CANTON — Dalton’s role players were clutch in crunch time.
Jack Steiner scored six of his 12 points in the fourth quarter and the Bulldogs held on for a 51-46 win over Colonel Crawford in a Division IV regional semifinal game Tuesday at the Canton Memorial Fieldhouse.
Dalton (17-8) will play defending state champ Richmond Heights for the regional title at 7 p.m. Friday in Canton. Richmond Heights dispatched Cornerstone Christian 93-52 in Tuesday’s late game.
The Bulldogs trailed 44-43 midway through the fourth quarter when sophomore guard Brady Hignight ignited a decisive 6-0 run with a layup at the 3:55 mark. Quentin Lehman’s layup gave Dalton a 47-44 lead before Steiner’s baseline jumper with 2:42 left pushed the advantage to 49-44 with 2:42 to go.
“We’ve had a lot of tight games like this that have come down to the wire. Our kids don’t get rattled,” Dalton coach Justin Greenfelder said “I’m going to give a lot of credit to Jack Steiner. He made a lot of good decisions out of our transition offense.”
Colonel Crawford cut Dalton’s lead to 49-46 on a pair of Trevor Vogt free throws with 1:56 remaining, but that would be it for the Eagles.
Colonel Crawford had a chance to tie it with about 30 seconds remaining, but Braxton Baker’s 3-pointer rimmed out and Dalton standout Braylon Wenger corralled the rebound and was fouled with 27.2 seconds left.
Wenger misfired on the front end of the one-and-one, but atoned for his mistake moments later when he snagged an errant Colonel Crawford pass and found Hignight, who was fouled and sank a pair of free throws with 11 seconds showing.
“We had chances in the fourth. We got some great looks that didn’t go and we had a few key turnovers,” Colonel Crawford coach David Sheldon said. “I thought the Steiner kid hit some big shots for them with the game on the line.”
Wenger, A 6-foot-7 shooting guard and one of Wayne County’s leading scorers, had a team-high 14 points but was held scoreless in the fourth. Hignight had 13, while Quentin and Grayson Lehman each had six.
“Braylon gets so much attention, and deservedly so. He’s a special player,” Greenfelder said. “Every night, teams throw a lot of bodies at him and we’ve needed other guys to step up at key times.”
Dalton raced out to a 15-5 first-quarter lead thanks largely to Wenger, who scored seven points in the period. His steal and dunk with 3:04 left in the period gave the Bulldogs a 12-4 advantage before hitting an NBA-range 3-pointer for a 15-4 lead with 1:35 remaining.
“We got punched in the mouth early,” Sheldon said. “I’m proud of our effort. That’s a very good basketball team.
“Wenger is averaging 26 or 27 a game. He’s a a Division I scholarship player, probably.”
The Eagles outscored the Bulldogs 16-8 in the second quarter and trailed 23-21 at the break. Colonel Crawford took its first lead at 34-32 on a Braxton Baker baseline jumper with 2:14 left in the third. A Wenger trey inside the final minute gave the Bulldogs a 37-36 advantage heading to the fourth.
The Eagles reclaimed a 44-43 lead on a Derek Horsley 3-pointer with 4:19 remaining in the fourth quarter. That would be Colonel Crawford’s final advantage of the evening as Dalton closed with an 8-2 push.
Baxter and Jacob Maddy led the Eagles with 16 points apiece. Horsley had eight, while Vogt added four and Ethan Holt had two.
“We could have put our heads between our tails, but these guys kept fighting back,” Sheldon said. “It’s a credit to the character of this basketball team.”
