West Liberty-Salem’s boys basketball team came up just one point short in a sectional final loss to National Trail in Division III tournament action Saturday at Northmont High School.
The Tigers end their season with a record of 18-7. National Trail (21-3) advances to play Anna in the district championship at noon Saturday at Vandalia Butler High School.
It was a closely contested game from the start. The Tigers emerged from the first quarter with a 10-8 lead and they went on to hold a 21-19 advantage at halftime.
National Trail moved in front in the third period for a 36-31 advantage.
The Tigers gave themselves a chance to pull out a win down the stretch, but couldn’t come up with one more play.
Matthew Loffing, Holden Nease and Nick Burden each scored 11 points for the Tigers. Eli McGill chipped in six points. “I am really proud of how our team finished the season,” said WL-Salem head coach Darrin Leichty. “We peaked and played our best basketball at the end of the season. Our seven seniors are a very special group and they will be greatly missed. It will be tough not being around them in practice next week.”
The Tigers’ senior class includes Loffing, Nease, McGill, Jack Eggleston, Caleb Siegenthaler, Gavin Harrison and Trevor Woodruff. That group helped WL-Salem win the outright Ohio Heritage Conference North division this season.
Cameron Harrison, a junior who this season already became National Trail’s all-time scoring leader, had a game-high 24 points. He had 16 of those after halftime. Tyler Weathington added 15 for the Blazers.