It may been a line from the movie “Bad Boys” that saved Lakota West’s season.
With the game and the Firebirds’ season on the line, junior guard Malik Grove converted all 6 of his free-throw attempts in the final quarter en route to a 46-42 win against Sycamore in the Division I sectional semifinals at Hamilton High School Tuesday night.
“I just wanted to block everything out,” Grove said of his late-game foul shots.
“When there is a lot of pressure on you, you just say ‘woosaa.’”
Until now, Grove thought his dad, Jerry, had just made up the phrase, which is spelled w-o-o-s-a-a, according IMDB.com. He didn’t know that Jerry learned the phrase from Martin Lawrence’s character from “Bad Boys” and then taught it to Malik when he was about 6 or 7 years old. Oddly, over the years, the phrase has become a way of meditation for the family.
Woosaa, it worked.
If that phrase didn’t work for Grove then it had to be message his senior teammate Ali Barnes delivered at the end of the 3rd quarter.
Trailing by 8 points, 33-25, in what was a low-scoring affair, Barnes walked to the Lakota West bench and yelled at his teammates, “We are going to win this game!”
“I am a really motivated person and I get really emotional, especially since this could have been my last high school game,” said Barnes, who scored six of his 12 points in the 4th quarter.
“I said what I had to say and it obviously worked.”
Grove, who scored 11 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter, admitted after the game that he was “pumped up” by Barnes’ message before the final quarter.
“You don’t want it to be the seniors’ last game,” Grove said.
For Sycamore, it was the last game for its seniors Nick Setser, Joey Gruden, Isaiah Brown and Mason Morgan. The 6-foot-6 Morgan, who signed to play tight end at Ohio University, led the Aves with 17 points and 12 rebounds, while Gruden scored 9 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter.
“It was a huge game, a GMC game, one of those really physical games,” Gruden said. “It was a tough loss.”
In the regular season, Sycamore and Lakota West were part of a four-way tie (along with Fairfield and Middletown) for first place in the Greater Miami Conference. It was the first in the 47-year history of the conference that four boys’ basketball teams finished the regular season in a tie for the GMC title.
| Sycamore | 11 | 10 | 12 | 9 | 42 |
| Lakota West | 5 | 12 | 8 | 21 | 46 |
Sycamore (13-11) - Gruden 6 2 15, Shropshire 1 0 2, Wrade 4 0 8, Morgan 8 1 17. Totals 19 3 42.
Lakota West (16-7) - Barnes 6 0 12, Bowling 2 1 5, Williams 1 2 4, Thomas 1 0 2, Moo Young 1 0 2, Grove 5 6 19. Totals 17 9 46.
Halftime: Sycamore 21-17. 3-pointers S 1 (Gruden); L 3 (Grove 3).
Lakota West will play Walnut Hills Friday in the sectional final at the University of Cincinnati at 8:30 p.m.
Walnut Hills 78, Woodward 43
Walnut Hills cruised to 78-43 win against Woodward in the Division I sectional semifinals at Hamilton High School Tuesday night.
Isaiah Johnson, who is committed to play college basketball at Akron, led the Eagles to a 40-13 lead at halftime. In the first half, the 6-foot-9 center scored 12 points and pulled down 5 rebounds. With the large lead, Johnson didn’t play in the second half.
Senior teammates Khari Burton and Dontonio Wingfield, who is committed to play at Ohio, combined for 17 points and 10 rebounds in the first half. Burton and Wingfield only played a few minutes each in the second half.
| Walnut Hills | 13 | 27 | 10 | 28 | 78 |
| Woodward | 4 | 9 | 15 | 15 | 43 |
Walnut Hills (23-1) - Jones 2 0 4, Brown 0 1 1, Burton 4 0 9, Wingfield 4 0 8, Myaka 4 0 9, Irby 1 0 3, Austin 1 0 2, Banks 1 0 2, Williams 2 2 8, Johnson 6 0 12, Jackson 1 1 3, Carter 1 5 7, Akanbi 2 1 5, Gilmore 1 3 5. Totals 30 13 78.
Woodward (5-16) - Watkins 2 0 4, Williams 1 0 2, A. Mincey 2 3 8, Connell 1 0 2, Harrington 3 2 10, R. Mincey 2 0 4, Vines 1 0 2, Johnson 3 1 7, Carter 1 2 4. Totals 16 8 43.
Halftime: Walnut Hills 40-13. 3-pointers WH 5 (Burton, Myaka, Irby, Williams 2); WOOD 3 (A. Mincey, Harrington 2).
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