St. Xavier High School’s boys basketball team made a living at the free-throw line for most of the game Tuesday night, but the Badin Rams made them when they counted.
Junior guard Daunte DeCello went 5 of 6 from the line in the final minute, including a free throw with 5.9 seconds left that was the difference in Badin’s 60-59 win over the host Bombers.
“I just wanted to make them for my team,” DeCello said of his mind-set at the line. His last make rendered meaningless Daniel Keyes’ 3-pointer at the buzzer.
“Free throws are something we’ve been working on,” Badin coach Gerry Weisgerber said. “We only shot 50 percent against Taft (in a 70-48 loss). You can’t beat good teams shooting like that.”
Senior forward Seth Thompson scored 14 points and classmate John Marot added 12 for Badin (2-3), which erased a 10-point third-quarter deficit to snap a seven-game losing streak in the series.
“We have to take this as a catalyst,” said Weisgerber, in the first year of his second term as the Rams’ head coach. “It’s what we do with this from here on out that’s important.”
Badin gets its first chance to build on the win Friday against visiting Bellbrook in a game that was a late addition to the schedule.
Keyes, a senior forward, tied Thompson for game-high scoring honors with 14 points and senior guard/forward Matthew Budde finished with 11 for St. Xavier (2-2), which was 13 of 16 on free throws at one point before finishing 20 of 30. Badin was 11-of-15.
Bow-tied Bombers coach Jim Lallathin was disappointed in his team’s rebounding. Badin finished with a 28-25 edge.
“We’re a big team, and them outrebounding us showed they were hungrier,” the Lakota High School graduate said. “They’re well-coached. I grew up idolizing Weisgerber.”
Badin didn’t take its first lead until a tip-in by senior center Brian Gerbus for a 46-44 edge with 7:05 left. Junior center Warren Clarke gave the Rams the lead for good with a free throw with 2:01 left, the first of nine in 12 tries down the stretch for them.
Badin committed six turnovers while St. Xavier was jumping out to a 9-0 lead less than halfway through the first quarter. After a 30-second timeout, the Rams regrouped for a 9-3 run that cut the deficit to 12-9 before Keyes sank a 3-pointer to give the Bombers a 15-9 edge going into the second quarter.
The margin slipped to 15-13 before St. X put together a 9-2 run for a 24-15 lead with 4:07 left in the second quarter, but Thompson connected with a 3-pointer to spark a 10-4 half-ending surge that cut the St. Xavier lead to 28-25 by halftime.
Marot finished the first half with eight points and Thompson with seven for Badin, which committed 11 turnovers, helping the Bombers build a 13-6 advantage in points off of turnovers.
Budde scored nine points to lead St. Xavier in the first half.
St. Xavier expanded its lead to 42-32 with 1:56 left in the third quarter before Badin ended the period with a 10-2 run capped by senior forward Alex Jones’ reverse-layup putback at the buzzer of Marot’s long 3-pointer, leaving the hosts leading by just 44-42 going into the fourth quarter.
The Bombers will travel to Roger Bacon on Friday.
Badin 9-16-17-18—60
St. Xavier 15-13-16-15—59
BADIN (2-3): Justin Pappas 2 0 4, John Marot 4 2 12, Jakob Tipton 3 0 6, Daunte DeCello 2 5 9, Seth Thompson 5 1 14, Alex Jones 1 0 2, Kyle Young 2 0 4, Warren Clarke 2 3 7, Brian Gerbus 1 0 2. Totals: 22-11-60
ST. XAVIER (2-2): Daniel Keyes 3 6 14, Gage Hammann 1 5 7, Matthew Budde 4 2 11, Brandon Gilbert 2 2 6, Chris Payne 1 0 2, Chase Wolf 2 0 6, David Wassler 2 3 7, Bobby Jefferson 2 2 6. Totals: 17-20-59
3-pointers: B 5 (Thompson 3, Marot 2), X 5 (Keyes 2, Wolf 2, Budde)
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