Wildcats fall in district semifinals to Tornadoes 

CHILLICOTHE — Following a first quarter where the No. 1 seeded Racine Southern Tornadoes caused much damage with their outside shooting, the No. 8 seeded Whiteoak Wildcats had their season come to a close as they fell in the Division VII SE District Semifinals at Southeastern High School by a 63-34 score. 

The Monday loss ends their season at 10-14 overall, while the Tornadoes improve to 21-2 as they move on to the district finals on Sunday, March 8 against No. 4 seeded Notre Dame at the Ohio University Convocation Center in Athens at 6 p.m. 

In the district semifinals, the shooting of Racine Southern was off the charts as they made a total of 11 3-pointers in their win, including three in the first quarter and six in the second frame, as Southern’s 18-point second quarter was all from beyond the arc. 

“They (Southern) shot a little better than what we thought. I don’t think they missed too many, especially from the three-point line, but for us we have to shoot the ball well from the outside to give ourselves a chance, and we didn’t make a three all night,” Whiteoak head coach Cory Copas said. “We struggled to score with the basketball, and when you struggle to score you can’t really get back and set up and guard on defense. 

“It’s kudos to them (Southern). They did a great job tonight, and they were able to get the best of us.”

Southern led 23-12 after the first quarter against Whiteoak as the Wildcats had four points from Lucas Pollard in the quarter, four points by Jason Gaskins, and four points, all from free throws, by Christopher Wessner. 

Southern’s in the first frame led by 11 points when the quarter came to a close, as Andre Chandler scored 10 points in the first, while teammate Reed Brinager had 11 points in the opening quarter. Also scoring two points for SHS in the first frame was Kase Nelson. 

The Tornadoes picked up speed and did their most damage in the second frame, outscoring the Wildcats 18-7 in the second for a halftime lead over Whiteoak, 41-19. 

Southern began the second with a 3-pointer by Brinager, then teammate Chandler also knocked down a 3-pointer. WHS answered with a free throw by Brady Brandenburg (who battled foul trouble in the first half), but Chandler made his second 3-pointer of the second quarter and fourth of the game with 4:10 left in the second for a 19-point lead at 32-13.

Pollard for the Wildcats made 2-of-3 shots from the free-throw line, only for WHS to see Nelson sink another Tornadoes 3-pointer with 3:30 on the clock for a 20-point advantage at 35-15. 

The second frame ended with Wessner scoring two points with 1:56 on the clock, followed with two 3-pointers by Noah Leachman of Southern. The final points of the second frame came off a basket by Pollard with 27 seconds left in the quarter. 

As the Tornadoes led 41-19 entering the third frame, they won the third frame at 12-9 as Whiteoak’s points in the frame came from two points each off baskets by Pollard, Gaskins and Brandenburg, plus three points from a basket and made free throw by Wessner. 

Southern’s 12 points were scored by Chandler, Jake Wickline (a 3-pointer), Lane Edwards, Nelson and Brinager as SHS led 53-28 after three frames. 

In the fourth frame, Southern scored 10 points from Chandler, Nelson, Brinager and Rece Johnson (a 3-pointer). Whiteoak’s six points in the fourth quarter were scored by Conner Dickey, Sawyer Blair, Brandenburg and Evan Richmond. 

Whiteoak’s totals were 10 two-point baskets, and they were 14-of-22 from the free-throw line. 

Southern totaled 12 two-point baskets, 11 3-pointers, and they went 6-of-9 from the free-throw line. 

Southern was led by Brinager with 20 points with five two-point baskets, two 3-pointers, and he was 4-of-4 from the free-throw line. 

Scoring 19 points for Southern was Chandler who had three two-pointers, four 3-pointers, and he went 1-of-4 from the free-throw line.

Nelson scored 10 points for SHS with three two-point baskets, one 3-pointer, and he was 1-of-1 from the free throw line. 

Southern also had final scoring totals of Wickline (3), Edwards (2), Leachman (6) and Johnson (3). 

Whiteoak was led in the scoring column by Pollard with 10 points with three two pointers, and he was 4-of-5 in his free-throw attempts. 

Wessner was next with nine points as he was 5-of-5 from the free-throw line, plus he made two two-point buckets. 

Other final scoring totals for WHS included Gaskins (6), Brandenburg (5), Richmond (2), Dickey (1) and Blair (1). 

This was the first season for Copas as the head coach at Whiteoak, and he spoke about what it has been like in season one with the Wildcats. 

“It have been very welcoming,” he said. “The kids have been great, the coaching staff, the administration, the community all have been great. It is always hard to transition. You just get to know the kids on a personal level. Like I said, the kids have been accepting, and it took a little while to get how we wanted to do things. I thought as the year went we just didn't have the consistency enough.

“Overall, I was happy with a majority of it.”

Seniors for Whiteoak are Brady Brandenburg and Sawyer Blair. 

“Brady and Sawyer are great kids,” Copas said. “Ever since the summer they’ve come in since the first day and been the first two there. They’ve been wanting to work, wanting to listen, to get better. They give it everything they have, and they are examples of the program that some of these young guys have been able to look up to and go, ‘this is what we need to do, and know they've got to show up in the summer and put in the work to get better. 

“They were willing to accept whatever role that was asked of them, and both did a great job of that.”

BOX SCORE
WHS        12 07 09 06 — 34
SHS         23 18 12 10 — 63

SOUTHERN (63) — A.Chandler 3 (4) 1-4 19, J.Wickline 0 (1) 0-0 3, L.Edwards 1 (0) 0-0 2, N.Leachman 0 (2) 0-0 6, K.Nelson 3 (1) 1-1 10, R.Brinager 5 (2) 4-4 20, R.Johnson 0 (1) 0-0 3. TOTALS: 12 (11) 6-9 63. 

WHITEOAK (34) — L.Pollard 3 (0) 4-5 10, C.Dickey 0 (0) 1-2 1, S.Blair 0 (0) 1-2 1, J.Gaskins 3 (0) 0-0 6, C.Wessner 2 (0) 5-5 9, B.Brandenburg 1 (0) 3-8 5, E.Richmond 1 (0) 0-0 2. TOTALS: 10 (0) 14-22 34.