DAYTON – Trotwood Madison beat Urbana, 86-52, in the Division II district boys basketball final on Wednesday. Trotwood ran all over Urbana in transition and shot a high percentage from midrange to defeat the Hillclimbers.
“You don’t score 91 points a game on layups and dunks. You’ve got to be good shooters, too, and they have some of those,” UHS Coach Jeremy Dixon said. “We ran into a bit of a buzz saw tonight. They’re very good.”
The Rams also used their superior athleticism to beat up Urbana on the boards, out-rebounding the ‘Climbers, 46-31.
Urbana was able to hang with Trotwood for the first quarter, using good team basketball to break traps and get layups. After the first, it was 22-15 in favor of Trotwood.
“After the first four minutes, I feel like we did a better job. The first half, I didn’t feel like we did a horrible job taking care of the ball. They only had four steals, which is what we were trying to prevent,” Dixon said. “That was a pretty good stretch to end the first quarter. But after that, we had a couple of careless turnovers. And it’s tough. When they’re coming after you and coming after you, and then you get an open look, you feel like you have to rush it a little bit.”
Seniors Kalen Howell and Riley Emmons stepped up for Urbana, with Howell getting back to contest nearly every possession and Emmons near the team lead in scoring.
“They look to push the ball more. They’re really quick when we miss the ball or they get a rebound,” said Howell, who finished with 8 points and 5 rebounds.
Emmons had 14 points despite missing Mondays’ practice and most of Tuesday’s with an injured right ankle.
“I was just trying to give my best so we could go as far as we could in the tournament. I didn’t want to let my team down as a senior. I wasn’t going to miss it,” Emmons said.
After that initial burst in the first quarter, Urbana faded.
The Hillclimbers scored only five points in the second quarter and trailed, 46-20, at halftime.
“I’m proud of my guys. They never quit,” Dixon said. “It was just a tall order for us tonight.”
The second half was more of the same, with a game Hillclimbers’ squad needing to foul to slow down the Rams’ attack and being unable to convert at a high-enough clip offensively.
Levi Boettcher led Urbana with 15 points and 11 rebounds.
For the game, Trotwood was 16-of-26 at the free throw line and shot 51 percent from the field. Urbana was 6-of-16 at the line and shot 33 percent from the field.
“Sometimes you just run up against a team and you give your best and it’s not good enough,” Dixon said. “We’re very happy to be able to send Kalen and Riley off like that. Nobody would have predicted that they would have been part of back-to-back sectional championships. I’m very happy for those two. They’ve worked very hard to get where they’re at.”
