Warren Warriors | Litter Media

Logan Elm fell behind in the early going as Warren took a six point lead. The Warriors’ Brandon Simoniette dropped in a couple of buckets to set the margin for a 13-6 lead over the first 8-minutes and managed a 24-19 lead at the half.

Logan Elm came out of the intermission hot tying the game at 24 in the first two minutes on a shot by Isaac Ward and Jason Sailor gave the Braves their first lead of the game at 26-24. Logan Elm had a 32-31 lead through three quarters. Jeremy Weitelmann gave Logan Elm its biggest lead at 39-35 on a three-pointer with 5:28 remaining.

Warren’s Kurt Taylor pulled the Warriors to within 44-43 on a trey with 1:00 left.

Jared Harrington got behind the defense to sink a layup on a pass from Weitelmann and 46-43 LE

It’s Logan Elm’s fifth District Championship since 2006.

Brayden Sallee led Warren with 14 points. Logan Elm was paced by Gabe Chalfin with 18 points and Isaac Ward with 14.

The Braves will face the winner of Meadowbrook and Tried-Valley on Thursday March 12th.

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The two had played in the season opener at Piketon with Waverly earning a five point victory. With the 2019-20 campaign on the line, it was Warren coming out on top 45-42 to advance to Thursday’s District Final with Logan Elm at The Convo.

Warren’s Brandon Simoniette was held to just three points in the first half, but finished the final 13 minutes with 14 more. It all started with about 5 minutes left in the third period with the Warriors going scoreless and Waverly held a 24-22 advantage.

It turned out to be the turning point in the game.

Warren’s Blaine Maddox said it was time to place some weight on the shoulders of his senior “We do that sometimes, but we didn’t quit. We kept battling and Simoniette with about with about 5 minutes left in the third quarter, I said ‘This is your time, bud… This is it for you’ and he turned it on.

Waverly’s Travis Robertson said Simoniette (17 points) hit some timely shots for Warren. “He played a great game tonight” said Robertson. “We knew he was their best perimeter guy… We were supposed to be going up top over all those screens, we had breakdowns. When you have breakdowns you pay for them.”

The Tigers trailed 14-8 before closing the fist period on a 7-0 run and the game was knotted at 22 by the half.

Trey Robertson found Tanner Smallwood for a shot to beat the buzzer to give Waverly a 35-32 lead to close the third quarter.

The nail in the coffin for Waverly was a three pointer by Joel Chevalier to put Warren up 43-41 to take the lead for good.

Waverly finished its season 19-5 while Warren (16-9) plays Logan Elm for the District Championship Thursday.