Oakwood Rallies to Take Down Bellefontaine | Dayton Daily News

Story and photos by Marcus Hartman / Dayton Daily News

XENIA – Oakwood rallied to beat Bellefontaine in a boys basketball Division IV district semifinal Wednesday night.

The underdog Chieftains, who finished fifth in the CBC Kenton Trail division, led at the end of the first, second and third quarters, but the No. 2 seed Lumberjacks dominated the fourth to advance 62-52.

“I felt like down the stretch we had some plays where it was like, ‘Oh man, what are we doing here?’ but that’s kind of been our guys mentality all year,” said Oakwood coach Braden Short, whose team won the SWBL Buckeye division and improved to 19-5 overall.

“If we can get to a close game in the fourth quarter, we’re going to make the winning plays to pull it out. We felt comfortable we would make the right plays down the stretch.”

Senior point guard Luke Rubin led the way, scoring 23 points for the Lumberjacks and making several key plays, including a transition 3-pointer that broke a 45-all tie midway through the fourth quarter and a driving layup that gave Oakwood a 56-50 lead with 1:25 left.

“When he steps up and can be a leader for us, that definitely helps,” Short said. “When he can get it going, he plays with a lot of energy. Guys feed off his energy, and that only makes us better.”

Oakwood led 19-14 midway through the second quarter, but the Chieftains hit three 3-pointers in an 11-2 run to take a 25-21 lead.

Rubin found Jack Worsham for an easy basket on the block to end the run, but the Lumberjacks went to the locker room at halftime trailing 25-23.

Grayson Lotts, a 6-1 junior, hit the last of the treys in the run and finished the half with 11 points for Bellefontaine.

Rubin hit a 3-pointer to put Oakwood back on top early in the third quarter, but Bellefontaine responded with a 9-2 run to take a 34-28 lead.

The Chiefs led by as many as eight late in the third, but Rubin hit a deep trey to send the game to the fourth quarter 45-40 and set up a dominant final frame for the ‘Jacks.

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