Ottawa-Glandorf jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, rolling to a 62-44 victory over Garaway in the Division III State Championship at Ohio State's Value City Arena.
The state title was the second in school history for the Titans (23-5), who captured the Division II crown in 2004. But this year's team wasn't expected to duplicate the feat. They were ranked tied for 13th in the state and were forced to beat two of the top three ranked teams in Anna and Garaway on back-to-back nights to accomplish the task.
No problem.
"I'm kinda numb right now," said Ottawa-Glandorf Head Coach Josh Leslie at a post game press conference. "I've been renting a home in Ottawa and now maybe I can buy one."
Garaway (24-4) dug themselves a hole early, turning the ball over six times in the first four minutes of the game. Ottawa-Glandorf took advantage of the miscues and jumped out to a 13-1 lead less than halfway into the first quarter.
"We tried to turn them over in transition and get them to play our style," Leslie explained. "If we get up on any team (early) we're pretty tough to beat."
The Pirates settled down to close out the session, hitting four of five shots in the final four minutes of the first and slicing the Ottawa-Glandorf lead to 18-12 after one.
The Jake Meyer show then began, as the reserve forward for Ottawa-Glandorf came off the bench to score ten quick points, including a pair of three pointers and a one-handed dunk, to push the Titans' lead back out to 30-14.
"It says alot about him," stated Leslie when asked about one of his best players coming off the bench. "He's bought into it and our rotation makes us that much better."
Meyer curtailed a 9-2 Garaway run in the final minutes of the first half with his third three pointer, this time from the left baseline with 40 seconds left to keep the Titans' lead in double-digits.
Ottawa-Glandorf shot a blistering 61-percent in the first half and caused 13 Garaway turnovers.
The ten minute haltime intermission didn't seem to cool off Meyer (21 points), who came out firing in the second half. The 6-foot-4 senior scored two quick buckets to help extend the Titans' advantage to 20 points midway through the third period. Classmate Justin Schomaeker, the star of Friday's semifinal win, also added a pair of baskets and finished with 15 points and four assists.
Despite the efforts of freshman center Paul Honigford (12 points, 12 rebounds) and senior point guard Tyler Gerber (15 points, 3 steals), Garaway wasn't able to mount a serious comeback down the stretch. A jumper by Gerber with 2:58 remaining cut the deficit to 13 points, but that would be as close as they got.
It was the second time in less than a week that Garaway hoisted the state runner-up trophy. On Monday, the Pirates' girls basketball team fell to Versailles in the Division III final. They were the only school in the state to have both teams reach the state tournament.