DAYTON, Ohio — Jordyn Watson scored 20 points in the second half, and Zanesville Maysville completed a fourth-quarter comeback over Shelby to advance to its first state championship game in the OHSAA Division II boys basketball state semifinal at UD Arena Saturday.
Zanesville Maysville (26-3), making its second appearance in the state semifinals and first since 1971, trailed with as little as 3:24 left and rode a five-point swing to propel itself to the state title game.
“The last four weeks, we’ve been fighting and clawing to get to this point,” Zanesville Maysville Head Coach Dave Brown said. “We just kept telling our kids we’re going to win this game because we love each other. We always say a true soldier fights not because he hates what’s in front of him but because he loves what’s behind him, and I kept repeating that in our huddles. And our kids just fight, they just find a way.”
It all came down to the final quarter tied at 50 points apiece for Shelby (25-3) and Zanesville Maysville. Whippets senior Alex Bruskotter’s free throw with 2:17 left tied it back up at 59 apiece, but Zanesville Maysville’s Jordyn Watson made a layup, then Alex Bobb swiped a steal that converted into another layup giving the Panthers a 64-59 lead.
Bruskotter dropped in a 3 with 1:28 left, but Zanesville Maysville went 4-for-6 at the free throw line to ice the game.
“Our kids are just so gritty,” Brown said. “Our core values: tough, unified, passionate, thankful. I feel like we were those four things tonight.”
Gator Nichols broke out for 11 points and three 3s in the first quarter, but the Whippets held him to seven points on 1-of-3 shooting the rest of the way.
Watson caught a spark in the third quarter. He shot 4-of-6 from the field including two 3s, and he totaled 26 points and two steals in the game.
Bobb had a big second half as well. He scored 13 points on 4-of-11 shooting.
“My coach before the game, he looked me in the eye and he challenged me to go out there and be aggressive,” Watson said. “I think when you have a coach that backs you, anything’s possible.”
Shelby made its first appearance in the state semifinals in program history.
Bruskotter finished with 34 points, tying Trotwood-Madison Torrey Patton’s 2017 record for most points in a Division II semifinal game.
Casey Lantz had 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Whippets.
“It just seemed like that game was always a one-possession game throughout from the first quarter all the way to the end,” Shelby head coach Greg Gallaway said. “And unfortunately, we just couldn’t execute at the very end. But I mean, it was just a great basketball game.”
Zanesville Maysville will play Kettering Archbishop Alter in the Division II final on Sunday at 5:15 p.m.