“We got caught up in the moment of being here under the lights,” reflected Rams standout senior Dazhonetae Bennett. “We just lost focus. That’s all it was. We just really lost focus.”
Upper Arlington was the reason. The Golden Bears put a thorough 74-49 pummeling on the Rams in front of 14,000 mostly Arlington fans at Ohio State University's Schottenstein Center.
The other D-I semifinal on Friday was just as lopsided with Lakewood St. Edward taking out Cleveland East Tech 89-64. That puts Upper Arlington (27-1) against St. Ed (25-2) in today’s D-I state final (8:30 p.m.).
Trotwood (25-3) emerged from the regional in grand fashion, dodging Wayne by two in overtime and crushing Moeller’s state-title hopes with a late three to win by one.
There would be no similar heroics against Upper Arlington.
Arlington led by nine after the first quarter and 14 at halftime. The Golden Bears easily passed around Trotwood’s signature harassing defense and scored easily. Arlington torched Trotwood by hitting 25 of 39 field goals (64 percent).
“We came down here with high expectations,” Trotwood coach Rocky Rockhold said. “We kind of felt like we had dodged a few buzz saws along the way, but I really felt like we ran into one (against Arlington).”
Trotwood never seemed offensively in sync. Uncharacteristically, the Rams went to the 3-ball once it was obvious Arlington was in control. The only problem was Trotwood misfired on all but one of its 16 treys.
Bennett had 23 points and six rebounds for the Rams. Jemichael Blanton added 10 points and Kendric Mallory nine.
Arlington broke the game open with a 17-0 run. Kevin Vannatta paced the Bears with 25 points.
Trotwood trailed Moeller by 16 points in the last four minutes of the regional final and rallied. Not this time.
“We knew that they could come back in a hurry, so we had to keep the throttle on,” said Vannatta.
Arlington will take a 25-game win streak into the state final. The alma mater of golf great Jack Nicklaus, the Golden Bears hadn’t been to a final four since 1939. It’ll be the last of the four state title games, all of which can be seen live on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel.
Trotwood’s setback finishes off the last of three area teams that all lost in the state semis. Thurgood Marshall (D-II) and Tri-Village (D-IV) were knocked out Thursday.
“Our kids are tough kids and we’ve played hard all year, but we got caught up in the moment a little bit,” Rockhold admitted. “I missed a step somewhere along the line of getting them ready and for what it was going to feel like when they took that floor.”
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