DAYTON, Ohio — Quinn Woidke laid in the game-winning score with 13 seconds remaining as Cleveland St. Ignatius topped Delaware Hayes 54-53 in the OHSAA Division I boys basketball state semifinal at UD Arena on Saturday.
For the first time since 2001, the Wildcats (25-3) will play for a state championship.
“It came down to the wire with two great teams,” Cleveland St. Ignatius head coach Cam Joyce said. “We’ve been in a lot of close games with a lot of good teams, and so we never lost faith in what we could do.”
Delaware Hayes’ Jesse Burris made a layup midway through the third quarter to give the Pacers (27-2) their first lead of the game 36-35.
The Pacers led into the fourth quarter for the next 5:39 until Wildcats senior Reece Robinson, who is committed to Cleveland State, scored in transition to flip the score 44-43 in favor of Cleveland St. Ignatius.
Three lead changes and two ties later, Burris and Landon Vanderwarker, who transferred from Northside Christian before the season, scored nine combined points in a 10-6 run that put the Pacers ahead 53-50 with 1:10 left to play.
Damon Friery made a layup, then Sean Martin swiped a steal with 27 seconds left leading into a timeout called by Cleveland St. Ignatius. After the inbound, Woidke dribbled down the lane and dropped in the go-ahead score contested by Vanderwarker.
Delaware Hayes missed its last two shot attempts in the final two seconds.
“When we went down, they went on that huge run, and our goal was to come out pushing the lead, but that didn’t happen,” Woidke said. “We’ve been facing that type of adversity all year.”
Friery led Cleveland St. Ignatius with 16 points, and Woidke had 15.
“It’s (been) about 23 years that we’ve been knocking on this door,” Joyce said. “We’ve had a lot of great teams, a lot of good coaches here, and so to finally break through was special.”
Delaware Hayes won a school-record 27 games this season. It earned a district title for the first time since 1986.
Vanderwarker led all scorers with 21 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field. Burris, who is committed to Ohio, totaled 17.
“Just didn’t hold a seal long enough in the one spot, but, that’s basketball, and they got the turnover and made a play,” Delaware Hayes Head Coach Adam Vincenzo said. “In a game like this, tiny execution matters a lot. We executed a lot throughout the game, but just that little tiny detail. They were better than us in that last 30 seconds and made a couple plays.”
Cleveland St. Ignatius will play the winner of Centerville-Toledo Whitmer in the Division I final on Sunday at 8:30 p.m.