VANDALIA – The Brookville Blue Devils are heading to the Division III district championship game for the second time under coach Jeff Davidson.

After surviving a late run by Miami East and a failed last second shot that would have tied the game, Brookville earned a 51-48 victory to head to UD Arena tonight, Wednesday, March 6, against Cincinnati Mariemont.

The win was the Blue Devils 18th of the season and their eighth straight against six losses.

“The goal going into this game was to wear them down,” said Davidson. “They are still great players when they are tired, but not as great. They missed some shots down the stretch because I believe they looked gassed.”

The win was remarkable because Miami East has a rich tournament history, three final four appearances, a state championship, a state runner-up, and numerous district championships.

Brookville is making only its fourth district appearance.

“We were undersized at about every position, not by a lot, but overall, I thought we did a really good job of getting bodies on bodies and boxing out,” Davidson said.

It was a game of runs. East scored the first seven points of the game and led 12-10 after the first quarter. Brookville scored the first seven points of the second quarter and parlayed that to a 24-22 halftime advantage.

“We were down 7-0, but that’s not the first time that’s happened,” Davidson noted. “I told them in the locker room to rely on their resiliency, answer the call and it happened again.”

The Blue Devils outscored the Vikings 10-3 to start the second half for a nine-point lead at 34-25. Then Brookville missed a shot and turned the ball over three straight times and Miami East stormed through the opening and scored 11 of the final 13 points in third frame to tie the game heading into the final stanza.

“We were up nine and in great position and we made three catastrophic decisions back-to-back-to-back,” Davidson stated.

It was 36 all with eight minutes left. East had all the momentum when the quarter began. Senior Jacob Roeth is one of the top D-3 players in the state of Ohio. And when Roeth scored a basket with 6:46 remaining, East led 38-37.

The Blue Devils responded by scoring 11 of the next 13 points in the game to snag an eight-point lead with three minutes left, 48-40. This run, the final spurt of the game for Brookville, featured a layup by Jace Wood.

Dom King scoring inside with a shot off the glass to make the score 41-38. Roeth answered with a fast break layup for East. Brendan Fisher drained a clutch three-point basket for Brookville.

Jace Wood was fouled on a drive and made two charity shots. Dom King saw a lane open up from the left wing and he bolted to the basket and made a bunny to make the score 48-40 with 3:03 remaining.

It was now the Vikings who answered with a run. Connor Apple drained a three to ignite East. Brookville missed a pair of free throws and Roeth made two free shots and it was 48-45 with 54 seconds left.

King made a free throw with 45 seconds remaining. Wood then rebounded a missed three-pointer by the Vikings. Wood was fouled and made two clutch free throws with 18.7 seconds left in the game.

The Blue Devils led by six, 51-45. Roeth drained a long trifecta and it was 51-48 with 6.7 seconds remaining. Brookville opted for a long pass on the inbounds play, however, Roeth intercepted the ball and came up court and fired up a 20-foot shot that bounced off the rim and a Viking tip was short as the final buzzer sounded.

“I am extremely proud of how we played,” Davidson added. “Thank God we have good communication. Our players are starting to understand the bigger picture here of what it is going to take. I told them that this was going to be a war. Miami East is tough defensively. We had grown accustomed to scoring 75 to 85 points, but I told them this game would probably end up in the forties.”

East ends a remarkable season with a record of 16-9. The Vikings were 18 of 49 shooting during the game for 36.7 percent including four of 16 from three-point land. The Vikings made eight of 13 free throws. Roeth led the way with 23 points, nine in the final frame and 16 in the second half. Freshman Ty Rohrer added nine markers and Senior Devin Abshire eight points.

Brookville stats show the Blue Devils shot 52.9 percent during the game making 18 of 34 tries. That includes six of 14 three-pointers for 42.9 percent. The Blue Devils were nine of 15 from the charity stripe.

Brookville had 14 turnovers and 14 assists. The six three pointers gave Brookville 150 for the season, tying a team record of 150 established in the 2016 season. Brookville has also scored 1,559 total points surpassing the 2019 team previous points record in a season of 1,527.

Individual stats for the Blue Devils show Jace Wood with 22 points and eight rebounds, seven on the defensive end. Dom King added 10 markers with three boards and three assists. Brendan Fisher scored seven points.

Cole Crabtree scored six points, snagged six rebounds, had four steals and four assists. Braedan Smart had six points and three assists. Brookville got four rebounds and two assists from Keegan Mehr and valuable minutes from Nathan Waggoner, Coltin Lawson, and Branson King.

Brookville plays at 7:30 p.m. tonight, Wednesday, March 6 against Mariemont at UD Arena. Brookvillesports.com will broadcast the game for free beginning at 7:10 p.m.

(Ron Nunnari contributed quotes by Jeff Davidson for this story).