The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Spartans oust Open Door to win district
NORTON >> Richmond Heights’ 2017-18 season ended with disappointment when the Spartans fell in a sectional final.
A year later, Richmond Heights is a district champion for the first time in five seasons.
The Spartans withstood an early run by Elyria Open Door, took control in the second quarter and defeated the Patriots, 78-66, in the Division IV Norton District final March
8. Junior Gbolahan Adio led all scorers with 18 points, Curtis Houston finished with 16 and Jamarr Talbert and BJ Carter added 14 apiece
“It’s great,” Adio said. “For real, knowing the hours we put in, all the work we put in finally paying off, but we can’t be satisfied. We got four more, we’re not done.”
The Spartans advance to a D-IV Canton regional semifinal March 12 against Bristol.
Prior to the district tournament, Richmond Heights’ embraced a mentality designed to help the Spartans avoid another letdown. They hope a district title marks the first steps on the path to Columbus.
“It’s real big because everybody was against us,” Houston said.
“The only people who knew we would do it was us and we think we can go farther, so we really wanted to show that.”
The Patriots seized early momentum with their 3-point shooting. Open Door made four 3s in the first quarter. Shots by Gavin Dobbins and Jared Bublinec pushed the Patriots’ lead to eight, 22-14, after a quarter.
Richmond Heights righted itself in the second quarter to take control of the game. After the Patriots led, 26-19, the Spartans outscored them, 17-6, to take a 37-32 lead at halftime.
After Coach Quentin Rogers’ schedule included games against Lorain, Lutheran East, Shaker Heights, Toledo Whitmer and other top-tier competition, he wasn’t concerned when the Spartans faced an early deficit.
“They ended up actually executing the game plan and they believed in themselves,” Rogers said. “That’s a reason why we scheduled the way we did so, in these situations, there’s nothing foreign to us. I thought they did a good job executing and staying focused.”
Open Door began the second half with seven unanswered points, capped by Trey Brooks’ first basket of the game to give the Patriots a 39-37 lead. Richmond Heights responded to push its lead back to seven, 52-45, by quarter’s end.
A Bublinec jumper followed Miles Hunt’s andone
“We knew eventually, they would crack,” Houston said, “just like all the other teams we played. Just keep going, keep going, eventually they stop.” — Richmond Heights’ Curtis Houston
layup to slice the Spartans’ lead to one, 6160, midway through the fourth. Richmond Heights scored 13 of the game’s next 15 points to pull away permanently.
“We knew eventually, they would crack,” Houston said, “just like all the other teams we played. Just keep going, keep going, eventually they stop.”
Bublinec led Open Door with 16 points, Hunt added 15, Brooks finished with 13 and Carter Wright chipped in 12.
Downcast by the Patriots’ ultimate result, Open Door coach Todd Wright was also cognizant of his team’s accomplishments in recent months. The Patriots won 20 games to tie their single-season program record while Brooks became Open Door’s alltime leading scorer.
“This is a group of guys that love each other,” Martin said, “you could tell and you could see that. They put in the work on top of that to become better basketball players and better teammates, just made for an incredible season, one that I’ll certainly never forget.”