BOWLING GREEN – Gilmour Academy knocked down five three point goals in the first eight minutes on their way to clinching a return trip to the state final four with a 62-35 victory over St. Marys on Saturday afternoon.
St. Marys notched the opening two markers of the game on free throws by Austin Parks but found themselves behind on the scoreboard just moments later as four shots from behind the arc from the duo of Brandon Rose and Adisa Molton pushed the Lancers in front early in the period.
Ryan Mueller, a 6’7 senior and the Gilmour single season recordholder for rebounds continued the Lancers onslaught with a triple of his own to help his squad to a 17-9 lead before a near halfcourt shot from Roughrider senior Gavin Reineke cut the lead to five at the buzzer.
One bright spot for St. Marys came early in the first period as Austin Parks, a 6’10 Ohio State University signee connected on one of two charity tosses to become the sixth player in school history to score 1,000 plus points.
Gilmour knocked down two more three pointers in the second quarter, both from the hands of Brandon Rose who would go on to finish the half with 13 of his game high 29 markers as the Lancers pulled out to a 28-17 lead at the break.
Early in the third stanza the Riders put a stop to a span of nearly four minutes without a field goal and cut the lead to 28-19 on a short connection by Parks but were unable to get any closer thanks to the guard play of Dorjan Flowers and Rose. Rose exploded for 12 in the games penultimate period that included a dunk with 2:50 showing on the Stroh Center scoreboard that sent the Lancer faithful into a frenzy.
Ryan Mueller, the second leading scorer for Gilmour hit for five of his ten in the final eight minutes to join Rose in double figures for the Lancers and helped to push the final score to nearly double the total of St. Marys on the afternoon while helping to limit his teams turnovers.
Seniors Andrew Moore and Gavin Reineke rounded out the final markers for the Roughriders with a pair of baskets each before the clock struck zeroes on the 27 point defeat.
St. Marys sees their season come to an end at 18-8 with an appearance in the regional finals for just the third time in school history and the first since 1993.
Austin Parks led the Roughriders with 15 points and five rebounds while Reineke ended his blue and gold career with seven.
Gilmour Academy moves to 23-5 on the year and were led by Rose with a season high 29 to go along with his eight rebounds and 11 of 15 shooting performance that included a 4/4 night from behind the arc.
Next up for the Lancers is a Friday night 8:30pm showdown in Dayton against a Waverly squad that survived Heath 46-45 in an overtime classic played at Ohio University.
Scoring:
Gilmour Academy (62):
Nathan Flaherty 4
Lucas Grover 3
Nathan Nootbaar 4
Dorjan Flowers 3
Ryan Mueller 10
Brandon Rose 29
Adisa Molton 9
FG: 24/40
3PT: 8/13 (Rose 4, Molton 2, Mueller, Grover)
FT: 6/9
REB: 24
TO: 10
St. Marys (35):
Andrew Moore 4
Brayden Sullivan 3
Gavin Reineke 7
Jace Turner 3
Evan Angstman 2
Austin Parks 15
FG: 13/37
3PT: 2/14 (Sullivan, Reineke)
FT: 7/8
REB: 16
TO: 13