COLUMBUS: St. Vincent-St. Mary senior Henry Baddley and junior Jayvon Graves turned Thursday’s Division II state semifinal boys basketball game into a slam-dunk contest.
Baddley and Graves each had their hands on the rim multiple times with two-hand jams and one-hand jams at Ohio State University’s Value City Arena.
Their explosive leaping ability coupled with depth allowed St. V-M to defeat Cincinnati Aiken 85-68 before a crowd of 7,998 spectators.
St. V-M (26-3) will play in the Division II state final at 2 p.m. Saturday against New Concord John Glenn, which beat Bay Village Bay 84-56 on Thursday.
“I was real pleased with pretty much how we played,” St. V-M coach Dru Joyce II said. “We knew in scouting them that they pretty much only went seven deep and we believe that our 11 or 12 are tough to deal with when all you got is seven. We played 12 guys pretty good minutes, and when you can get that kind of production usually good things are happening.
“These two guys [Baddley and Graves] did what they are supposed to do. They took control and they made shots and got the ball to the rim.”
Baddley, a 6-foot-4 Butler University recruit, had 27 points, six rebounds, three steals and two assists in 24 minutes. He made 10-of-14 field goals, including 2-of-3 from beyond the 3-point arc, and 5-of-7 free throws.
Graves, a 6-foot-3 guard with multiple scholarship offers, totaled 23 points, four rebounds and four assists in 21 minutes. He made 10-of-11 field goals, including his only 3-point attempt, and 2-of-3 free throws.
When asked how many dunks they each had, Baddley and Graves laughed and Joyce said with a smile: “If they know that, they can’t play anymore.”
For record-keeping purposes, Graves had four dunks and Baddley finished with two. The two high fliers also made several layups as St. V-M overmatched Aiken (24-4).
“We work a lot in practice on passing, cutting and moving the ball,” Baddley said. “They were overplaying us, so we just back-doored them. We also got the ball out and pushed it fast [up the court] when they pressed us. We were able to get the ball to the middle of the floor and kick it to the guy running the wing.”
The Irish came out fast on St. Patrick’s Day and opened up a 19-6 lead with 3:26 to go in the first quarter. The lead grew to 25-13 at the end of the first quarter with eight points from Graves, seven from junior John Williams, six from Baddley and four from senior Dominic Davis.
“We shared the ball and we knew that they were going to trap,” Graves said.
The Irish’s advantage reached 44-26 at halftime. They led by as many as 25 points in the third quarter and led 63-40 heading into the fourth quarter.
Senior Carlik Jones paced Aiken with 29 points, nine rebounds, three steals and two assists in 31 minutes. Jones, a 6-foot Radford recruit, made 13-of-24 shots, including 1-of-2 from beyond the 3-point arc, and 2-of-4 free throws.
Juniors Lonnie Berry (20 points, five rebounds) and Marcus Barton (eight points) were the Falcons’ other two primary scoring options.
“We came out real tight and I think the atmosphere was a little too big for my guys early,” Aiken coach Leon Ellison said. “We succumbed to the moment. I don’t think that St. V got the real Aiken team tonight.
“We didn’t compete on the glass and we didn’t compete defensively.”
Junior Justin Sampson scored 11 points for St. V-M and Williams had nine points, three rebounds and three assists. Davis, juniors Malik Wooldridge, DeAmonte’ King and Kameron Ivory and senior Niko Lalos combined to account for 15 points.
St. V-M finished with an edge in rebounds (36-28) and assists (15-6).
Michael Beaven can be reached at 330-996-3829 or mbeaven@thebeaconjournal.com.