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On this date in area sports history…
On this date seven years ago, March 1, 2002, the undefeated Southeastern boys basketball team, ranked No. 1 in D-IV, beat the defending state champion Bethel Bees, 74-68, at the Vandalia Butler Student Activities Center in front of an estimated 4,800 fans.
The crowd is believed to be the largest in Vandalia Butler’s history. It was also the final game for Bethel’s Matt Witt, who was named D-IV Co-Player of the Year in 2002. He went on to become the leading scorer in the history of Eastern Kentucky University and currently plays professionally in Holland.
Published in the March, 2, 2002 edition of the News-Sun:
TROJANS WITHSTAND WITT’S HITS
BETHEL’S SCORER NETS 36, BUT SOUTHEASTERN STILL PERFECT
By KEN PAXSON, News-Sun Special Writer
VANDALIA — Bethel’s one-man show was no match for Southeastern’s balanced attack Friday night.
The Trojans didn’t come close to stopping Matt Witt in the finals of the Division IV sectional boys high school basketball tournament, but they did the next best thing.
Witt, the Dayton area’s leading scorer, did rack up 36 points but made only 8 of 25 shots in the second half as the Trojans built an 11-point lead and held on for a 74-68 victory in front of an estimated crowd of 4,800 at Vandalia-Butler’s Student Activities Center.
The win sends Southeastern (22-0 and the top-ranked D-IV team in Ohio) into the district final at 7:45 p.m. Friday at the University of Dayton Arena against the winner of the Loveland upper bracket.
Bethel’s season ends at 18-5.
“He’s going to get his shots,” Southeastern coach Aaron Perry said of Witt. “Our job was to limit everyone else around him and hope and pray that he misses some.”
Thanks in part to the defense of senior Keith Clark, Witt was missing when it counted most while the Trojans’ offense was coming at the Bees from all angles.
Witt went 2 of 12 from 3-point range while trying to bring his team back in the final two periods.
“I was two feet in front of the 3-point line guarding him because he’s so quick,” Clark said of defending Witt, “but you don’t want to let him have the 3 either.
“I just tried to play medium ground, and the rest of the team did a great job with help-side defense.”
Witt did get help from Brian Shoup, who scored 20 points, but Southeastern kept the Bees guessing with five players scoring eight or more points.
Senior Mark Waddle led the Trojans with 24 points, while Clark and big-man Brian Cooper chipped in with 17 points each.
“There’s not just one player on our team who can get it done,” Waddle said. “We have five guys who can score on you, and if we play together, we’ll win.”
Southeastern and Bethel both had big leads in the first half before the Trojans slowly took control in the second.
Southeastern jumped out to a 14-6 lead in the first period, only to have the Bees surge ahead 28-19 with 4:18 left in the second quarter.
The Trojans owned a 31-30 edge at halftime but opened the third period on a 6-2 run they would never relinquish.
“I don’t think we came out with the defensive intensity we needed to in the second half,” Bethel coach Steve Fisher said. “Once they got that little lead we were always playing from behind.
“I think they really outplayed us most of the ball game.”
A buzzer-beating three by Wade Rice gave Southeastern a 51-41 lead at the end of the third period, but the Bees’ full-court press rattled the Trojans in the fourth.
Bethel closed the gap to four, 51-47, on a steal and layup by Shoup with 7:10 to go, but that was as close as the Bees would get.
Witt kept firing away, but missed his last three 3-point tries.
“I guess I was a little bit off,” he said. “It was just one of those games. It doesn’t feel right being the last game of my career.”
Clark said he respected the Bees but never doubted that his team would come out on top.
“We knew they were a great team, but there was no doubt in my mind that we would win,” he said. “When you haven’t lost all season, you pretty much expect to win every time.”
BETHEL (68) — Bowman 1 1-2 3, Shoup 2 0-0 4, Witt 14 5-6 36, Shoup 7 5-7 20, Priaulx 1 0-0 2, Billings 1 0-0 3. Totals: 26 11-15 68.
SOUTHEASTERN (74) — Rice 2 2-2 8, Clark 5 6-14 17, Waddle 7 9-13 24, Cooper 7 3-4 17, Poole 4 0-0 8. Totals: 25 20-33 74.
Bethel20 30 41 68
Southeastern16 31 51 74
Three-point goals: Bethel 5 (Witt 3, Shoup, Billings), Southeastern 4 (Rice 2, Clark, Waddle).
Records: Southeastern 22-0, Bethel 18-5.
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