Those thoughts were all the motivation he needed to put the Arrows on his back.
Stafford hit the go-ahead jumper and then took the game over as Tecumseh beat Stebbins 55-47 in a Division III district semifinal game on Wednesday at Centerville.
“Last eight minutes of my life maybe on the basketball court. I just was going to give it everything I got and wasn’t going to leave the floor with any regrets,” Stafford said.
Stebbins led 43-41 with six minutes left. Stafford received the ball near the corner of the arc in front of his bench and drained a three to put Tecumseh into the lead.
He wasn’t done there. Stafford proceeded to score the next 10 points for the Arrows into the final minute of the game, finishing off his run by hitting four free throws to eventually extend the lead into double digits and remove any doubt he or his fellow seniors were done playing this season.
“Our team, we’ve been through a lot of crap this year. Nobody deserves it more than us to be honest. I love our guys,” Stafford said.
Credit: Steven Wright
Credit: Steven Wright
Tecumseh advances to play No. 1 Badin at 1 p.m. Saturday in a district final game at UD Arena.
Stafford scored a game-high 28 points. During the second quarter he also scored 11 points during a 13-0 run by Tecumseh that got his team back in the game after a slow start.
No. 6-seed Stebbins jumped out to a 15-6 start by limiting open looks on defense and scoring in transition. The Arrows took over the lead with its run and led by two at halftime but not without Stebbins briefly taking back the lead beforehand.
It was much different than the first meeting between the two teams when Tecumseh won on the road 71-46 on Dec. 2 and led by 16 after the first quarter.
Tecumseh (14-10), the No. 7 seed in the North, saw its lead quickly dissolve in the second half Wednesday as the Arrows ended up trailing by six midway through the third quarter.
Senior Austin Clark was a hidden hero in jumpstarting the comeback to start the fourth quarter as he produced a quick 5-0 run that briefly tied the game.
“He does all the other stuff you want,” Tecumseh head coach Kyle Leathley said. “He’s always in the right spot on defense and always figures out ways to get rebounds. When we get him doing that and then he makes a couple shots, it’s a bonus. A program kid is what he is.”
Stebbins (16-8) didn’t have answers to stop the bleeding in the final minutes as its season ended after a runner-up finish in the Miami Valley League Valley Division.
The Indians were led by 13 points by freshman Lawson Beard.
Tecumseh got 11 points from senior Corey Russell and nine by Clark in support of Stafford.
Stafford’s 28 were a season high, besting the 26 he scored against Stebbins in the regular season meeting.
“The kid has been hurt all season, he’s had groin and hamstring issues,” Leathley said noting the 12 games Stafford has missed. “He’s literally playing on one leg and it’s amazing. I’ve coached that kid for four years and when you think he showed you everything, he finds a way to kick it in overdrive and do what he did today.”
Bellbrook beats CJ to reach district final
Once Bellbrook found out the D-III district finals were being held at UD Arena, it became the goal of the team to get there.
The Golden Eagles are able to check that goal off their list. Bellbrook beat Chaminade Julienne 67-54 in the second game Wednesday to advance to a district final for the second straight season.
“You can see David [Gregory] with tears in his eyes over there right now,” Bellbrook head coach Donnie Tate said. “This is my 10th year at the program and from the time I got here, I said the goal is to get to UD, and last year we get to a district final but it’s at Middletown. Great environment.
“This year I didn’t realize it was at UD until like a month and half ago, and I shared that with these guys and the look on their faces, it kept their focus every day in practice. We kept talking about that. You can win two tournament games, you can be playing at UD and you can have the Bellbrook brand out there.”
Gregory played another big part in securing the victory for Bellbrook. He scored 20 points, hitting four 3s and shooting 8-for-8 from the free throw line in the final 90 seconds to put the game out of reach.
“The main goal this season was to get back to districts,” Gregory said. “We were there last year, lost to a really good Aiken team, and then we knew it was going to be at UD Arena this year.”
No. 5 Bellbrook (17-7) took over the lead in the second quarter and never relinquished it again. The Golden Eagles held CJ without a point for the final 6:35 of the first half as it went on a 9-0 run to go up by seven at halftime.
CJ (11-13) got its deficit down to two on several occasions in the third quarter. Both times, it was freshman Jack Howard that kept Bellbrook ahead.
Howard scored 12 straight points for Bellbrook over the final 4:42 of the third quarter as part of his game-high 25.
CJ had senior Deng Majack keep them in the game for as long as he could, scoring the final 11 points for the Eagles, but Bellbrook’s ability to get to the free throw line proved to be too much.
“They did what good teams do. They controlled it, they were patient, and they took really good shots and hit them,” CJ head coach Charlie Szabo said. “We dug that hole and we were trying to climb out of it. ... They deserved to win that game.”
Bellbrook advanced to play No. 5 Hughes at 5 p.m. Saturday in a district final at UD Arena.
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