Four-Peat

By Editor | March 1, 2017 |

In the championship game of the IHSA Class 1A Regional at Findlay on Friday night, Patoka held a lead over Central A&M for most of the game. But, the Raiders went on a 10-0 run to go up by one with two minutes left.

It was time for the Warriors’ dangerous duo of Jered Cain and Garrett Belcher to take over.
That duo led Patoka, now 28-3, to a Wednesday night rematch with Dieterich at the Nokomis Sectional. The two teams squared off on Feb. 17 at Dieterich, with Patoka recording a 58-48 win.
The winner of that contest will face Effingham St. Anthony in the sectional championship on Friday. St. Anthony advanced to the championship game with a 53-44 win over Altamont on Tuesday night.
With the Warriors down by a point on Friday, Belcher, who had made just one of seven free throw attempts to that point, connected on one of two charity shots to tie the game at 63 with 1:46 left.
Twenty-three seconds later, Bailey O’Brien fielded a baseball pass from Belcher and made a layup to put the Warriors up by two, 65-63.
After A&M was whistled for traveling, Cain was fouled and he made one of two to make it 66-63 with 53 seconds remaining.
Cain then sealed Patoka’s fourth straight regional title with two free throws with 13 seconds left.
“We never lost our confidence,” Cain said about the late A&M run.
“We’ve been in this situation three times, and we were able to keep our composure. If we keep our composure and play D (defense), we’re going to come out in the end,” Cain said.
Belcher also felt confident when the Warriors fell behind.
“Me and Jered always step it up in the big games,” he said. “When the pressure’s on, even if we’re down a couple of points, me and him always take over,” Belcher said.
“Me and him have such good chemistry,” he said. “We always know where each other is on the court, and we make it happen.
“Everybody gets a little nervous when they (A&M) hit those threes, but Jered just went into beast mode,” Belcher said.
And while Cain and Belcher lived up to their reputations in giving Patoka a four-peat, other Warriors also played key roles in the win.
“Bailey (O’Brien), Joey (Sturgeon), Jordan (Cobb), Skylar (Webb), they all stepped up, they all left it on the floor,” said Cain, who scored 12 of his game-high 28 points in the final quarter.
“Skylar Webb, and Joey, he’s always a three-point threat out there,” Belcher said. “And Bailey O’Brien really stepped it up.”
Patoka held a 24-19 lead after one quarter, with Belcher scoring nine points and blocking four A&M shots.
Cain scored eight of Patoka’s 11 points in the second quarter as the Warriors led 35-31 at the half.
Belcher had 12 of the Warriors’ 18 points in the third quarter, with Patoka up by six, 53-47, heading into the final quarter, when 12 of its 15 points coming from Cain.
After winning three straight regional titles, Patoka was in a different situation this year, coach Joey Eddy said.
“This is the first time we’ve been favored,” he said. “We hadn’t done this in 25 years when we won the first won. The second year we were the No. 3 seed and we were No. 4 last year, so, this one, I’d say that the pressure was on us.
“But we were talking from last year, our goal wasn’t even this (regional title),” he said. “Our goal was the still the sectional and supersectional, because we got there last year with this core group.
“So, it’s another notch,” he said. “We mark it off of our list of goals.”
Like Belcher and Cain, Eddy noticed big contributions from his other players.
“At practice last night, I said, ‘Somebody’s going to step up big that nobody’s talking about. And Bailey had one heck of a game tonight,” Eddy said.
“We’re not going to sneak up on anybody,” Eddy said. “Everybody in the state knows about Jered and Garrett, so we’ve got to have those other guys get some points.
“We’ve got to have that, and we’ve had it so far,” Eddy said.
“Joey Sturgeon has played his best basketball the last two weeks, and that’s what you want out of a senior.
“He knows it’s almost over and he has stepped up so much … and that’s just elevated our game to another level,” Eddy said.
Patoka – Sturgeon 2 0-0 – 4; Webb 0 0-0 – 0; Belcher 10 2-9 – 25; O’Brien 5 1-1 – 11; Cain 11 6-7 – 28. Totals 28 9-17 – 68.
Central A&M – Smith 3 0-0 – 7; Heaton 4 3-4 – 12; Paradee 4 0-0 – 11; Bugg 3 0-0 – 8; Garner 8 3-6 – 20. Totals 26 6-10 – 66.
Three-point goals – Patoka-Belcher 3; A&M-Smith 1, Heaton 1, Paradee 3, Bugg 2, Garner 1.

Patoka’s Scott Cain drives to the basket in the fourth quarter of Friday’s regional championship at Okaw Valley Middle School in Findlay on Friday night. Cain scored 12 of his game-high 28 points in the fourth quarter.

Patoka’s Bailey O’Brien connects on a layup with 1:23 left in Friday’s regional championship to give Patoka a 65-63 lead over Central A&M. The Warriors would hold A&M scoreless from that point to win the title.