By Josh Brown
and Rob Kiser
Miami Valley Today
SIDNEY — The Tippecanoe boys basketball team may have missed a potential game-winning putback at the buzzer Friday night in a one-point loss to Troy that could have clinched the Miami Valley League Miami Division title.
Tuesday, they got a second chance.
With the Red Devils trailing MVL Valley Division leader Sidney by one in the closing seconds, Nolan Mader stuck back a miss to give Tippecanoe a stunning 53-52 victory Tuesday at Sidney, giving the Devils a two-game lead in the MVL Miami with only one game remaining.
By completing the season sweep of the Yellow Jackets, Tippecanoe improved to 13-8 overall and 12-5 in the MVL Miami, maintaining its two-game lead on 10-7 Troy and clinching the outright division championship. Sidney, meanwhile, fell to 17-4 overall and 14-3 in the MVL Valley, dropping into a first-place tie with West Carrollton.
Mader finished with 16 points to lead the Devils, Gavin Garlitz added 12 and Griffin Caldwell chipped in nine.
Tippecanoe hosts Butler Friday.
Troy 75,
Stebbins 66
RIVERSIDE — Four Trojans were in double figures Tuesday as Troy avenged an early-season loss to Stebbins on its home floor, going to Stebbins and using a huge fourth quarter to claim a 75-66 Miami Valley League crossover victory.
The Indians (16-5, 12-5 MVL Valley Division), who beat Troy by one in the first meeting, led 13-12 after one and 34-32 at halftime. Stebbins maintained a two-point lead heading into the fourth at 50-48, but Troy (13-8, 10-7 MVL Miami) outscored the Indians 27-16 in the final quarter to put away the win.
Jaden Owens led the Trojans with 25 points, Andrew Holley added a career-high 14 points and Shaeden Olden and Landyn Henry each scored 10 points.
Troy hosts rival Piqua Friday.
FM 45,
Bethel 32
PITSBURG — The Bethel Bees struggled offensively in a makeup game Tuesday at Franklin Monroe, falling 45-32 in Cross County Conference play.
Nick Schmidt and Trevor Walker each scored nine points to lead the Bees (9-12, 7-4 CCC), who only trailed 6-5 after one but fell behind 22-10 by halftime and never recovered.
Bethel travels to Tri-Village Friday.
Anna 54,
Miami East 26
CASSTOWN — Miami East fell to 9-11 Tuesday night with a 54-26 non-league loss to visiting Anna.
Brayden Young had eight points and four steals and Brendon Bertsch added seven points for the Vikings, who trailed 18-6 after one and 31-14 at halftime as Anna steadily pulled away.
Miami East hosts Mississinawa Valley Friday.
Arcanum 64,
Milton-Union 53
ARCANUM — In a tournament preview, Milton-Union traveled to Arcanum Tuesday night, and all it took was one bad quarter in a 64-53 loss to the Trojans.
Arcanum held a slim advantage early, 15-12 after one and 28-24 at halftime, then the Trojans outscored Milton-Union 18-4 in the third quarter to take control for good.
“We didn’t shoot the ball very well as a team. We typically have a very balanced team attack, and we weren’t very balanced tonight,” Milton-Union coach Rusty Berner said. “Give Arcanum credit for forcing us into a half-court game. We just didn’t handle the environment there or any adversity tonight.”
Sam Case hit five 3-pointers and scored a career-high 25 points to lead the Bulldogs (13-8) and Nathan Brumbaugh added 13 points, but no other Bulldog player scored more than four points.
Milton-Union travels to Dixie Friday before facing Arcanum again in the second round of the Division III sectional tournament on Feb. 25 at Northmont High School.
Russia 63,
Newton 41
RUSSIA — The Newton boys dropped a non-conference road game.
Russia led 14-5, 31-9 and 45-24 at the quarter breaks.
Harold Oburn led Newton (6-15) with 13 points and Mitchell Montgomery added eight.
Houston 51,
Bradford 38
BRADFORD — The Bradford boys dropped a game with Houston Tuesday.
Kegan Fair led Bradford (2-18, 0-11 Cross County Conference) with 10 points.
• Girls Basketball
Lehman 51,
Northridge 23
SIDNEY — The Lehman Catholic girls basketball closed the regular season at 16-6 after a 51-23 victory over Northridge.
They open Sidney Division IV sectional play at 11 a.m. Saturday against Houston.
The Cavaliers led 14-13, 28-16 and 44-18 at the quarter breaks, holding Northridge to 10 points over the last three quarters.
Lauren McFarland had 13 points and five rebounds, while Heidi Toner and Anna Cianciolo scored nine points each.
Rylie McIver had eight points and three steals, Hope Anthony and Caroline Wesner grabbed five rebounds each and Colleen O’Leary had three steals.
Contact Josh Brown at [email protected], or follow @TroyDailySports on Twitter. Contact Rob Kiser at [email protected].
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