BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — As agonizing as Plymouth’s 76-68 double overtime loss to Wayne Trace was, it couldn’t compare to the heartache Big Red coach Troy Keene experienced as he said goodbye to his senior class inside the locker room of Bowling Green State University’s Stroh Center afterward.
“I’ve known these kids longer than the four years that I’ve coached them in basketball,” Keene said. That’s the part that is hard tonight because you made great relationships with kids and now you’ve got to tell them goodbye.
“Like I told them tonight, I’m just a phone call away. Any time that you play for me, you’re like a son to me for the rest of your life.”
Wayne Trace (24-1) advanced to Friday’s regional championship game against all odds. The Raiders, ranked second in the final Associated Press state poll, trailed 14-2 in the first quarter, let a 56-50 fourth-quarter advantage slip away and trailed 60-56 with less than a minute remaining in the first four-minute overtime session.
“I think the fans got their money’s worth,” Wayne Trace coach Jim Linder said. “Neither team wanted to quit. Luckily we got off to a good start in the second overtime and held on.”
Wayne Trace scored the first seven points of the second OT to grab a 68-61 lead. The spurt came with Plymouth standout Tyrell Edmiston on the bench. The Northwest District Player of the Year in Division IV, Edmiston was forced to the bench because he had blood on his shorts. Wayne Trace scored a layup off the tip, then forced a turnover and got a 3-pointer from Corbin Linder. Another Plymouth turnover led to a Linder layup and the Big Red never recovered.
Edmiston could do nothing but watch from the scorer’s table during what proved to be the game-deciding sequence.
“It’s huge. It got them rolling,” Keene of Edmiston’s absence. “The OHSAA needs to look at that. (The officials) told me once he left the floor to change his pants, he had to leave the game.”
Foul Trouble: Edmiston picked up his third foul early in the third quarter and was whistled for his fourth less than 30 seconds later. He headed to the bench with the Big Red holding a 31-24 lead, but Plymouth was outscored 21-11 the rest of the quarter and trailed 45-42 heading to the fourth quarter.
“We run a certain play we call Raider and it’s designed specifically to get the post freed up,” Jim Linder said. “As soon as Edmiston went out, that is what we ran.
“He had a couple monster swats and that gets you thinking. We missed a lot of layups just looking over our shoulder.”
Keene brought Edmiston back briefly in the third. He returned with 7:07 remaining in the fourth and played the rest of regulation, all of the first overtime and all but six seconds of the second overtime before fouling out.
“I didn’t waste much time with getting him back in the ball game,” Keene said. “I wasn’t going to go down nine or 10 and have to fight back. He came in and played smart there.
“He’s gotten into foul trouble two times in the last two years and it was last Tuesday (in Plymouth’s district semifinal win over St. Peter’s) and this Tuesday.”
Monster Night: Despite his foul troubles, Edmiston scored 14 points on 4 of 6 shooting, grabbed 17 rebounds and handed out nine assists. Tyson Beebe led Plymouth with 28 points, while Tyler Taylor added 13 points.
Sophomore Ethan Linder led Wayne Trace with 44 points. Corbin Linder had 14.
Free Throw Woes: The Big Red were just 15 of 28 from the free throw line
“You talk every practice about free throws. Every practice it comes up,” Keene said. “You normally don’t see where it affects the game but tonight it really affected the game.”
Elite Eight: Wayne Trace will play Delphos St. John’s for a regional title and a berth in the Final Four at 7 p.m. Friday at the Stroh Center. St. John’s beat Oregon Cardinal Stritch 45-32 in Tuesday’s late game.
“We run a certain play we call Raider and it’s designed specifically to get the post freed up,” Jim Linder said. “As soon as Edmiston went out, that is what we ran. He had a couple monster swats and that gets you thinking. We missed a lot of layups just looking over our shoulder.”
