Fenwick rallies to sink Wildcats in sectional opener

Fenwick High School’s boys basketball team snatched an emotional victory Saturday in its Division II sectional opener, leaving David Luers with a feeling that he could only describe as “pure joy.”

“Everything just comes out at one time, and then after you yell and everything, you realize how tired you are,” the junior guard said. “But it’s great. It’s great.”

He was among the key figures for the Falcons in their 55-53 triumph over Franklin at Fairmont’s Trent Arena, with Fenwick overcoming a 15-point deficit in the process.

C.J. Napier scored all 15 of his points in the second half and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Falcons (13-10), while Luers totaled 15 points and five boards. Paul Blodgett marked all seven of his points in the last 2:21, Sammy DeBiasi chipped in five points and seven rebounds, and Luke Bradshaw had seven points.

“There was a lot of emotion, a lot of hype, a lot of ecstaticness when it was over,” said Blodgett, a senior guard. “This isn’t the first time we’ve had a comeback of double digits. We’ve always been a resilient team. It’s all about the team staying together and staying confident and playing with a lot of heart.”

Blodgett’s 3-pointer with 1:26 left gave eighth-seeded Fenwick its first lead of the day at 54-51.

The Wildcats got a layup from Jared Kinzer at 1:05, but Franklin sandwiched two turnovers in the last 10 seconds around a Luers free throw with 5.0 on the clock.

The Falcons earned a return trip to Fairmont for a sectional semifinal against No. 6 Ponitz on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.

“I’m so proud of the way our kids handled themselves in the second half,” Fenwick coach Pat Kreke said. “It was nice to see them respond to the challenge at halftime. We play this (Greater Catholic League) schedule, and we’ve been down to GCL teams by double digits more than a few times this year and come back for good games. We didn’t win all of them, but we came back and put ourselves back in ballgames like we did today.”

The first half wasn’t so good for the Falcons. They were on the short end of a 29-18 score at the break.

“We had a good week of practice,” Kreke said. “I really thought we were ready to come out and play with energy, and to a T, every coach back here at halftime said we looked like we had no energy and were playing soft. It’s disappointing to watch these kids playing with no energy in this kind of atmosphere. But they turned it around in the second half.”

What did he say to his troops at halftime?

“I did not light them up,” Kreke said. “I told them we’ve been here before. We were down by 11, and I said, ‘You’ll get beat double that if you play with the same energy you played with in the first half. But if you come out and play the way Fenwick basketball’s supposed to be played, we’ll be all right. We can get back in this game.’ ”

Blodgett found his stroke at just the right time. Going scoreless for nearly 30 minutes wasn’t part of his plan.

“I was pretty mad at myself about my performance,” Blodgett said. “I knew I could not let my team down and let this be the way we go out in the tournament with my bad play. My teammates stayed confident in me, and I was able to knock down the shots in the end.”

“To be honest, we had taken him out because I just didn’t think he was playing real well,” Kreke said. “One of my assistant coaches said, ‘Are you going to give Paul a second chance?’ I said OK, and he was huge. Paul’s been a captain and a leader all year.”

Luers collected seven points in the fourth period after failing to score in the third.

“The coaches trusted me with the ball down the stretch, and my teammates were trusting me to make good decisions,” Luers said. “We all played a role and finished out strong to win a game.”

It was a brutal defeat for fourth-seeded Franklin (18-5), which lost four of its final seven games.

Ryan Montgomery had 15 points for the Wildcats, who were just 2 of 7 from the foul line (0 of 4 in the fourth quarter). Noah Kremer added 12 points and eight rebounds.

“Hats off to Fenwick. They made big plays at the end,” Franklin coach Brian Bales said. “Free throws have been our Achilles tendon all year. Even with that, I thought we played well enough to win that game. We had a lot of looks at the basket that we would want. We just didn’t finish some plays that we normally would finish. I guess it wasn’t supposed to be for us today.”

Cole Bundren, Konnor Black and Kinzer all scored seven points for the Wildcats. Black nailed a pair of 3-pointers in the fourth stanza.

But Franklin got no points from leading scorer Payton Knott, who fouled out with 1:56 left. Knott did contribute six rebounds.

The Wildcats, who captured their sixth straight Southwestern Buckeye League Southwestern Division title this year, are losing four seniors: Will Kercher, Greg Wyatt, Black and Kremer.

“I’m proud of our seniors and thank them for everything they did for the program,” Bales said. “Not on their watch were we not going to win that league.

“We had 18 wins. I don’t care what league you’re in, I don’t care what people say. We’re a good basketball team. We can play with anybody.”

In Saturday’s other D-II games at Trent Arena, Badin beat Monroe 55-36, Trotwood-Madison buried Ross 124-59, Carroll edged Meadowdale 66-64 on a last-second shot, and Ponitz defeated Oakwood 55-41.

Fenwick 10-8-19-18—55

Franklin 13-16-10-14—53

FENWICK (13-10): Caleb Davis 0 1 1, Paul Blodgett 2 2 7, Sammy DeBiasi 2 1 5, C.J. Hurley 1 0 2, C.J. Napier 7 1 15, David Luers 7 1 15, John Engelmeier 1 0 3, Luke Bradshaw 3 1 7. Totals: 23-7-55

FRANKLIN (18-5): Noah Kremer 6 0 12, Cole Bundren 3 0 7, Braden White 2 0 5, Ryan Montgomery 7 1 15, Jared Kinzer 3 0 7, Konnor Black 2 1 7. Totals: 23-2-53

3-pointers: FE 2 (Blodgett, Engelmeier), FR 5 (Black 2, Kinzer, White, Bundren)

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