by Gregg Meadows
The long dry spell is over. Tri-Valley boys basketball is back at the Regional after a 16-year absence – and Scottie hoops boss Todd Mcloughlin enters ‘Sweet Sixteen’ play for the first time in his 25-year coaching career – thanks to a 60-37 rout of John Glenn in the D-II District title game Saturday night at ZHS’s Winland Memorial Gymnasium.
With the win, Tri-Valley (19-7) advances to Regional semi-final action on Thursday night, March 9 in Athens, with an 8:00 p.m. tip-off with the Fairfield Union Falcons (23-3) at Ohio University’s Convocation Center. The 6:00 p.m. semi-final contest ahead of the Scotties features Muskingum Valley League champion Maysville against unbeaten Columbus Bishop Ready (26-0).
The semi-final winners return to ‘The Convo’ for a Saturday, March 11 Regional title clash and Final Four berth with a 2:00 p.m. tip-off.
Fairfield Union reached the Regional with their 58-41 district title win over New Lexington on Sunday afternoon, March 5 at The Convo in Athens. The Scotties defeated Fairfield Union 54-49 back on Jan. 19 in Dresden at The Dawg House in a non-conference game.
In Tri-Valley’s district title victory over John Glenn in front of a packed house at ZHS, the Scotties jumped out to a 19-2 lead at the first break and never looked back.
A Nohah Nichols rebound bucket on TV’s second possession ignited a 12-0 start to the game for the black-and-gold, followed by Terrell Darden and Erik Neal treys, a pair of nifty drives to the rim from Darden and Jayden Walker, five straight points from Max Lyall, then a heads-up hustle hoop from senior Jack Winland, who rebounded his missed trey and put it through the nets for his team’s lightning fast 19-2 start.
The second stanza was much more of the same out of the Scottie offensive – and defensive – machine, as a Jayden Walker three-point bomb on TV’s first second stanza possession hiked the lead to 22-2 and from that point, the stampede was on. Darden added six more points in the second period, Erik Neal cashed in a neat counter on an in-bounds play and added a lay-up in the period, and Max Lyall finished off an athletic drive to the iron for two points, as Tri-Valley – whose defense forced 12 first half Muskie turnovers and dismal 3 of 19 from the field shooting show – took a commanding 34-10 lead to the halftime lockerroom.
The Scotties tossed in 13 points in each of the final two quarters, and John Glenn – to their credit – didn’t go down without a fight, outscoring TV 27-26 in the second half.
But it was too little too late for the Muskies, evidenced by the final outcome – a 60-37 Tri-Valley win and the first time the black-and-gold carried a district trophy back to Dresden since the Tim Shumaker-coached black-and gold contingent wore the district crown with their 65-57 victory over Steubenville in cavernous St. Johns Arena in Steubenville in 2007.
It was the sixth district championship for the storied TVHS boys basketball program, with Coach Rich Longaberger’s back-to-back district titles in the 1979-80, 1980-81 seasons, Coach Todd VanReeth’s Scottie’s 1990-91 crown, Coach Rick Lewis’s 1998-99 district champs, and Tim Shumaker’s 2007 Sweet Sixteen team preceding Todd McLoughin’s talented 2022-23 team, whose next stop is Athens, with a trip to the Final Four in Dayton in sight.
Max Lyall’s 14 points were tops for the district champs, with Terrell Darden and Erik Neal close behind with 11 counters apiece, seven from Jayden Walker, six for Nohah Nichols and five for Aaron Frueh. John Glenn was led in scoring by Kaiden Walls and Bexlee Woodard’s 11 points each and eight from Nathan Walker.
The Scotties reached the district championship game with a hard-earned 60-50 victory over Philo in the Sectional championship game played in Dresden at The Dawg House back on Feb. 25, then a 68-41 district semi-final win over St. Clairsville on Wednesday night, March 1 at Cambridge High School.
The visiting Electrics jumped out to a 19-14 lead at the first break thanks to Cade Searls’ eight points and Cooper Radcliff’s five first frame counters. But the host Scotties got the offense untracked in the second stanza, outscoring PHS 17-8 in the period to take a 31-27 lead to the halftime lockerroom.
The Dawgs’ lead mushroomed to double digits in the third quarter of action, thanks to the duo of Terrell Darden and Nohah Nichols, who scored 16 of TV’s 18 points in period, helping Tri-Valley to a 49-38 lead headed to the fourth quarter. Philo got no closer than seven points in the fourth quarter, as the host Scotties cut down the nets for the Sectional title, with a bigger prize in their sights.
Terrell Darden’s game-high 25 points led the winners, who also got 10 from Nohah Nichols, nine out of Erik Neal and six from Jayden Walker, to include some clutch free-throw shooting down the stretch from the Scottie senior point guard. Cade Searls’ 25 points led Philo.
On Wednesday night, March 1 at Cambridge High School in the District semi-final game against St. Clairsville, the Scotties again started slow, committing six first frame turnovers and getting only a Nohah Nichols rebound bucket, a Max Lyall counter and a Terrell Darden counter to show for their first eight minutes of work, and trailed 8-6 heading to the second quarter.
But TV righted the ship in the second stanza on both ends of the floor, forcing seven Red Devil turnovers with some pressure defense, while outscoring their opponent 23-11 to take a 29-19 lead to halftime. The Scotties poured it on in the final two periods of play, as eight different Scotties cracked the scoring column enrout to the final 68-41 win.
Jayden Walker’s 17 points were tops for TV, followed by 13 from Terrell Darden, 10 counters each from Erik Neal and Max Lyall, and five from Aaron Frueh. Luke Porter led St. Clairsville with 12 points.