidney’s got a great team. They’ve got some great players, and you saw what they can do,” Carroll coach Tim Cogan said, “but we hurt ourselves several times tonight. Whether it be a turnover, or allowing them to get an offensive rebound putback, you can’t do that against a team that has quality players such as they do. … We didn’t shoot very well … and we didn’t handle some of our possessions the way we were supposed to.”

Jaden Dahm scored eight points, senior forward Austin Schafer led the Patriots with nine points, and fellow senior Simon Jefferson finished with seven. Will Severt, Matt Cogan, Gavin Kinney, and Tyler Hanby saw their high school basketball careers end.

Winners Sidney and Springboro will face each other in the sectional semifinal on Thursday, Feb. 28 at Butler.

Fairborn’s Shaunn Monroe (3) drives in for a first-half score, in a Division I high school boys basketball sectional tournament first-round game against Springboro, Feb. 23 at Butler High School, in Vandalia.
http://www.xeniagazette.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2019/02/web1_MonroeDrive_PS.jpgFairborn’s Shaunn Monroe (3) drives in for a first-half score, in a Division I high school boys basketball sectional tournament first-round game against Springboro, Feb. 23 at Butler High School, in Vandalia. John Bombatch | Greene County News

Senior guard Simon Jefferson (3) of Carroll shoots a 3-pointer over Sidney’s Lathan Jones (12) in a boys high school basketball first-round sectional tournament game, Feb. 23, at Butler High School in Vandalia.
http://www.xeniagazette.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2019/02/web1_SimonJeffersonS12_PS.jpgSenior guard Simon Jefferson (3) of Carroll shoots a 3-pointer over Sidney’s Lathan Jones (12) in a boys high school basketball first-round sectional tournament game, Feb. 23, at Butler High School in Vandalia. John Bombatch | Greene County News

Fairborn senior O.J. Person (1) shoots over Springboro’s Michael Berner, Feb. 23, at Butler High School in Vandalia.
http://www.xeniagazette.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2019/02/web1_OJPerson_PS.jpgFairborn senior O.J. Person (1) shoots over Springboro’s Michael Berner, Feb. 23, at Butler High School in Vandalia. John Bombatch | Greene County News

Carroll’s Sam Severt passes between a pair of Sidney defenders to Patriots teammate Jaden Dahm (2) in the first half of Saturday’s Division I boys high school sectional tournament first-round game in Vandalia.
http://www.xeniagazette.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2019/02/web1_CarrollSamSevertJadenDahmS512_PS.jpgCarroll’s Sam Severt passes between a pair of Sidney defenders to Patriots teammate Jaden Dahm (2) in the first half of Saturday’s Division I boys high school sectional tournament first-round game in Vandalia. John Bombatch | Greene County News

By John Bombatch

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Contact John Bombatch at 937-372-4444, Ext. 2123.