Preble Shawnee sophomore Brody Morton scored a career-high 20 points to help the Arrows to a 62-38 win over Valley View in a Division III district semifinal on Thursday, Feb. 29 at Northmont High School.
Senior Mason Shrout continued his stellar play scoring 15 of his game-high 23 points in the first half of the Arrows 62-38 win over Valley View in a Division III district semifinal on Thursday, Feb. 29. He also pulled down 15 rebounds and dished out seven assists.
Preble Shawnee junior Isaac Blankenship held Valley View freshman sensation Brody Denny to 12 points, nearly double below his season average, to help lead the Arrows to a 62-38 win in a Division III district semifinal on Thursday, Feb. 29 at Northmont High School.
CLAYTON — Third-seed Preble Shawnee leaned on its big game experience to run past No. 13 seed Valley View 62-38 in a boys Division III district semifinal on Thursday, Feb. 29 at Northmont High School.
With the bulk of the team back from last season’s regional runner-up, the Arrows were locked in from the beginning as they raced out to a 19-12 first quarter lead, thanks to five three-pointers and a lock down defense, to advance to its second straight district final appearance, and fifth overall.
The win was the second for the Arrows over the Valley View this season. The first meeting was in the championship game of the Preble Shawnee Holiday Tournament where the Arrows held on for a 62-56 win. In that game, Spartan freshman Brody Denny torched Shawnee for 34 points.
This time around Denny faced a Shawnee defense prepared to shut him down.
Arrows junior Isaac Blankenship, who typically is given the assignment of guarding the opponent’s top scorer, drew the assignment as expected and delivered as he, along with teammate Brody Morton, harassed Denny into a 3-for-16 shooting night, while holding him to only 12 points.
“Unbelievable. He’s a gamer. He’s a competitor. He’s going to leave it all out there and that’s what you want from anybody,” Shawnee coach Jake Turner said of Blankenship, who also scored nine points and had three assists. “He did a heck of a job tonight on him and made it tough for him all night. I thought Isaac did an unbelievable job and that’s huge when you got a guy like that who can take a player like Denny, freshman or not, Denny’s a heck of a ballplayer and take him out of the game completely, just an unbelievable job by Isaac tonight. I thought he played well on both ends. He took care of the ball for the most part to. Took good shots, didn’t force. I thought he had an all-around complete game.”
Morton, a sophomore, was just as effective, scoring a career-high 20 points on 7-of-8 shooting, while grabbing nine rebounds.
“Just an impressive night. He made some big shots and had some nice coast to coast takes. He’s just playing with a lot of confidence right now,” Turner said. “And that’s a guy who’s just gotten better as the season’s went on. He’s gotten better each and every game. It’s just fun to watch him continue to get better and he’s in the gym all the time, he’s staying after and that’s just who he is. He’s a hard worker, a high character kid, and I’m just very proud of him tonight.”
Senior Mason Shrout continued his stellar play scoring 15 of his game-high 23 points in the first half. He also pulled down 15 rebounds and dished out seven assists.
“Mason was Mason. Back-to-back kind of similar stats,” Turner said. “There’s just a couple of things I thought he rushed a little, but you got to live with that. The way he’s playing right now is like a guy who doesn’t want his high school career to be over. That’s just who he is as well. He’s a grinder, a competitor. He’s playing at a high level right now and it’s helping us big time.”
Shawnee extended its lead to 32-20 at the half – like the first meeting back in December. In that game Valley View closed to within four points late.
But this time there would be no such comeback from the Spartans as Shawnee extended its lead to 49-30 after three quarters.
“We thought if we could get out to a lead on them and make them play a little bit faster than they typically do, and they play fast. We told the guys if we get a lead, they’re (Valley View) not going to quit. They’re going to continue to grind. They’re going to come at you. They’re going to make shots,” Turner said. “And I thought our guys stayed locked in. We switched it up a little bit defensively just to try, once we got the lead, of slow it down.”
Turner credited his coaching staff for the team’s success.
“Coach Thomas, coach Robinson, coach Shanefelt had a great scouting report. They prepared these guys all week,” he said. “We got a great team and a great staff right here.
Shawnee shot 49 percent (22-of-45) for the game.
“We’re shooting the ball really well right now,” Turner said. In the sectional final against Stiver the Arrows shot 61 percent.
Turner said the goal was to get back to UD Arena and play for a district championship.
“Going to UD Arena. We talked about that,” he said. “That’s what you’re playing for, having a chance to go to UD Arena, a great atmosphere against a good team. You want to be playing at this time. You want to be playing in the district finals. We’re thankful and glad that we’re continuing to play, and this team is continuing to be able to be together on and off the court. It’s a great group that’s very close. I’m having a lot of fun with this group. We keep talking about how we don’t want this to end, and I think it’s showing by our effort and energy. They want this to keep going and I want that for them so bad.”
The Arrows (21-3) were scheduled to play Williamsburg (23-2), the top-seed from the Cincinnati sectional, on Tuesday, March 5, at 7:30 p.m. at UD Arena.
Reach Eddie Mowen Jr. at 937-683-4061 and follow on X @emowenjr.
