Tigers edge Black Knights, win 2nd district title in 3 years

FINDLAY – With the game tied at 37 with 16.2 seconds left, there wasn't anyone else besides senior guard Luke Mason Seneca East coach Anthony Langhurst wanted to have the ball.While the first option on the play wasn't open, Mason received the ball back and had to put up a 3-point shot. In a time where referees usually swallow their whistle, this time the contact on the last-second shot was called, sending Mason to the free throw line with one second left.He drilled two of the three shots. Van Buren tried to get a last-second heave, but it was nowhere close to the rim as the Tigers earned a 39-37 Division VI district final victory Friday night at Liberty-Benton High School.It's the Tigers' second district championship in three years."Yeah, you never want to put it in the referees' hands. We should've played better down the stretch and in the third quarter, so maybe we wouldn't have been in that situation, but big players make big plays," Mason said. "These guys are amazing. We didn't think we'd play like this, nobody in the league thought we'd play like this, nobody in the area thought we'd play like this. "It's amazing what your hard work gives to you. It pays off for sure."Langhurst added: "The play didn't work initially, he got rid of it, but thankfully got it back and he made something happen. Luke Mason makes me look a little smarter than I am a lot of times, so hats off to him and I'm really happy with how the season has went for him," he said.In a tight, back-and-forth contest, the Black Knights (21-4) battled back from a 23-18 halftime deficit with a 7-0 run out of the half.Then they built a 37-33 advantage with 2:38 left in the game after hitting their only triple of the game – from Alex Homan.The way both defenses played, it seemed like VB might've been able to hang on and dribble it out.But that wasn't the case as Mason tallied the last six points of the game for the Tigers to win it."I thought we did a great job defending up and we worked our tails off to have it come down to a one-second call and have the guys not play for the points," Black Knights coach Mark Bunn said. "They let a lot go, so why not let that go? "But kudos to these seniors. They play well as a team and I hate this for them, but they'll be better from it. They will be the better person and be better people. We haven't the shot the ball well and we just rely on our defense. Tonight was one of those nights where we did not shoot it well. Last Wednesday we did. We couldn't hit the broadside of a barn tonight."To begin things, VB led 4-0 out of the gate, but then SE scored the next five points. It really went back and forth for much of the game, especially the opening half. Brady Bloom knocked in a trey with 2.8 ticks before the first-quarter buzzer to give the Tigers a 10-9 edge after one.Will Rampe – who led VB in scoring with 21 points – got going in the second quarter. He tallied nine of his 13 first-half points in the second and gave VB a 14-12 advantage before SE responded with a big 9-0 run as Jaron Depinet dropped in four points, Landyn Hicks made a layup and Mason splashed a 3-pointer. But VB came out with the 7-0 run to begin the second half as Homan had three of the points and Rampe scored back-to-back buckets to give the Black Knights a lead.SE retook the lead, but Rampe was relentless going to the rim as he tallied the final points of the third with VB ahead 33-31."That's just him all year … he's really progressed into a dominant post player for us," Bunn said of Rampe. "He's a fire. He's awesome, and it was a huge game for him tonight."Homan tallied 11 points for the Black Knights. Mason and Depinet each scored 12 points for the Tigers and Logan Collins ended with nine.The unlikely Tigers who graduated four of their five starters from last season, find themselves with a third matchup with N10 power Colonel Crawford (22-2) in a regional semifinal at BGSU Thursday at 6 p.m."I didn't really expect anything else of this team to pull out a win tonight because it's been like this all year," Langhurst said. "I bet teams scout us and say, 'Who are these guys?' But we have some good length defensively, these guys play well together, they love each other … it's just one of those things where it's a long season, but I'm happy I get to be with these guys another week."Having Jaron is huge because if you don't have a guy that can help put the ball in the hole, it's tough, but just the way he carries himself you'd never know he's a freshman. Pair that with each guy just knowing their roles. It's just been great, the buy-in." Seneca East 39, Van Buren 37Seneca East (19-6): Keegan Boes 0-0-0; Ayden Perkins 0-2-2; Nicholas Parks 0-0-0; Luke Mason 2-7-12; Brady Bloom 2-0-6; Logan Collins 4-1-9; Jaron Depinet 4-4-12; Landyn Hicks 1-0-2. Totals: 11-14-39.Van Buren (21-4): Anakin Ortega 0-0-0; Cole Bishop 0-0-0; Alex Homan 4-2-11; Grady Miller 0-0-0; Brady Lance 0-1-1; Finn Martin 2-0-4; Will Rampe 10-1-21. Totals: 16-4-37.SE&emsp;&emsp;10&emsp;&emsp;13&emsp;&emsp;8&emsp;&emsp;8&emsp;&emsp;– 39VB&emsp;&emsp;9&emsp;&emsp;9&emsp;&emsp;15&emsp;&emsp;4&emsp;&emsp;– 373-point goals: SE 3 (Bloom 2, Mason); VB 1 (Homan)Foul shots: SE 14-19; VB 4-12Turnovers: SE 18; VB 14