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Behind free throws, defense, Garfield edges Crestwood in sectional boys basketball

Garfield’s Carter Bates drives to the basket against Crestwood’s James Durham during a tournament game Tuesday, February 21, 2023.
Garfield’s Carter Bates drives to the basket against Crestwood’s James Durham during a tournament game Tuesday, February 21, 2023.

GARRETTSVILLE — Garfield boys basketball coach Andrew Olesky just had that feeling.

Tuesday's game was going to come down to free throws.

Well, free throws and defense.

The No. 20 G-Men came up with just enough free throws and stops in the closing minutes to win Tuesday's Division III sectional semifinal 50-46 over No. 23 Crestwood.

"It's funny, I was thinking about it in the fourth quarter," Olesky said. "I'm like, this game is going to come down to free throws, and it really did, on our end at least. We were able to seal the deal on that end. It's a physical game. We were able to get them into the bonus and able to shoot free throws."

Garfield advanced to play at No. 4 Beachwood in sectional final at 7 p.m. Friday.

The final two free throws to clinch the outcome fittingly came from G-Men senior Jackson Sommer, who led his team with 15 points. After the game, Sommer cherished the free throws and the moment at large.

"It doesn't get better than that," he said. "I don't even know how to describe it. It's the best environment I ever played in."

Indeed, the crowd, packed with Red Devils red and G-Men black, brought back memories of past G-Men-Red Devils clashes when both teams played in the Portage Trail Conference, and back in 2019-2020 for a PTC title.

"The environment was awesome," Olesky said. "Both communities showed out tonight and it was impressive on both sides, but I'm happy for our kids to get a chance to experience that environment.

"It'll be good for them in the long term in terms of basketball, but just to be able to play in front of a raucous crowd like that, that's exciting for the kids. That's what high school basketball is all about, and they're able to get that and it makes it even better that we came out on the winning side."

Garfield takes the lead on four free throws

After Red Devils sophomore Dekota Johnson, who had a game-high 18 points, scored seven straight to knot the score at 46-46, the G-Men jumped ahead when senior Carter Bates and sophomore Cade Rock each split two free throws.

In between those Garfield trips to the free-throw line, senior Vinnie Grandizio defended a Johnson drive to the hoop and drew a travel call.

"Vinnie has been a Swiss army knife in terms of defense for this year," Olesky said. "[He] drew the defensive assignment on him. He either guards other teams' best big players, their best guards, he's just so versatile defensively. So the missed shots, the turnovers, that's just 100 percent credit to Vinnie, and I couldn't be prouder of his defensive effort tonight."

After Rock's free throw put the G-Men up 48-46, Grandizio had a nice close-out on a deep Johnson 3-point try. Sommer skied for the rebound and cemented the game with two free throws with 5.9 seconds remaining.

"I knew it was down to me," Sommer said. "I had two shots. If I make two, it's pretty much game over."

A back-and-forth game from the jump

Johnson's seven straight points followed by the G-Men's four free throws to win it were just the last in a thoroughly back-and-forth game.

Neither team could get any separation in a first half in which the largest lead was four with Crestwood taking a 10-6 advantage on Augie Schweickert's 3 from the volleyball line and Garfield later leading 22-18.

Both teams threatened to pull ahead in the second half, but neither stayed ahead for long.

G-Men sophomore Preston Gedeon, held to a single point in the opening 16 minutes, knocked down a 3-pointer off a kick-out from senior Carter Bates to give them their largest lead of the night to that point (28-23).

Back came Johnson with a 3-pointer 25 seconds later, followed by Red Devils junior Ty Fannin speeding in along the baseline to tie the score at 28-28.

Midway through the fourth quarter, Garfield shattered another tie, this time at 39-all, with seven straight points, starting with two free throws by Nick Edic and Gedeon getting a half-step on his defender to surge to the basket from up top.

After a Red Devils travel, Gedeon, who had 13 of his 14 points after halftime, capped the G-Men run with a 3-pointer off a kick from Grandizio to push the home team's lead to seven (46-39) with 2:58 remaining.

Johnson didn't need long to respond.

The Crestwood sophomore hit a step-back 3-pointer from well behind the arc to make it 46-42 with 2:35 remaining. Roughly a minute later, Johnson stripped the ball by the timeline and knocked down a pull-up jumper along the baseline to get the Red Devils within 46-44 with 1:32 left.

Crestwood (5-18) then forced another turnover, with Johnson drawing a foul and draining the game-tying free throws with 1:12 remaining.

"[I] couldn't have asked for anything more of them," Crestwood coach Josh Jakacki said. "They always gave us their best."

The G-Men responded by beating the Red Devils' full-court press twice, drawing two fouls and splitting four free throws to take the lead for good.

"Neither of us could pull away," Sommer said. "You can't write it up any better. Close game all the way through. We ended up on top."

Crestwood made a four-game improvement from a season ago, with its final four losses coming by just 19 combined points.

"Kudos to Andy and his team on a big win," Jakacki said. "You haven't heard the last of us and we are super excited [for] what we look like next year after another year of growth this offseason."

This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Behind free throws, defense, Garfield basketball edges Crestwood