CANTON: The game was billed as Jackson’s big men against Copley’s guards and neither disappointed.
But it was a Jackson guard who scored what could be labeled as the two biggest points of the game as Jackson slipped past Copley 55-51 on Wednesday in a terrific Division I district semifinal game in front of 2,518 fans at Memorial Civic Center.
Jackson (23-2) had a two-point lead with 16 seconds remaining when junior Ethan Stanislawski made two pressure-packed free throws, extending the Polar Bears’ lead to the final four-point margin and sending them to Saturday’s district championship game against either rival North Canton Hoover (17-5) or Massillon (15-9), which play Thursday on the same Civic Center floor.
“I was kind of calm because when they [Copley] called that timeout and tried to ice me, my teammates kept giving me high fives and telling me they believed in me,” said Stanislawski, who finished as one of three Polar Bears in double figures with 11 points. “So, when I got to the line, I just let them loose and they went in.”
As expected, Jackson was led by its inside tandem of seniors Kyle Young and Logan Hill. The 6-foot-7 Young led everyone with 21 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots. Hill, 6-5, had 12 points and four rebounds as Jackson advanced to the finals for the fourth consecutive year.
As they have all season, guards Brian Roberts Jr., Austin Brenner and KeShawn Hill led the Indians, whose magical season comes to an end at 23-2.
Roberts finished with 15 points, Brenner had 11 and Hill 10.
Jackson had a 23-17 edge in rebounds. The game was tied six times and there were six lead changes. Jackson’s biggest lead was nine points early in the second half. Copley’s largest lead was three points, which came when Brenner hit the second of two 3-point shots from about 27 feet with 4:53 remaining.
“I thought we had them,” said Copley coach Mark Dente, who has guided the Indians to a 47-3 record in the past two seasons and whose zone defense gave Jackson problems. “We were up three, but then their two Division I players made plays down the stretch, which is what you expect them to do. But I thought we showed a lot of fight and probably gained a lot of respect, even with losing.”
You can bet the Indians were respected long before Wednesday.
“Are you kidding me? That is a very good team,” Jackson coach Tim Debevec said. “They kept making big plays. Heck, they’ve won 47 games over the last two years. I don’t care who you are or what league you play in, you win 47 games, you are winning games. Coach Dente has done a great job over the last two years with that group.”
Debevec also had praise for his team, especially when it fell behind by three points after leading most of the game.
“Give our kids credit,” he said. “We could have folded when we got down by three. But it seemed like our seniors willed us to win. They made some big, big plays down the stretch.”
After Copley took its three-point lead, Jackson responded at both ends of the floor. Hill, headed to Toledo, scored on a slam dunk with 4:08 left and Young followed with a blocked shot at the other end on Copley’s ensuing possession.
The Indians turned the ball over on an unforced error with 2:57 to go and Jackson took advantage as junior Jaret Pallotta (five points) scored off a nifty assist from senior Kyle Nicolas, giving the Polar Bears the lead for good at 49-48 with 2:42 left.
Another Copley error — an offensive foul away from the ball — gave Jackson another opportunity and Young scored an easy layup off a Logan Hill assist. KeShawn Hill retaliated for the Indians but Logan Hill answered that with another slam dunk, making it 53-50 with 62 seconds to go. Roberts made one of two free throws to make it 53-51 with 44.8 seconds left and setting up Stanislawski’s two gut-check free throws.
Read the high school blog at http://www.ohio.com/preps.