Wildcats hang on as Blue Jays’ last shot falls short, 60-58

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MT. ORAB – With 7.7 seconds left and Ripley-Union-Lewis-Huntington trailing Blanchester 60-58, Ryan Dunn raced up the floor with the Blue Jays’ season in his hands. He let the ball fly from 20 feet, but it only went 19.

“Absolutely no three at all costs,” Blan head coach Adam Weber said about defending the last shot. “Force them to take a two. Don’t foul if they get in the lane, let them have the two and go to overtime.

“Things went our way when they had a little trouble with the ball getting by our guard who picked him up early. That was huge, because that forced his shot to be a two- or three-second choice.”

The Wildcats’ first tournament win since 2006 gives them a date with Cincinnati Summit Country Day, ranked third in the final Associated Press boys basketball poll, at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the Division III sectional at Western Brown High School.

Blanchester (12-11) led Ripley the last 15 minutes of the game after breaking a 31-all deadlock, but never by more than five.

Ripley (10-13) had 10 possessions to tie or take the lead in the game’s final 4:00.

Four Wildcats reached double-figures, led by Dylan Miller with 17. Jordan Stroud had 16. JD Wiederhold and Quinton Miller chipped in with 11 and 10, respectively.

Ryan Harney led the Blue Jays with 18. Dunn added 13. Jaki Royal joined them in double-figures with 11.

SUMMARY

February 25, 2017

@Western Brown High School

Blanchester 60 Ripley 58

BLAN 08.20.20.12…..60

RULH 10.18.14.16…..58

(60) BLANCHESTER (fg-ft-tp) Hopkins 1-2-4, Q. Miller 4-0-10, D. Miller 5-6-17, Stroud 4-7-16, Wiederhold 5-1-11, Baker 0-0-0, Burden 0-0-0, Lovin 1-0-2. Total 20-16-60. 3-point goals: 4 (Q. Miller 2, Stroud, D. Miller). FTM-FTA 16-21, 76 percent.

(58) RIPLEY (fg-ft-tp) Dunn 4-2-13, Harney 6-3-18, Staggs 3-0-7, Royal 2-7-11, Deaton 1-0-3, Moran 0-0-0, Germann 0-0-0, Griffith 2-0-4, Hatfield 0-0-0, King 1-0-2, Fyffe 0-0-0. Total 19-12-58. 3-point goals: 8 (Dunn 3, Harney 3, Deaton, Staggs). FTM-FTA 12-17, 71 percent.

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By Shawn Robinson

WNJ Sports Writer

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