Stow-Munroe Falls Boys Top GlenOak in OT, 60-57

Stow-Munroe High used a key 3-pointer by Kyle Scelza, followed by a clutch rebound from David Walker, to slip past GlenOak 60-57 on Thursday night in the Division I Toledo Regional semfinals played at University of Akron's Rhodes Arena.

The Bulldogs (22-2) advance to Saturday night's Division I Regional finals against Toledo Central Catholic (19-4) to be played at University of Toledo's Savage Arena. Game time is 7:30 p.m.

The Bulldogs, who won their third tournament win in overtime, rallied from behind with a 3-pointer from Walker with 21 seconds left in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 52. That set up overtime in a game that featured 10 lead changes and 10 game-tied scores.

"We had trouble on defense much of the night, but got a big stop at the end," said Stow coach Dave Close, who will take his Bulldogs to their fifth regional in his 20-plus year tenure as bench boss. "We went to the Final Four in 1990, my second year as head coach, and again in 1993 and reached the regional finals in 1992 and 2001."

For Walker, his 3-pointer to tie the game at the end of the fourth quarter and rebound to close out GlenOak's final possession in overtime brought a positive conclusion to a tough shooting night for the 6-foot-6 junior.

"I was blocking out and tried to use my height to get position," Walker said of his rebound of GlenOak's Jaevon Johnson's shot on an Eagles final possession that began out of the second of two timeouts with 18 seconds left in the overtime.

Johnson's shot hit off the rim and bounced out to the opposite wing where Walker fought off a GlenOak player for possession of the ball.

"After I got the rebound, I looked to get it out to avoid getting fouled," added Walker, whose outlet pass ended with Mike Greenwell scoring on a layup at the buzzer for the final margin of victory.

The late heroics allowed the Bulldogs to overcome a tough night at the foul line, where Stow went 8-for-16 while GlenOak was 8-of-10.

"Now we have a quick turnaround," said Close. "We have one day to prepare and in the next 36 hours have to go to Toledo where Toledo Central Catholic has played three games on the (Savage Arena) floor in the tournament. But that's what we have to deal with. We have to focus on basketball and not get caught up in the distraction of being so close to a chance to go to Columbus."

Toledo Central Catholic advanced to Saturday's regional final by outlasting Findlay, 36-34, in the other Toledo regional semifinal on Thursday at the University of Toledo.

Scelza's 3-pointer that boosted the Bulldogs to a 58-57 lead with 32 seconds remaining in overtime gave the Stow guard 20 points on 6-of-13 from the field,  including 5-for-12 from behind the 3-point line. He was 3-for-4 at the foul line,  including two key shots that gave Stow a 49-47 edge with 3:36 left in the fourth quarter.

He led four Bulldogs in double figures with Mike Garrison close behind with 16. The senior was 7-for-10 from the field along with 2-of-3 from the line to go with a game-high eight rebounds.

Greenwell added another 11 points with five rebounds while Walker, whose only 3-pointer in seven tries was the one to tie the game at 52 at the end of regulation,  had 10 points. He countered a 4-for-13 shooting performance with six assists and four boards, including the most important rebound of the game.

GlenOak (15-10) led at intermission, 26-24, when Turon Parker hit a jumper after the Eagles held the ball for more than a minute and played for the final shot of the half.

The Eagles were led by Tommy Monnot, who matched Scelza's 20 points and shared the GlenOak rebound lead with Johnson with five each. GlenOak also got 19 points from Branden Means. Monnot and Means, the only double-figure scorers for GlenOak, combined to go 15-for-30 from the floor including 4-of-9 on 3-pointers while the rest of the Eagles were 7-for-19.

Close went with just six players, as junior Mike Waggoner was the only bench player to see action, scoring two points in 16 minutes. The other scoring for Stow came from senior Ryan Yurkschatt, who scored one point on 1-for-4 shooting from the foul line.