Loveland’s Blake Carrigan (24) is cornered by a trio of St. Francis De Sales defenders during a Division II Region 8 semifinal game March 6, 2025, at the Elida Fieldhouse in Elida. Photo by Sun Sports Reporter Jake Dowling.
Loveland ends historic season 2 wins shy of state tournament
Loveland head boys basketball coach Rob Reis walks off the court after the Tigers lost March 6, 2025, to St. Francis De Sales in a Division II Region 8 semifinal game at the Elida Fieldhouse in Elida. Photo by Sun Sports Reporter Jake Dowling.
Loveland’s Chase Martin (1) attempts a shot against St. Francis De Sales’ Alan Horton (00) during a Division II Region 8 semifinal game March 6, 2025, at the Elida Fieldhouse in Elida. Photo by Sun Sports Reporter Jake Dowling.
Loveland’s Will Bertoli, left, dives for the ball against St. Francis De Sales’ Jameson Heck during the first half of a Division II Region 8 semifinal game March 6, 2025, at the Elida Fieldhouse in Elida. Photo by Sun Sports Reporter Jake Dowling.
ELIDA — When the public addresser announced St. Francis De Sales’ starting lineup, the Loveland Tiger faithful might have had a sense of concern going against that sort of height.
Their concerns would be valid.
The Tigers tried to compensate for their lack of height against the much taller Knights on March 6. Still, that effort eventually ran out of steam in a 54-37 loss in a Division II Region 8 semifinal at Elida Fieldhouse.
“They have a couple of big kids, and it takes a lot of defensive energy to guard those kids for us, and I think that finally wore us down,” Loveland coach Rob Reis said.
The Toledo-based school featured 6-foot-9 junior forward Alan Horton and 6-foot-11 senior center Logan Horton. By comparison, Loveland’s tallest were a trio of 6-foot-3 players.
Quite the discrepancy.
“Credit it to them; they are a very good basketball team,” Reis said.
So good that the Knights are heading to the state tournament for the first time since 1983 after beating Winton Woods, 45-40, in the regional championship game March 8.
However, Loveland stayed in the fight for three quarters in their March 6 showdown.
“I am very proud of our guys,” Reis said. “Our guys fought all year, and we play hard, but tonight just wasn’t our night.”
The turning point was when the Tigers tied the game at 28 with 4:45 remaining in the third quarter. The Tigers trailed by as much as 20-12 in the second quarter and never led in the game, but Loveland made De Sales work in the third quarter.
Trailing 26-20 at the half, Loveland pulled within three when Will Bertke drew the foul on a bucket and converted the penalty shot. Will Bertoli recorded an and-one, and his foul shot made it a 28-26 game. Jewel Vorbroker’s assist to Bertoli tied the game.
“We felt like we were in a good spot,” Reis said.
That’s when the ball stopped bouncing the Tigers’ way.
De Sales’ Raheem Brown drained a 3-pointer 14 seconds later. Then, Jameson Heck poked the ball away from Chase Martin when Martin was about to turn a different direction. The Knight senior turned the steal into points courtesy of Brown’s putback. Suddenly, the Tigers faced a 33-28 deficit 35 seconds after tying the game.
Vorbroker’s bucket pulled the game to 33-30 with 3:52 left in the third quarter, but the Knights scored seven straight points to race out to a 40-30 advantage before Bertke’s putback with 30 seconds left made it a 40-32 score entering the fourth quarter.
Loveland missed its first eight shots of the final stanza while the Knights built a 50-32 lead with 2:31 left. Since the Tigers tied the game at 28, the Knights outscored the Clermont County team 26-9.
“We changed our zone offense up a little bit, and I think that confused them, but things like that only work for so many possessions, and you have to eventually go to something else,” Reis said.
Loveland shot just 14-of-38 (36.8 percent) from the floor, including 5-of-23 (21.7 percent) behind the 3-point line. De Sales shot 22-of-41 (53.7 percent) overall and outrebounded the Tigers 28-9, including an 18-6 advantage on the defensive boards.
“What makes their defense so good with their big kid inside is he protects the rim and allows those four perimeter players to be very aggressive,” Reis said. “Even when they were in zone, they still could come out and be very aggressive because they have that rim protector in there. It’s a good defense for the team that they have and their personnel, and it certainly caused us some trouble.”
Bertke led the Tigers with 12 points, and Martin had 10 points, five rebounds and three assists. Brown scored a game-high 19 points with six boards for the Knights. Alan Horton finished with 15 points, five rebounds and two blocks.
Not to get lost in the deep playoff defeat was everything accomplished this season.
The Tigers entered the campaign with a fairly young team in terms of experience with four seniors — Bertke, Benjamin Tibbs, Ryland Riveras and Bertoli. The team won a district title for just the fourth time in program history and the first since 1993.
“These kids have had one of the best basketball seasons in Loveland history and it’s something they should be very proud of,” Reis said. “Seventeen wins, district championship … and I think our players will always carry that with them. We have a lot of guys coming back next year so we are excited about that.
“But this has been a lot of fun, and I am so proud of our players, but I’m sad I won’t be able to go to basketball practice tomorrow.”