Warren boys fall to Miami Trace in district semifinal
Julian Stadelman scored 44 in his final prep game
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LOGAN - The last thing Warren head coach Blane Maddox wanted in Tuesday evening's Division III district semi-final against undefeated Miami Trace at the Jim Myers Gymnasium in Logan was for his team to get off to a slow start.
Unfortunately for the Warriors that would turn out to be the case as they fell behind early and spent the rest of the game catching up before eventually succumbing to the Panthers 79-71 to bring their spectacular 2024-2025 season to a close.
Miami Trace scored the first nine points of the game and never trailed as they improved to 23-0 and punched their ticket to Sunday's district title game at the Convocation Center in Athens.
"The one thing we didn't want to do was get down early and spread the floor where we gave them some easy layups and we did," said Maddox. "They got a jump on us and we battled and battled but we just never could get over the hump."
The Warriors knew they were going to have their hands full with Panther 6'8" junior Adam Guthrie and he gave them a sneak peek on the opening possession as he took the ball inside and powered his way to the bucket for two to put the Panthers in front.
A three-pointer by Trey Robinette followed by two-pointers by Skye Salyers and Julian Baker capped the great beginning for the Panthers and forced Maddox to call an early timeout to try to settle down his veteran team.
That brief intermission did the trick as the Warriors newly-crowned all-time leading scorer Julian Stadelman began to make his presence felt.
In a matter of three minutes of game time, Stadelman knocked down three triples and scored 11 points overall as the Warriors trimmed the lead to 14-11.
Freshman Gage Bowers answered for Trace though by scoring a two-pointer and then connecting from long distance to give the Panthers a 19-12 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Once again Trace came out rolling to start the second quarter as they went on an 8-2 run to extend their lead to 13.
The Panthers would increase their lead to as many as 14 before the Warriors made a bit of a run to close out the opening half and cut the lead to eight at the break.
Senior Connor Barry played a huge role in the late Warrior run with a pair of triples and Warren closed out the half when senior Tyson Cochran beat the buzzer with a tip-in much to the delight of the huge Warrior crowd that made the 90-minute trip to Logan.
The Warriors are known for being a great third quarter squad and once again that would be the case as they began to steadily chip away at the Panther lead.
Two more Stadelman three-pointers cut the lead to seven midway through the quarter before senior Nick Cressey came up with a spectacular play on defense that resulted in cutting the margin to five.
Cressey chased after a loose ball off of a missed Warrior shot and saved it in bounds where Robinette caught the ball for Trace.
While Robinette looked to get the ball out to a teammate, Cressey quickly recovered and knocked the ball out of the hands of Robinette and picked it up and put it in for two to cut the lead to just five.
Cressey finished the game with six steals and played a huge role in the Warriors comeback bid.
"We brought him in off the bench and he did a great job," said Maddox of his sixth-man Cressey. "He got some steals and got us back in it and made them a little nervous."
Warren managed to make it a two-point game with just over a minute to play but the Panthers pushed it back to six on a rebound put-back bucket by Guthrie and a pair of free throws by Bowers.
The Warriors closed out the quarter on a high note when Cressey forced yet another turnover and assisted Barry on a two-pointer to pull the Warriors to within four heading to the final period.
Warren showed some signs of running out of gas in the final period as they used up a ton of energy to climb back into the game as Miami Trace opened the quarter with a two-pointer by Robinette and a three by senior Skye Salyers to push their lead out to nine.
Warren came charging right back as Stadelman scored all 10 points in a 10-5 run that closed the gap to four with less than four minutes to play in the game.
The game pretty much turned into a free-throw shooting contest the rest of the way with the Panthers making just enough to hold the Warriors at bay.
Warren would get no closer than five down the stretch and watched their 16-game winning streak come to an end while finishing the season with an outstanding 21-3 record.
Bowers led five Miami Trace players in double figures with 20 points while Guthrie contributed 18 points, 17 boards, six assists and five blocked shots to the Panthers attack.
Robinette chipped in with 13 while Julian Baker and Salyers added a dozen apiece.
Stadelman closed out his Warrior career with a brilliant 44-point performance, just two-shy of the school record of 46 set last season by Trent Taylor.
The Warrior guard added five assists while connecting on six three-pointers and converting 12-of-13 free throw attempts in the game.
"What an amazing game by such a great kid," said Maddox of Stadelman, who accounted for over 60 percent of his team’s points. "I wish we could have found a little more offense from everybody else but we still scored 71 points and that should be enough to win."
Barry added 10 points for the Warriors while Chase Lupardus finished with 7 points and a team-high 11 rebounds.
The Warriors had knocked off three undefeated teams in the second half of the season but unfortunately the Panthers were able to avoid being the fourth.
"Credit to Miami Trace for hanging in there and playing big," said Maddox. "We got beat by a great team."
The game marks the final one for Stadelman, Hayden Wells, AJ Criss, Colin Anthony, Lupardus, Cressey, Jacob Sealey, Cochran and Barry. The large number of Warren seniors left a huge mark on the Warrior program
"Just a great group that set the bar of how to work in the off season, they set the bar on how to play through your difficulties and they played bigger than they were," said Maddox of the senior group that accounted for more than 70 wins in their four seasons. "I'm proud of them and I know it hurts but I'm as proud of this team as I have been of any team I've coached."
Miami Trace will take on Steubenville for the district crown Sunday at the Convo.