The Lions snapped a 30-year slump on Saturday, taking the lead for good early in the third quarter and pulling away for a 72-60 win over Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy in the last of four Division III district championship games at the University of Cincinnati’s Fifth Third Arena.
Meadowdale (15-8) won its first district championship since 1992, when the program was Division I. Saturday’s district championship game also was the Lions’ first since that year.
It had been so long that coach Dwayne Chastain Sr. felt compelled to personally direct the net-cutting part of the celebration, drawing on the experience from his days as an assistant at Thurgood Marshall.
“It’s been a long time,” he said. “I never had that feeling as a head coach. To do it for the Meadowdale community is a great feeling.”
Junior guard Josiah Scates led the Lions with 17 points. He relished the idea that he led the team in such a monumental win.
“It feels great, but it was all the players,” he said. “It was a team effort. My teammates gave me some great passes.”
He admitted that the long-time absence from the district level had been talked about constantly among the Meadowdale players.
“We talked about it a lot,” he said, clutching his length of net nylon. “It helped us stay focused in practice. We’ve been looking forward to this all year.”
Junior forward Lee Benson led three other Lions in double figures with 13 points. Junior guard Kallerio Reaves added 12 and sophomore guard Sean Caldwell finished with 11 for Meadowdale, which advanced to Wednesday’s regional semifinal against Georgetown at Fairmont’s Trent Arena. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
The G-Men advanced with a 58-49 win over Versailles in the first of Saturday’s four games.
The Lions overcame a game-high 22 points from CHCA senior guard Eric Rakestraw and 16 from senior guard Jake Fisher. The Eagles (20-5), who went into the game on a 16-game win streak, also went 20-of-24 on free throws. They had won all of their first three tournament games by double digits.
“We knew we had to play really good defense,” Chastain said. “They shoot the ball well, and they’re usually a pretty balanced team. They don’t have one dominant scorer.”
“We just came out and played great ball and great defense,” Scates said.
Meadowdale now has won three straight games, all in the tournament, after ending the regular season with two consecutive losses.
Benson gave Meadowdale the lead for good at 44-43 with two free throws with 3:42 left in the third quarter.
Freshman guard Tre ‘Von Hodges scored five points to help Meadowdale take a 14-9 lead into the second quarter. Caldwell sank a 3-pointer to give the Lions a 23-14 lead with 4:11 left in the first half, but CHCA – which plays in the Miami Valley Conference – closed the half with a 16-5 run to take a 30-28 lead into halftime.
Two Cincinnati teams -- Taft and Mariemont -- will face off in the other regional semi at 8 p.m. Wednesday at Trent Arena.