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Tigers Take Down Westerville North For First Ever Basketball State Championship
You might have heard wrestling great Ric Flair once or twice say, in order to be the man, you’ve gotta beat the man, WOOOOOO!
Well the Massillon Tigers did just that in winning their first ever State Championship in boys basketball by knocking off defending D-2 State Champion Westerville North Sunday in an epic comeback 68-63 in overtime.
Now Massillon has some shiny basketball hardware to go along with all of that shiny football hardware in the trophy cases!
Like the Warriors, Massillon came out to play, and while they fell behind, they never quit, as the Tigers clawed their way back from a 15 point 3rd quarter deficit to take down Westerville North.
It was Massillon’s 24th victory in a row to cap off a (27-1) season.
To win the title, former Massillon player and now head coach Josh Hose, in his 8th season, guided the Tigers to tournament wins over Green, Wadsworth, Avon, Euclid, Lima Senior and Westerville North to claim the school’s first Championship.
In the overtime session the Tigers outscored the Warriors 10-5 as Massillon didn’t miss a shot, going a perfect 4-4 on field goal attempts and 2-2 from the free throw line.
Westerville North on the other hand missed everything, literally, going 0-15 on all their field goal attempts. Their only points came from the free-throw line, making 5 of 6.
Gio Jackson Jr. led the way for the Cats with 17 points and 9 rebounds and was named the game’s MVP.
Jadyce Thigpen and Xavier Williams both added 15 points and Isaiah Lamp scored 9 crucial points in the victory.
While Wiliams had a nice offensive game with those 15 points, it was his game saving, chase down block of a Warriors lay up with about :10 seconds to go in regulation that allowed Massillon to get to overtime.
Westerville’s Elijah McCree was the game’s high scorer with 21 points, but needed 27 shots to do so.
With the loss, snapping a 21 game winning streak, the Warriors finished the season (26-2).
With the victory, now Massillon is the man, and it’s not just in football anymore, it’s in basketball too, WOOOOOO!