KETTERING – Preble Shawnee was all business in their return to the D3 Regional Final where their season ended last year. They made good on their promise to themselves to return this year and win it. They did just that in a convincing 53-32 win over Versailles to advance to the State Final Four for the first time in school history.
For the three seniors Case Roell, Logan Hawley and Mason Shrout it was something they have dreamed about since they were young kids playing Dayton Metro AAU basketball together.
“This is so surreal like your whole life growing up playing basketball and then you get the chance to go play for a state championship for your school and the first time in school history to get there, it’s something we’ve thought about our whole life,” said Case Roell who held on to the Regional Championship trophy with a strong grip unwilling to let it out of his sight.
“It’s all we talked about since last year’s final, our goal was to reach the final four, all through summer, all through practice, all through the season we wanted to get to state,” Roell stated.
Roell, through most of the season was seeing about 10 minutes a game playing time … but all of sudden was thrust into a bigger role when starter Isaac Blankenship suffered an injury before the Tri-Village game in the regional semifinal.
He would accept the role of becoming the defensive stopper and came up big against the Patriots limiting Trey Sagester 10 points below his average and then against Versailles he slowed down the talented dribble drive of Drake Ahrens who scored just 6 points, to help the Arrows win a Regional Title.
“You know, it was sad to see my teammate Isaac go down. I knew somebody had to step up and I guess it had to be me. You know I’m not rolling out 20 points, but I’m going to come in play my hardest on defense and help us try to get a win,” Roell said.
Roell didn’t score in the game but did have 3 rebounds and 3 assists and was part of a stingy defense that gave up 11 points in the 1st quarter, yielded only two points in the 2nd quarter and 19 in the 2nd half.
While Roell was clamping down up top it was 6’8” senior Logan Hawley patrolling the paint on the inside and being just as stingy with 5 blocks while altering a number of others.
Hawley would add 5 points and 8 rebounds for his team in the game.
“It feels amazing. I mean, after last year, it was heartbreaking getting this far … and now to go that far again we were determined to go even further and it’s absolutely phenomenal,” Hawley beamed.
“I mean, I’m more than proud of these boys and the hard work they’ve all put in, and I’m excited for what’s next for this team.”
But it also was a dream realized by Hawley and fellow senior teammates that made the gentle giant smile.
“When I look at them, I mean, I see us on Dayton Metro, you know, we weren’t even thinking about our senior year back then and I’ve got to play ball with them my whole life and to see us accomplish stuff this big and see the smiles on their faces it warms my heart,” Hawley added.
The Arrows would get a special performance from senior Mason Shrout who typically likes to settle into the game, let the game come to him and get his teammates involved in the offense but on this night it appeared that Shrout felt a sense of urgency to establish his presence early on and it would pay off.
Versailles got off to a good start and held leads of 3-0, 6-5 and 9-8 in the 1st quarter but Preble Shawnee would rain in four – 3’s, and 8 points from Shrout to take a 14-11 lead at the end of the period and the Tigers would never lead the rest of the game.
The Arrows defense in the 2nd quarter was tight giving up just 2 points while Shawnee added 10. At the half Shrout had 13 points.
In the 3rd quarter the Tigers leaned on Jace Watren to try and get them going with Roell keeping Ahrens bottled up. Watren scored 7, Griesdorn 5 and White 3 for the best offensive quarter of the night for Versailles.
With Versailles trailing 32-25, Preble Shawnee was needing a big play, and it would be Mason Shrout delivering for the 2nd game in a row a big 4-point play.
Shrout rose up and was hacked on the arm and while falling to the floor saw the ball go through the net on his three-pointer. He then sat up on the court began bouncing up and down with a great big smile knowing he delivered another big time play for his team.
He would complete the four-point play with the free throw extending the lead to 36-25 erasing some of the momentum the Tigers were trying to claim.
When asked about coming up with big 4-point plays in back-to-back games Shrout gave credit to God.
Which prompted the question, did God pull the trigger and make those shots for you?
“I’ll say the one today I was looking at the rim when I shot it. The one the other night, though, I wasn’t looking at the rim, I mean, yeah, God’s a huge part of my game. He keeps me grounded. Doesn’t let me get too high, too low, it’s a next play mentality,” Shrout stated.
Shrout scored 8 points in the quarter and Brody Morton 6 as the Arrows matched the 15 points by Versailles to hold a 39-28 lead going into the final stanza.
Preble Shawnee would clamp down defensively again in the 4th quarter holding the Tigers to just 4 points and Mason Shrout gave his team a little bit more comfortable margin adding 7 more points for a game high 28 and Hawley added 4 points.
The comfortable margin allowed coach Jake Turner to put substitutes in the game to have that experience of being on the floor in a regional championship.
“I didn’t think that was going to happen that we would have a nice lead, I thought it was going to be a back-and-forth type of game, you know … so to let those starters come out and let the crowd cheer for them they deserved it, this team deserves it,” Coach Turner commented after the game.
Mason Shrout echoed what his coach said, they had expected the game could go down to the wire. Which prompted my question about his effort to assert himself into the game earlier than normal.
“We knew if we let Versailles hang around a little bit, it was going to be a dogfight in the third and fourth quarter. So, I kind of had the mentality to come out, let’s get an early lead, maintain that lead and just play from there,” Shrout answered
“I come in with the mentality of, I’m the best player on the court. Every time I step on, I’ve outworked everybody, I’m not discrediting anybody. I mean, everybody on my team has put in an amazing amount of work and it’s a blessing to play with these guys. But just knowing that amount of work, time and effort, early morning workouts, late night workouts, working out two or three times a day and to get to this big stage in a regional final, I mean, most kids dream to get here. So, I would say I was a little bit more fired up than normal tonight,” Shrout reasoned.
“I can confidently say I’m the most confident person in the room whenever I go into a room, but I try to remain grounded, and God is a big part of my life to help me stay grounded. But sometimes I let the game get to my head a little bit. I get a little too excited. A little too arrogant … I guess some people might say but I don’t mean it in a bad way,” Shrout explained.
His performance on the floor backed up everything he said. His hard work, dedication to the game was on full display for everyone to see and he backed it up with 28 points and 9 rebounds. He was 9-for-18, 5-of-9 beyond the arch and 5-7 from the free throw line.
He even offered his extended hand to an opponent to try and help them off the floor.
For Shrout and his senior teammates those years of playing together have paid off. For the team, coaches, cheerleaders, students, parents, fans, sponsors as well can all now claim themselves Regional Champions with their 53-32 win over Versailles while punching their first ever ticket the State Final Four.
DIII #10 Camden Preble Shawnee (24-3) will now face DIII #2 Cleveland Heights Lutheran East (21-5) and Friday, 8:30 p.m. at UD Arena.
It’s a great opportunity for fellow Western Ohio Athletic Conference teams to show their support. The location is close and the venue one of the best to watch a game … let’s see how many folks we can get to come out support the Arrows.
