Saturday Regional Final Results:

Taft is the DIII SW Regional Champions

Taft will be the other team to represent Cincinnati, along with LaSalle, in the State Championships next weekend in Columbus as they narrowly defeated upset-minded Summit at Kettering Fairmont tonight. Roger Bacon, who had another great season, went down to Thurgood Marshall in the Division II Regional Title game.
Taft celebration photos

• Taft 49 Summit 45: In a game that most people thought would be a blowout the Silver Knights took Taft to the final horn before succumbing to the Senators. The lead went back and forth in the final two minutes until Dwayne Stanford scored with 29 seconds to give Taft a 2 point lead. Summit advanced the ball and coming out of a timeout Kevin Johnson was stripped with under 5 seconds left in the game, the ball landed in Dwayne Stanford's hands and his two FT's put the game out of reach with 1 second remaining. The game was played at Summit's pace as their patience on offense (after solving the Taft press which gave them fits in the first quarter) frustrated Taft as did Summit's zone defense which held Taft well below its scoring average. Summit also did a good job on the boards but Adolphus Washington and Dwayne Stanford were able to get some key offensive rebounds in the fourth. The energy of Stanford was key for Taft in this one as was the long range shooting threat of Jalean Lowe, even though he was cold for the game Summit had to be aware of where Lowe was on the court. For the game Washington led the Senators with 15 points, Stanford scored 13, Orlando Berry and Lowe each added 8 in the win. Summit was led by Kevin Johnson's 10 points, Tommy Kreyenhagen's 9, Ryan Glass' 9, while Jack Gustafson and Antonio Woods each had 7. Antonio Woods did a great job of handling the pressure, and picking up his aggressiveness on the offensive end when Johnson was in foul trouble. Taft, who has been #1 in Ohio almost all season in DIII now advances to Columbus for next weekend's final four. 

• Thurgood Marshall 74 Roger Bacon 59:  Jordan Watson's huge second half, he finished with a game high 32 points, propelled Thurgood past Roger Bacon and on to the final four. In the loss Gavin Schumann scored 19 points, Jared Bryant 13, Paul Byrd 13, and JaBriel Coaston 11. The overall depth of Thurgood was just too much for Bacon to handle in this one.