Warren boys claim sectional title late Saturday
Warriors down top-seeded Fairfield Union
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LOGAN -- Brayden Sallee and Brandon Simoniette each stepped up in overtime.
The Warren duo combined to score all of its team's seven points in the extra session as the eighth-seeded Warriors upset top-seeded Lancaster Fairfield Union, 46-43, Saturday night in an OHSAA Division II sectional boys basketball championship game at Jim Myers Gymnasium.
"It took me the whole game, but I finally got into my rythym," said the 6-foot-3 Sallee, who scored the first four points in OT on jumpshots. The sophomore forward finished the game with seven points.
"My teammates found me, and I was wanting to get into it at the end there," Sallee added.
The 6-1 Simoniette paced the Warriors with a game-high 19 points, including three freebies with under a minute remaining in the 4-minute overtime.
"It's kind of fun being the underdog," Simoniette said. "You know, nobody believed in us being the eight seed but we proved them wrong.
"We had a big crowd tonight, so we came out and played hard to get the win."
Joel Chevalier added eight points while Evan Byrd and Kurt Taylor netted five and four, respectively.
With the victory, Warren (15-9) advances and plays Waverly in a district semi at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Ohio University Convocation Center.
"I love those guys," said WHS head coach Blane Maddox of his Warrior team. "We talked all year…nobody believed in us, but we were going to show people that we deserve to go to the Convo."
Fairfield Union exits tourney play with a solid 20-4 record. The Falcons were led by sophomore post Huston Harrah's 16 points. Ryan Magill chipped in with 10 markers while Chase Poston and Charlie Bean had eight and six, respectively.
Warren started off the game with a 7-0 run on a Simoniette trifecta, a Chevalier jumper and a Jake Baumgard putback.
After a Fairfield Union timeout, the Falcons answered with a 7-0 run of their own on buckets by Poston and Harrah and a triple by Bean.
With under a minute left in the first, the Warriors regained the advantage when Josh Welch converted one of two at the foul line.
During the opening minute of the second stanza, Poston knocked down a jumper to give Fairfield Union its first lead of the contest. That was followed by a Bean 3, making it 12-8 Falcons.
But the Warriors came back and tied the score on baskets by Simoniette and Chevalier.
With the score even at 18 late in the period, WHS closed out the first half with a Byrd jumper and a Simoniette triple to make it 23-18.
In the third quarter, Warren maintained the advantage, thanks in part to two Simoniette treys, and led 33-28 going into the fourth quarter.
The Warriors never trailed in the final regulation period but strugged at the charity stripe. Capitalizing on this, the Falcons rallied late and knotted the score at 39-all on three straight Poston freebies with 27 seconds left.
In OT, Sallee hit a straight-on jumper and followed that up with a baseline shot that gave Warren a 43-39 lead. The Falcons cut it to two on Harrah's bucket.
But then, Simoniette hit two clutch foul shots with 38 seconds remaining to give the Warriors a four-point cushion.
Harrah scored again, but with 10 ticks remaining on the clock, Simoniette converted one of two at the line to help seal the victory.
"I'm so proud of this team," Maddox said.
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Ron Johnston can be reached at rjohnston@mariettatimes.com