Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

high school basketball:

Findlay Prep dresses just 7, falls to Oak Hill in national semifinals

Findlay Prep Basketball

Sam Morris

Findlay Prep guard Kelly Oubre knocks the ball out of forward Dillon Brooks’ hands during practice Tuesday, March 18, 2014.

Findlay Prep Basketball

Findlay Prep guard Renathan Ona Embo takes part in a ball handling drill during practice Tuesday, March 18, 2014. Launch slideshow »

The Findlay Prep basketball team dressed seven players today against Oak Hill at the High School National Tournament semifinals in New York.

The lack of available players finally took its toll late in the game. The Henderson-based Pilots simply ran out of energy, squandering a 14-point third-quarter lead in a season-ending 64-56 defeat.

Findlay had limited options on its bench, struggling to keep pace in the second half because they didn’t have fresh bodies. After two Pilots fouled out, they finished the game with five players — a stretch of about two minutes.

Oak Hill closed the third quarter on a 20-5 scoring, using its fullcourt pressure to force numerous Findlay turnovers and create easy baskets.

That’s because Findlay’s most-significant loss was point guard Derryck Thornton, who couldn’t play in the event after having a cyst removed from his arm. He’s their primary ballhandler and could have helped breaking the press.

Kansas-commit Kelly Oubre scored 19 first-half points on 8 of 10 shooting to give the Pilots a 30-20 halftime lead. But he scored just two points in the second half.

“We are getting beat by one guy,” Oak Hill coach Steve Smith told ESPN at halftime.

UNLV verbal commit Rashad Vaughn struggled with his outside shooting all game in unofficially finishing 0 for 7 on 3-pointers. He managed eight points and five assists, unofficially.

Findlay, which won the national tournament three times since 2009, finishes the season with a 31-5 record.

Ray Brewer can be reached at 990-2662 or [email protected]. Follow Ray on Twitter at twitter.com/raybrewer21

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