Archbold edges Cardinal Stritch to win district

Mar. 7—In an otherwise evenly played Division III boys basketball district final on Saturday, Archbold accomplished three tasks that enabled them to get past Cardinal Stritch.

The Blue Streaks (21-4) contained high-scoring Stritch senior guard Jhaiden Wilson, outrebounded the Cardinals 31-25, and were just a bit more scrappy over 32 minutes.

It added up to a 59-56 Streaks victory over the Cardinals (14-5) at Central Catholic's Sullivan Center.

Archbold will face 10th-ranked Ottawa-Glandorf (18-4) in a regional semifinal at 8 p.m. Wednesday at Elida.

"The big thing is, we just gutted it out," Archbold coach Joe Frank said. "We said there was going to be runs in this game, and there were. That's a real good team. We had no visions of coming in here and blowing them out.

"When we had that [nine-point] lead, we knew they were going to come back. But, talked about having some grit, and sticking through some tough times, and it's a credit to the kids that they did that."

Junior D.J. Newman led the way for Archbold with 17 points and seven rebounds, sophomore Alex Roth had 13 points, and 6-5 junior Ashton Kammeyer had 10 points and 10 rebounds.

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"We knew that team was going to make big runs, and we just couldn't get down," Newman said. "We stayed confident and pulled out the win.

"We got bullied a little bit in the first half, and we knew we couldn't let that happen again. We came out and played more physical in the second half."

In winning their 10th straight game, the Northwest Ohio Athletic League champion Blue Streaks ended Stritch's 13-game winning streak. Seniors Noah Gomez and Austin Roth had 10 points and nine points, respectively, to help fuel Archbold's balanced attack.

As for the defense, a tight double-team was applied by the Streaks on Wilson to prevent the long-range marksman from getting his usual open looks beyond the arc.

Wilson (26.1 scoring average) had eight 3-pointers as part of his 38 points in the Cardinals' 75-65 district semifinal win over Eastwood on Thursday.

"We did a really good job on Wilson, and some of their other guys hurt us," Frank said. "But we didn't want to see [Wilson] get 38 again. That's a credit to our guys guarding him, and competing for 32 minutes, because that's how long it took to win that game."

The speedy 5-8 Wilson was harassed into 5-of-14 shooting and several first-half turnovers. He finished with a team-high 15 points, and closed his three-year career with 1,265 points.

Stritch, the Toledo Area Athletic Conference champion, was nearly able to offset that scoring void thanks to solid contributions from senior Dwayne Morehead (11 points, nine rebounds), and sophomores Romel Hightower (14 points, nine rebounds) and Brenden Revels (eight points).

"Archbold came in with a great game plan," Stritch coach Jamie Kachmarik said. "We had chances, and our kids gave it everything. We told them we were going to see them double-team Jhaiden, and that other guys had to step up and make plays.

"Our sophomores — Brenden Revels, Romel Hightower, and Kam Hughes — did. And, our seniors, like Dwayne Morehead, they never gave up and we had a chance. Archbold made plays at the end and they didn't panic."

Archbold took a 14-11 lead after one quarter, and pushed it to 24-16 on an Austin Roth 3-pointer with 5:23 left in the half, but Stritch regrouped and closed with a 13-0 run to take 29-24 edge to the break.

The Cardinals were ahead 42-38 after three quarters, but were outscored 21-14 in the fourth.

"Jhaiden has had a great career here," Kachmarik said. "What he's done for three years has been incredible.

"At first, he still tried to do as much as he could, and he was turning the ball over. Then he settled down and realized he needed his teammates to help him. Once he did, that kind of freed up some things."

Stritch held its last lead at 46-45 after Wilson hit a 3-pointer with 5:29 remaining, and Morehead followed by hitting a free throw at 5:00.

Archbold responded with an inside bucket from Austin Roth, a 3-pointer from Alex Roth, and a layup from Kammeyer for a 52-46 Streaks edge with 2:46 to go.

Following a free throw from Morehead at the 2:30 mark, Archbold capped its crucial 11-1 run on Newman's 10-footer from the lane and two free throws from Alex Roth for a 56-47 lead with 1:26 remaining.

With the Streaks missing three of four free throws in their next three trips to the line, the Cardinals staged a furious rally, getting within 56-54 on a Hightower layup with 33 seconds left.

Wilson's long 3-point try from near the Stritch bench could have tied the game, but missed the mark with seven seconds to go, and Morehead's put-back made it 57-56 with 1.3 seconds to go.

Stritch fouled Newman, who hit both ends of a double-bonus at the line for the final margin.

Archbold was 22-of-46 (48 percent) from the field, including 8-of-22 on 3-pointers, and was 7-of-14 at the line. The Streaks committed 13 turnovers and forced 11.

Stritch was 22-of-49 from the field, including just 3-of-14 on 3-pointers, and was 9-of-13 at the line.

This was the third time in five seasons that Archbold ousted Stritch from the tournament. The Streaks beat the Cardinals in a regional semifinals at Bowling Green in 2017, and in a district final at Central in 2018.

First Published March 6, 2021, 5:21pm