Leen couldn’t have described the first quarter of Saturday morning’s Division II state semifinal any better.
The Knights bolted to a 20-4 lead, hit Ursuline with similar lightning in the third quarter and rolled to a 73-37 victory to reach a state championship game for the first time since 2003.
“We talked in the locker room that we needed to set the tone and we needed to set the tone early,” said senior guard Joe Brand. “Then we talked about how the first three minutes of the second half were going to decide the game.”
The Knights say they have been looking at the state championship banners that hang in their gym for another piece of motivation. The last banner they hung was in 2001. They can add a fourth banner and trophy to the case on Sunday. The Knights, who also won state titles in 1978 and 1999, will play the winner of Shelby and Zanesville Maysville at 5:15 p.m. in the friendly confines of UD Arena.
“We hit a lot of shots, our defense was locked in and I couldn’t be more proud of how my team played,” Alter coach Eric Coulter said.
The Knights shot 62.2% and made 9 of 19 3-pointers. R.J. Greer, the Knights most dynamic scorer on a team full of shooters, missed two shots, made four 3-pointers and scored 24 points. Brand scored 16, Brady Conner 10 and five Knights made threes.
Ursuline coach Keith Gunther understood the challenge of controlling a team that often puts five good perimeter shooters on the floor together. And he said Greer was even better in person than what he saw on film.
“When you’re playing a team that you’re trying to take away the three line from and they’re still making threes, it’s an uphill battle,” Gunther said.
Ursuline came to Dayton averaging 70 points and giving up 49. Alter completely flipped that from the start, blocking shots and holding the Irish to 28.3% shooting. On offense, the Knights got what they wanted early on curl cuts to the rim and found open space to shoot 3-pointers.
The 20-4 lead they built in the first quarter was a sign of what was coming in the second half. Ursuline woke up in the second quarter and had to feel good going to halftime down 33-22.
But Alter’s third quarter was even better than its first with 29 points. Conner scored six early points. And when Greer drilled a 3-pointer barely two minutes into the half the Knights led 42-26.
Then Brand scored 10 of Alter’s next 12 points and the Knights led by 30. The running clock that comes with a 35-point lead started with 5:12 left in the fourth.
In the Knights’ final regular-season game, they lost 65-36 at Chaminade Julienne. They’ve been rolling ever since.
“The biggest word we’ve been stressing in the playoffs is composure,” Greer said. “We’ve had our best practices in the playoffs as well.”
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