STALLION BASKETBALL - 3/13/21 vs. Byesville Meadowbrook

STALLION BASKETBALL

GAME TWENTY-FIVE: DESALES 58; BYESVILLE MEADOWBROOK 44

Division II Regional Championship

(at Chillicothe Southeastern, March 13, 2021)

Season Record: Overall: 18-7; Central Catholic League: 5-3

All-Time Series (1 game): DeSales leads 1-0

HAIL TO THE DIVISION II REGIONAL CHAMPIONS!

1 2 3 4 F

MEADOWBROOK 12 5 13 14 44

DESALES 19 22 11 6 58

Byesville Meadowbrook: Davis Singleton 15, Jake Singleton 13, Johna McCall 9, Jerome Todd 4, Malachaii Phillips 3.

DeSales: Desmond Watson 30, Obed Achirem 16, Austin Mann 4, Cruz Sanchez 4, Atticus Schuler 4.

With his third three-point field goal in the first quarter, Des Watson passed Nick Kellogg to become SFD's all-time scoring leader. After this game, Des has scored 1,678 points in his career while Kellogg had 1,654 from 2006 to 2010.

From ThisWeekSports Community News:

by Dave Purpura

March 13, 2021

DeSales 58, Byesville Meadowbrook 44

Desmond Watson’s game-high 30 points, 13 of which came in the first quarter, powered the Stallions past the Colts in a regional final at Chillicothe Southeastern and to their first state tournament since 2009.

Watson became DeSales’ all-time leading scorer within the first few minutes of the game. He hit two early 3-pointers and then a basket to pass 2010 graduate Nick Kellogg, who had 1,654 points.

Watson, a Davidson recruit, has 1,678 points.

Obed Achirem added 16 points for the Stallions, who improved to 18-7 and will play Dayton Chaminade Julienne in a state semifinal March 20 at University of Dayton Arena.

DeSales broke the game open with a 22-5 second-quarter advantage. Watson had 21 points by halftime.

Davis Singleton scored 15 points and Jake Singleton added 13 for Meadowbrook, which finished 25-3.

From 270 Hoops.Com:

STATE BOUND: DES WATSON'S MAJOR NIGHT POWERS DESALES INTO THE STATE FINAL FOUR

DES WATSON DROPPED AN EASY 30 POINTS TO POWER THE STALLIONS OVER MEADOWBROOK

by Zach Fleer, 03/13/21, 7:30PM EST

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio -- It was over before it even started.

Locking in from the opening tip, DeSales senior Des Watson left no doubt who would win the Division II regional final between the Stallions and Meadowbrook on Saturday at Southeastern High School in Chillicothe.

Watson went off for 30 points in a 58-44 drubbing that was not as close as the score suggested.

Connecting on his first three three-point shots and scoring 13 points in the opening quarter, Watson helped DeSales blow past the overmatched Colts in the first half.

After leading 19-12 after a quarter of play, Watson and the Stallions revved up in the second quarter, getting out into transition and punishing Meadowbrook to the tune of a 22-5 period. Watson had two powerful dunks while fellow senior and tournament hero Obed Achirem had one of his own, lifting DeSales to a 41-17 halftime lead.

With 21 points at the break, Watson also became DeSales' all-time leading scorer in the process, another notch in the belt of a player who has put together an incredible season.

In the second half, DeSales gave up no ground, as Watson scored another nine points in the third quarter to lift the Stallions to a 52-30 lead heading into the final frame.

Meadowbrook never really challenged at any point in the game, getting no closer than the 14-point final margin. Without a true matchup for Watson and no starters over 6-foot-2, Meadowbrook had nobody to protect the rim as Watson made the Colts pay all afternoon long.

The Stallions applied terrific pressure on the ball and gave Meadowbrook nothing easy. The Colts struggled to hit shots for large stretches of the middle quarters, while allowing DeSales to get out in the open floor where the Stallions punished them.

Watson's 30 points were a game-high while Achirem added an efficient 16. Rounding out the starting lineup, Austin Mann, Atticus Schuler and Cruz Sanchez each added four points, but did most of their damage on the defensive end of the floor and on the glass where DeSales gave up very few second chances.

The 6-foot-5 senior Watson was the biggest, most athletic and most talented player on the floor by a wide margin, which was easy to tell from the opening tip. Meadowbrook's inability to contain, let alone slow down Watson, gave the Colts virtually no chance to pull the upset and return to the state tournament for the second time in three years.

For Meadowbrook, Davis Singleton and Jake Singleton each finished in double figures with 15 and 13 points respectively.

With its first regional final victory since 2009, DeSales moves on to the Division II state semifinals where they will take on Dayton Chaminade Julienne on Saturday, March 20 at 11 a.m.

Chaminade ended Bishop Watterson's Cinderella run in the state tournament and prevented a possible CCL clash in the state final four.

DeSales is fortunate to avoid the other side of the bracket which will feature a star-studded state semifinal between Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary and Lima Shawnee.

If the Stallions get a showing out of Watson like they had on Saturday, they can play with anyone in the state. For the Stallions to win their first state title since 1987, they'll need focused and fearless play from here on out, as they struggled out of the gate and had early game jitters in both the district finals and regional semifinals against Jonathan Alder and Unioto.

From The Daily Jeffersonian:

MEADOWBROOK'S POSTSEASON RUN ENDS WITH LOSS TO DESALES IN REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

by Kevin Sutton, The Daily Jeffersonian

CHILLICOTHE — 'All good things come to an end' . . . unfortunately for Meadowbrook High that old saying rang true on Saturday afternoon with the Colts' seeing their 15-game winning streak ending in the Division II regional championship game with Columbus DeSales High posting a 58-44 victory.

"What more could we ask of these boys," a visibly disappointed Meadowbrook head coach Lou 'Scooter' Tolzda offered following the season ending setback. "We were not the biggest team in almost every game we played. We could just not have asked for anymore out of this group of kids."

A tremendous first half performance by DeSales, with senior Desmond Watson leading the way, quickly put the Colts behind the eight ball after the opening half of play.

Watson, the two-time Central District Player of the Year was simply dominating in the first half with 21 points to jumpstart the Stallions out to a 41-17 lead at the halftime break.

"Our kids played their hearts out and gave everything they had," Tolzda added. "And they continued to grow, and get better all season," Tolza continued. "Tonight just hats off to DeSales, they played an unbelievable first half and put us in a big hole."

"We came in at halftime and told the kids, we are not going to stop coaching and you guys not going to stop playing hard," Tolzda stated. "We came out in the second half, we battled and we fought hard. We cut it to 14 points, I wish we had another minute maybe we could have cut it to 11. We just kept scrapping and that's a credit to our kids and all the success they have had. Very proud of them for the way they battled today."

Watson started early with 12 first quarter points, including a trio of triples to give Desales a 19-12 lead after the opening quarter. Senior Davis Singleton attempted to keep Meadowbrook within striking distance with seven of the Colts' 12 first quarter points.

In the second stanza, Watson continued to shine and showed off his ability to get to the basket with eight more points . . . including a pair of thunderous dunks to lead the Stallions out to a lopsided 22-5 scoring edge in the period. Junior Jake Singleton tallied all five of the Colts' points in the frame.

"The Watson kid is a very good player . . . he's just very impressive," Tolzda offered. "He's a Division I player, they said he's the two-time player of the year in the Central District and you can believe that after watching him tonight. And they have a couple other nice players around him."

Displaying that fight in the second half helped the Colts outscore the Stallions by a 27-17 margin in the second half with Davis Singleton scoring eight points, senior Johna McCall added six with a pair of 3-pointers and Jake Singleton chipped in with five for Meadowbrook.

Watson finished with a monster 30-point night to lead Desales (18-7), while Obed Achirem chipped in with 16 markers.

Davis Singleton tallied 15 points to pace Meadowbrook, with cousin Jake Singleton right behind with 13 and McCall racked up nine points with a trio of second half 3-pointers.

"We will miss our four seniors, think about what they have done in the last two years," Tolzda said. "We were 23-3 last year, 25-3 this year, how many teams would like to do that. That's a testament to those kids and we will miss them."

Completing their highly successful Meadowbrook basketball careers were Davis Singleton, McCall, Jerome Todd and Tyler Lacey.

Meadowbrook closes out the season with a sparkling 25-3 record, which set a new boys basketball school record for wins in a season.

"We will see what happens next year, we got three kids who played a lot in Jake, Drew (Webster) and Malachii (Phillips) along with some talented younger kids who had a good year at the JV level," Tolzda explained. "So we are not dead in the water and will come out swinging again next year."

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