Preble Shawnee’s boys basketball won its first district championship in 34 years with a dominating 42-27 win over Cincinnati Seven Hills onThursday, March 2.
DAYTON — The chance to make history wasn’t lost on the minds of Preble Shawnee’s boys basketball team last week when the Arrows faced off with Cincinnati Seven Hills in a Division III district final at the University of Dayton Arena.
After all it had been 34 years since the Arrows had even played in a district championship game – and won.
More history to be made. With a win, this group, which has been ranked among the best in the state of Ohio all season, could set a new single-season program record for wins.
Even more history to be made. Entering the game junior Mason Shrout was on the verge of becoming Preble County’s all-time leading scorer in boys’ basketball.
Consider more history made.
Shawnee used their trademark defense to shut down the Stingers and claim a 42-27 win on Thursday, March 2 in front of a large contingent of Arrow fans to win just the third district title in program history – the last coming during the 1988-89 season and the other in 1973-74.
Shrout led all scorers with 23 points – he also had 16 rebounds, five steals and three assists – to surpass National Trail’s Cameron Harrison as the county’s all-time leading scorer. He now has 1,699. Harrison finished with 1,693.
The win, the 22nd on the season, is also a new school record.
“That’s a long time. I mean, we just made history,” Shrout said moments after coming out of the locker room. “We just made history. That’s all we’ve been talking about all week is, is one we want to win the district title and two with 22 wins we just passed the most wins in Preble Shawnee history. We were talking about history this week and we came out and executed, but I couldn’t be more happy for our guys. Everybody played good tonight.”
Both teams got off to a slow start, but eventually the Arrows turned up the defense pressure to take a 10-6 lead after the first quarter, with the final points coming on a Shrout dunk after he got a steal near midcourt.
“We knew it was going to be a little sluggish start just because of nerves and stuff like that,” Shawnee coach Jake Turner said. “Defensively, all night though, we just flat out got after it and got into them and that’s been our game plan all year with a lot of teams. Our defensive effort and energy was just unbelievable.
Shawnee kept the defensive pressure up by holding the Stingers to just three points in the second quarter and take a 17-9 halftime lead.
A 9-3 run to begin the third quarter pushed the Arrows lead to 26-12 with 4:37 left. Shawnee held a 30-15 lead after three and the lead to as many as 18 in the fourth quarter.
For the game, Shawnee shot 16-of-39 from the field for 41 percent. The Stingers struggled making just 9-of-35 shots.
Logan Hawley added 10 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.
“He’s a defensive game-changer at the rim,” Turner said of his 6-8 center.
Now the Arrows have a chance to add to its history.
Shawnee will play Miami East on Wednesday, March 8 at 8 p.m. at Trent Arena in the second regional semifinal game. Tri-Village meets Canal Winchester Harvest Prep in the first game at 5:30 p.m.
“It’s been an unbelievable ride. I’m glad it’s not over with yet,” Turner said. “We want to keep riding this thing.”
Reach Eddie Mowen Jr. at 937-683-4061 and follow on Twitter @emowenjr.
