Piketon edges Southeastern, wins sectional title

WAVERLY – With all things considered, who would have expected anything else but a thriller?

Piketon and Southeastern — who both posted winning records during the regular season while being extremely familiar with each other playing in the same conference — met for a third time in 2014-15.

The only difference from the first two meetings was that one team's season would end, Friday night in a Division III sectional final at Waverly High School.

Unfortunately for the Panthers, they were that team in a 45-44 gut wrenching loss.

"Our guys left everything they had out on that floor tonight," Southeastern coach Jeran Cox said. "We went in with a game plan and I thought we went about that pretty well. We just wish it were us on the right side of the scoreboard."

Even with the loss, the Panthers (13-11) had every shot at winning the ball game, relying on their four departing seniors — Tyler Cartee, Terrell Fairrow, Dylan Miles and Matt Lawson — to keep them in the running.

"That's a great group of kids. They've really worked hard for all year long," Cox said. "They're leaders for us on and off the court. There's no doubt in my mind that these guys will be successful in whatever they do because they have a level head on their shoulders and great families to support them."

Cartee, who came into the game 27 points shy of hitting 1,000 in his career, did everything but sell hot dogs and pass out popcorn to spectators within the first quarter.

With both defenses clamping down early, neither team got a bucket until the 4:01 mark in the first quarter — a lay in from Piketon's Casey Moore. After the Streaks got on the board, it was all Panthers for the remainder of the opening time frame.

Cartee drilled two big threes and grabbed multiple rebounds, doing his part to put the Panthers on top, 9-4, heading into the second quarter.

While the first quarter was claimed by Southeastern, Piketon made sure the second wasn't up for the taking as well.

The Redstreaks, fueled by Moore and senior Wyatt Brewster, won the second quarter, 10-6, to cut the Panthers' lead to just one at 15-14, heading into halftime.

Coming out of the break, both teams would score more in the third quarter alone than they had all first half.

Piketon took back the lead, 22-21, with just under six minutes to play and held onto it for dear life. Heading to the final eight minutes, the Streaks were the owners of a slight 32-31 advantage.

In the fourth, pandemonium struck.

Piketon had built a 39-32 lead with 5:07 left in regulation and while the Redstreaks' attempts to put the game away were frequent, they were also futile.

The resilience of the Panthers bolstered them right back into the game after an 8-2 scoring run to make it 41-40 with 2:25 remaining. From that point, Piketon would miss some crucial free throw attempts to give Southeastern one last shot at snatching a victory from the jaws of defeat.

Trailing 45-44 with 48.5 left in the contest, Miles found Cartee at the top of the key. Cartee drove in for the bucket but the ball ricocheted off the side of the rim and into the arms of a Piketon defender; ending the Panthers' 2014-15 campaign and sending the Redstreaks to a district semi-final.

"Being a Panther means a lot," Southeastern senior Terrell Fairrow said. "You become a big family and that's what it's all about. I might be the only senior without tears in my eyes but believe that I'm feeling (this loss) down deep. But life goes on. You've got to pick it back up. We can still walk out of here with our heads high."

Cartee led all scorers with 17 points — ending his career at 990. Fairrow followed with eight points and eight rebounds for the Panthers while junior Justin Dye also had eight points. Miles finished with four points and five rebounds.

Moore led Piketon with 13 points while senior Aaron Southworth finished with 12 points and eight boards. Brewster added 11 and senior Tristen Veach chipped in with a total of seven.

The Redstreaks (15-8) will now advance to play top seeded Chesapeake at 5:30 p.m., March 8 at the Convocation Center at Ohio University with a trip to a D-III district final on the line.

Derrick Webb is a Gazette sportswriter and can be reached at dwebb@chillicothegazette.com. Follow him on Twitter at @dw1509.