Warren’s Julian Stadelman looks to get by Washington Court House’s Garrett Rickman during the Warriors’ 83-73 sectional final loss on Saturday in Washington Court House. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

WASHINGTON COURT HOUSE, Ohio — For three and a half quarters, Warren couldn’t ask for anything more.

As for the latter part of the fourth quarter, the Warriors could definitely need a few more buckets to go down and a little less impact from Washington Court House junior Garrett Rickman.

Saturday night in a Division II sectional final at Washington Court House High School, the eighth-seeded Warriors gave the top-seeded Blue Lions all they could handle before WCH pulled away for an 83-73 victory.

In a game which witnessed 13 lead changes and 11 ties, Warren managed just two made field goals in the final 6¢minutes and Rickman scored 13 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter as the Blue Lions broke away from a 65-65 tie and closed out the final five-plus minutes outscoring the Warriors, 18-8.

“With about five minutes left, we had a shot – we miss a couple of layups and just didn’t recover from it,” Warren coach Blane Maddox said. “Hard to win when you give up 83 points. We’re not accustomed to scoring that much ourselves. We played these guys four years agio and put a whipping on them. We were all seniors and they were freshmen, so what goes around comes around.”

“For 3¢quarters, I love the way our kids answered the bell, love the way they played and loved the way they didn’t give up. They gave it everything they had.”

Warren ends the campaign at 17-7 and graduates one senior in Ayden Cornell. WCH improves to 20-4 and advances to Tuesday’s Division II district semifinal against New Lexington at Southeastern High School in Chillicothe.

“Ayden gave everything he could for us this year,” Maddox said. “He led us on the court, he led us off the court. In team meals, he led us in team prayer. I know he has great memories from this year.”

The sophomore-laden Warren lineup included Julian Stadelman scoring a game-high 24 points, including 11 in the first quarter. In addition to his offensive contribution, Rickman kept Stadelman in check for the majority of the game minus the opening period.

“Rickman’s role kind of changed in the last two weeks – we made a little bit of a roster move,” WCH coach Shannon Bartruff said. “He guarded Warren’s best player man to man all night. Stadelman went off in the first quarter, but Garrett did a heck of a job on him in the second half.

“His offense in the first three quarters wasn’t great, but he played great in the fourth quarter to help us secure the win.”

All five WCH starters scored double figures, including Tanner Lemaster with 29 points. Coach Bartuff rolled the dice when he kept Lemaster on the floor after the senior picked up his fourth foul with seven minutes still remaining in the fourth quarter.

Warren designed a few plays to try to pickup another foul on Lemaster, but he managed to stay on the court until the end.

“We switched his matchup to make it a little easier on him and he did a good job of just being smart,” Bartruff said.

Also contributing offensively for WCH were Isaiah Haithcock with 15 points, Brayden May with 12 points and John Wall with 10 points.

“When we share the ball like that, we are really hard to guard because we have a lot of guys who can score,” Bartruff said. “Honestly, that’s one of the best high school basketball games I’ve seen in a long time. I was coaching, which makes it a bit more difficult. Both teams shot the ball tremendously well.

“Coach Maddox’s kids played their butt off and shot the heck out of it tonight. They are young team and will be really good the next couple of years.”

The two teams combined for 18 3-pointers, including eight for Warren. The Warriors made seven of their first 10 attempts from beyond the arc then couldn’t buy a bucket in the fourth quarter from any range. In those final eight minutes, they connected on just 3-of-17 (18 percent) from the field and 1-of-6 (17 percent) from 3-point land.

Connor Barry accounted for half of Warren’s 3-pointers and finished with 12 points. Watrren’s lone junior, Trent Taylor was held to four points in the first half, but finished with 17 points.

Warren and WCH shared the ebb and the flow of the momentum throughout. Entering the final quarter, Warren led 59-57. Trailing 61-59, WCH rode the coattails of Rickman, who scored 13 as the Blue Lions went on a 14-4 run. The capper was an inbounds pass that originated with Rickman, who raced to the corner and got the ball back for a 3-pointer which gave WCH a 73-65 lead.

Warren managed to cut the deficit to four with three minutes left in regulation, but WCH did allow the gap to get any closer.

“We are going to good next year, but we need to get better in a little bit of everything and we have a great season next year,” Maddox said.

Contact Kerry Patrick at kpatrick@newsandsentinel.com