CLAYTON — Right place, right time.
That was the case for Indian Lake senior Madden Lillard on Tuesday. Lillard scored the winning basket with under two seconds left in regulation to give Indian Lake a 52-51 win over Waynesville in the Division V boys basketball district semifinal.
Lillard had three baskets on the night, none bigger than the last, which came after the Spartans had gone ahead with 12 seconds to go.
He is the team’s lone senior. After he helped lead the Lakers to a deep playoff run on the gridiron, he is now helping them do the same on the hardwood.
It was a tight battle the whole time, with the biggest lead for either side being seven points.
Indian Lake, now 16-8 for the year, advances to a district final for the third time in school history. They will take on Purcell Marian, which defeated Oyler 79-65 Tuesday.
The game will be Friday at 5:30 p.m. at Trotwood-Madison. It is the first part of a doubleheader. Game two will feature Versailles and Clark Montessori.
The other district finals will be at Lakota East with Stivers facing Summit Country Day and Seven Hills going against Preble Shawnee.
“We’ve got one senior, and he’s the guy who hit that shot,” said Lakers coach Zach Overturf. “You couldn’t script that in a Disney movie. That’s good stuff.”
“Just the excitement of getting to practice for two more days and then prep for another team,” he added.
Tyler Tidwell had 14 points and Avery Pequignot scored 13 for the Lakers.
“Everybody knows that we have Brody (Reisinger) and Avery and teams are going to try do their best to take them away, but we’ve had some really big guys step up,” said Overturf.
He praised the contributions of Tidwell, as well as Colin Bendler with rebounding and Jaxon Snipes, who filled in when Reisinger ran into foul trouble.
Overturf gave credit to the Spartans as well. “They play really fast, they play really physical. So we knew it was going to be a dogfight. I’m just happy to be on top of that dogfight,” he said.
Waynesville ends the season with a record of 16-8. Zevin Sessler led all scorers with 25 points, while Lucas Rocha had 15.
Waynesville grabbed the early lead with a pair of scores by both Sessler and Rocha, with a couple of those coming after Lakers turnovers.
The lone score in the opening minutes for Indian Lake was a 3-pointer by Reisinger.
The Lakers fought back with a tip-in by Tidwell and a jumper by Pequignot. Then came 3-pointers from opposite corners. First was Cooper Hall with 2 1/2 minutes to go, then Tidwell about 50 seconds later to give them a 13-9 lead.
After a trey by Sessler, Bendler and Hall responded with scores to put Indian Lake up 18-12 after one.
Though the quick pace continued, scoring on both teams slowed down in the beginning of the second. Reisinger was then whistled twice for offensive fouls in quick succession around the midpoint, giving him three total.
Sessler scored to cut the Lakers’ lead to one, 19-18. Bendler had a layup and one of two free throws, followed by Tidwell dialing long distance to boost it back to seven.
Waynesville refused to let the gap grow wider, gong on a 9-0 run to close out the half. The exclamation was a three by Sessler with five seconds left to put them ahead 27-25.
After the intermission, Waynesville allowed a drive by Pequignot, then scored a couple of their own.
Pequignot, Reisinger and Madden combined for a scoring burst that put the Lakers back in front 36-32 with 3:45 to go in the quarter.
Reisinger then had to sit for several minutes after getting knocked down on a play.
Rocha had a basket and free throw with 3:17 to go. After a score by Lillard, Sessler and Rocha hit a three and a two for the lead.
A corner trey by Tidwell gave the Lakers the 41-39 edge.
What would proved to Waynesville’s last big charge came at the start of the fourth Ross Barrett had a three-point play and layup, then Sesslar hit from deep to go up 47-41.
After trading scores, Pequignot put two in. With 1:55 left, Tidwell took the ball away after the Spartans inbounded and scored for the 50-49 lead.
It stayed that way until Barrett laid it in with 12 seconds to go.
Indian Lake called timeout with 7.9 seconds to set up the final play. They got the ball in and fed it to Lillard who dropped it through.
The Spartans had a final chance, but could only get off a desperation heave that fell well short.
On the Lakers’ winning play, Overturf said that “we ran that set earlier in the game. We kind of used Brody as a decoy, because he was getting face guarded towards the end. …We told everybody in the timeout, they’re so aggressive off the ball, when the ball gets to the paint, it’s a great time to back cut. And Madden did a heck of a job. For him to get that layup to win it, that’s phenomenal. He’s gonna remember that for the rest of his life, and so am I.”
Purcell Marian (14-10) went 12-10 in the regular season and was 9-3 in the Miami Valley Conference. They were 2-7 at one point, but have just one loss since Jan. 17.