by Andrew Fenner ‘27

Coming into this Thursday’s regional finals game, Blake and Sherwood were 1-1 in their matchups against each other this season. In their first contest, Sherwood took the win at home over a then undefeated Blake team, with the final score being 74-69. When the two teams met again in February, Blake pulled away with a 68-59 victory. Walking into the Blake gym Thursday night, the tension was palpable and the teams were ready to fight for the regional title.

After the tip-off, the game was slow to pick up, with both teams still finding their rhythm. The first quarter was very low-scoring, with Blake trailing 12-6 when the second quarter rolled around. With about five minutes left in the second quarter, Blake had closed the gap and tied the game at 14-14. From here on the Warriors dominated, going on a 14-2 run to conclude the half.

Blake’s five-star prospect Babatunde Oladotun was flustered, scoring only 9 points in the first half, much less than he typically has at that point in the game. The Bengals’ offense is heavily dependent on Oladotun’s impact on both ends of the floor, and with him struggling to score against the Warriors’ zone defense, Blake was in trouble. Sophomore Jamar Nix and senior Jaden Nix were key pieces for disrupting Oladotun on defense. Their athleticism and height allowed them to contest the 6’9” power forward’s deep-range shots, while also being a deterrent for drives into the paint.

In their 55-47 victory, Sherwood played arguably the best basketball they’ve played this season, hustling for loose balls and showing how much they wanted to win this game. Offensively, the Warriors were efficient, working the ball around the arc and shooting the ball well. They were struggling on the inside in the beginning, but once Blake recognized the threat the Warriors posed from deep, they began to close out on shooters hard, leaving an entry to the lane. Sherwood’s shiftier guards, like senior Khalil Wilson and junior Tyler Grambling, used this opening to weave through the help defense and get to the rim.

Defensively was where the Warriors truly shined, rattling the Blake players and disrupting their offensive scheme. In Sherwood’s last outing against Blake on the Bengals’ home court, the biggest factor was rebounding, where Blake got many second-chance opportunities. This time around, the Warriors were ready to crash the glass and weren’t afraid of the contact that came with battling Blake for rebounds. Overall the Warriors out-hustled and were more physical than Blake, which led to a few powerful dunks overtop the Bengals defense by Alex Welch and Jamar Nix.

It was in the fourth quarter that the Warriors began to lose their footing, allowing Blake to close the gap from 16 points all the way down to just four. Blake pressed and put a lot more pressure on the opposing ball-handlers on their way up the court, forcing turnovers that led to points in transition. With a little more than a minute to go, the Warriors had the ball with the game on the line. Score here and ice the game, or allow the Bengals one more chance to steal the regional title. After Blake stopped a few attempts from Sherwood to seal away the game, the Warriors inbounded the ball with a minute on the clock. Wilson received the inbound pass, and after being doubled near the top of the three-point line, he drove left and pitched it out to Welch at the arc. Welch took one dribble left and stepped back, releasing the ball a few feet from the top of the key. The ball bounced off the front rim and hit the backboard before falling right through the nylon.

The Warriors held the Bengals there on their next possession and raised the regional plaque once the buzzer sounded. In the last three years, Head Coach Tom Sheahin has led Sherwood boys basketball to two regional championships. Sheahin’s contributions to this program cannot be overstated, and it’s safe to say that everyone at Sherwood is excited for whatever this team will accomplish on this playoff run and in the coming seasons.