It was a dream start to Indian Lake’s district championship game against Cincinnati Taft on Saturday. Unfortunately for the Lakers, they could not keep hold of that momentum as the game wore on.
The Lakers jumped out to a 20-10 lead after one quarter, but Taft outscored IL 50-26 over the final three quarters to grab a 60-46 victory in a Division III boys basketball game at the University of Cincinnati.
Indian Lake, making its second straight district appearance, ends the season with a 16-9 record.
“We came out shooting the ball well,” said Indian Lake head coach Zach Overturf. “We knocked down our first three or four shots from three and that gave us some momentum. We rebounded at a very high level early on as well.”
The Senators, who are the ninth-ranked Division III team in Ohio, began to turn the tide in the second period, using a 15-5 run to knot the score at 25-25 at halftime.
“We knew they would make a run, and they did in the second quarter, but we wanted to go into halftime in a position where we had a chance in the second half,” said Overturf.
“We were tied at halftime and it was as good of a position as we could have been in.”
Taft star Rayvon Griffith, who is considered by many recruiting services as a top 50 player nationally in the junior class, scored 10 of his game-high 22 points in the second quarter.
Griffith had six more points in the third quarter to spark a 19-12 run that gave Taft a 44-37 lead heading into the final period.
The Senators quickly pushed their lead into double digits in the fourth quarter to pull away.
“They have some guys that can flat out play,” said Overturf. “They were able to get a couple steals and dunks and that got them going there in the second half. We kind of ran out of gas.”
Indian Lake, which relies often on the three-point shot, made four from long range in the first quarter but only got three more to drop the rest of the game.
Sophomore Camdon Tuttle led Indian Lake with 15 points and fellow sophomore Caiden Nicol had 14 points for the Lakers.
Caleb Wurster had eight points and Luke Jackson chipped in six points.
It was the final Laker game for seniors Wurster, Jackson, Logan Evans and Lukas Schwieterman.
“Those guys have been huge for us,” said Overturf. “They bought in from day one and put us in a spot to make some history. We are really going to miss those guys.”
However, Indian Lake will still have some major talent coming back, led by the duo of Tuttle and Nicol.
“The standard of Indian Lake basketball keeps moving up and up,” said Overturf. “The next goal is to hopefully add a district title and continue this success. The future is bright.”
Taft moves on to face Mariemont in the regional semifinals on Wednesday at Fairmont. Mariemont defeated Springfield Shawnee 47-44 in its district final Saturday.
TAFT 60, INDIAN LAKE 46
INDIAN LAKE (16-9)
Nicol 7 0-1 14; Wurster 3 1-2 8; Tuttle 6 0-0 15; Jackson 2 0-0 6; Evans 1 0-0 3. Totals: 19 1-3 46.
TAFT
Cromer 4 0-0 10; Griffith 8 6-6 22; North 3 0-0 8; Burnett 1 0-0 2; Elmore 3 0-0 6; Elmer 5 2-2 12. Totals: 24 8-8 60.
Lakers 20 5 12 9 — 46
Senators 10 15 19 16 — 60
Three pointers: Indian Lake 6 (Tuttle 3, Jackson 2, Wurster, Evans); Taft 4 (Cromer 2, Norton 2). Team fouls: Indian Lake 9; Taft 11.