Jackson is headed back to Columbus in search of its second state championship after an emotional victory Saturday night at the University of Akron.
Polar Bears coach Tim Debevec exchanged hugs and shed a few tears after watching his team defeat Toledo St. John’s Jesuit 54-38 in a Division I regional final before a near-capacity crowd of approximately 5,000 in Rhodes Arena.
Kyle Young, a 6-foot-7 senior, concluded Jackson’s scoring with two free throws with 38.4 seconds left, subbed out and headed to the bench for an embrace with Debevec. The two lost balance as they hugged and stumbled into the scorers’ table as the Jackson student section and fans roared.
“We’re going to Columbus, baby,” Debevec said with a smile. “These guys love each other. These are all Jackson community kids that care for each other.”
Jackson will meet Lakewood St. Edward in a state semifinal at 8:30 p.m. Friday at Ohio State University’s Value City Arena. St. Edward beat Garfield Heights 69-65 in overtime in a regional final at Cleveland State on Saturday.
Young and 6-3 senior Kyle Nicolas led Jackson (26-2) with 17 points each. Young, a Butler University recruit, also grabbed nine rebounds and had two blocks.
“We have got the best fans in the state,” Nicolas said. “It felt like a home game tonight with all these fans here. This was awesome.”
The Polar Bears also received scoring from 6-2 junior Ethan Stanislawski (eight points, five assists), 6-5 senior and Toledo recruit Logan Hill (six points, three assists) and 6-5 junior Jaret Pallotta (six points, five rebounds).
“We got this place into it and our fans all got super loud,” Young said. “They are a great team. We battled with them and we were just able to pull ahead.”
Harrison Riggs, a 5-11 senior, paced St. John’s (25-3) with 12 points and four assists. Six-foot-3 junior Houston King scored nine points, 6-3 senior Tycen Anderson scored eight points and 6-5 junior Vincent Williams Jr. had seven points and 10 rebounds.
Debevec said he constantly encourages his players “to defend for 32 minutes.”
“We did that tonight,” Debevec said. “In a regional game, to hold a team that has won 22 games in a row to 38 points, I am so proud of these guys.”
Jackson led 14-10 at the end of the first quarter and 26-20 at halftime. The Polar Bears held a 30-24 lead midway through the third quarter and then put together an 18-5 run to lead 48-29 with 4:48 to go in the fourth quarter. The spurt included a block by Hill, two dunks by Young and a 3-pointer by Nicolas.
“I thought in the first half we were in good shape,” St. John’s coach Ed Heintschel said. “It was 26-20 and we missed at least three or four layups. I think we were aware of their shot blocking inside. That kind of threw some guys off and they rushed some shots that they didn’t really need to.
“The third quarter was just awful. We had trouble shooting all night. We just needed to hit a couple of shots. ... They got a couple of run outs. They are explosive and their bigs are so athletic and they run well.”
Young and his teammates were in grade school when Jackson won the Division I state title in 2010. A majority of the current Polar Bears attended that team’s regional victories over East and St. John’s Jesuit at UA, and then the state tournament triumphs over Gahanna Lincoln and Cincinnati Archbishop Moeller at OSU.
“That was one of the greatest experiences of my life, just watching them win that,” Young said. “Being down there to celebrate with everybody, I’ve been thinking about that ever since then. Just being able to go down there is just a great feeling right now. Hopefully we finish this thing out.”
Michael Beaven can be reached at 330-996-3829 or mbeaven@thebeaconjournal.com.