03-13-15
BY JACK BULLOCK
PEORIA - It was Saturday, March 11, 1972.

Richard Nixon was the president.

If you turned on your radio you probably heard “American Pie” by Don McLean or “Heart of Gold” by Neil Young.

The Los Angles Lakers were on their way to an NBA title and the Dallas Cowboys had just beaten the Miami Dolphins to win Super Bowl VI.

It was also the last time the Mounds Meridian Bobcats appeared in a state championship game.

Until now.

Behind a strong team defensive effort and the gutsy play of injured guard David Davis, the Bobcats are a win away from the program's first ever state championship.

The 5-foot-11 senor guard Davis scored 22-points and teammate Davarae Edmonds posted a double-double with 15-points and 17-rebounds as Meridian improved to 27-7 with a decisive 50-35 win over Forreston in the first 1A semifinal on Friday afternoon.

Davis, who sprained his ankle in the teams' supersectional win over Casey-Westfield on Tuesday night, came ready to play and Meridian used a second quarter 12-0 run to close the half with a 21-15 lead.

“It feels great. When we came in we wanted to be in the experience but when we saw the highlights at the banquet we came out here and took the game seriously,” said Davis. “Oh my God, this feels good.”

The Bobcats never let up and cruised to the championship game by hitting late free throws to hold off Forreston, who hit just 30 percent of their shots.

The Cardinals turned in a frosty performance from beyond the 3-point arc.

For a team that had shot well through out the state tournament, they hit just 3-of-24 (12.5 percent) from the Arctic circle as they fell to 26-6 on the season and into the third place game.

“We worked hard all season to get to this point. I told them after the game that Meridian has a reputation of being an uptempo basketball team, pushing the ball up the floor. I look and we win 50-35. It shows how hard they work and that we can win a basketball game like this and not get rattled and keep our composure,” said Coach Griffin, a long time assistant coach at Harrisburg before taking over the Bobcats' program. “I'm just thrilled right now and I'm proud of these guys. They worked hard all season to get to this point.”

Although the Bobcats hit just 41.9 percent overall (18-of-43) they managed to command the boards with Edmonds dominating the defensive glass.

Meridian clobbered the Cardinals, 48-20 in rebounding and allowed just seven offensive rebounds, three of which came in the final seconds after the outcome was decided.

Coach Erik Griffin, in his first season at the helm of this crew, saw his team take control of the contest with a big offensive move in the second quarter that was sparked by the defensive stops that they routinely made.

After Forreston made its best run of the contest to take a 15-9 lead with 4:52 left, the Bobcats pounced on the Cardinals with a momentum switching 12-0 burst.

Davis had five of the points on a 3-pointer from the right corner after he had converted a fast break attempt following one of Forreston's missed 3-pointers.

Tyrone Nesby, a 6-foot-2 senior forward, added eight points in the afternoon game and he scored on a lay in that started the scoring spree.

Edmonds, also a 6-foot-2 senior, got involved scoring twice in the lane.

He closed the run and the half by connecting on a double-clutch off-balanced shot that banked home with 1:07 left in the second quarter for a six-point advantage at intermission.

The Bobcats got their first double-digit scoring lead with Edmonds and Nesby getting loose inside for easy buckets.

Both of the scores came on assists from Davis for a 26-16 lead.

Forreston was led in scoring by Robert DeVries with 10-points and he stopped the run briefly with an inside shot.

However consecutive scores by Edmonds and senior Caylen Ballard, pushed the lead to 30-18.

Davis scored twice for Meridian on an assist from senior point guard DJ Walden and then on a fast break lay in for a 34-25 lead.

The senior lefty Davis hit a pair of free throws and added a drive to the basket to open the fourth quarter.

When Nesby scored again in the paint, Meridian was in complete command.

A nice play in which Davis made a tip-pass from the foul line to Edmonds underneath the basket gave Meridian more breathing room at 43-20 with 2:32 remaining.

Davis hit four straight free throws and Edmonds (2-of-2) and Walden (1-of-2) closed out the game from the foul line as the 'Cats purred their way into the title game on Saturday afternoon.

Behind DeVries Forreston got six points from Kaleb Reinning as the Cardinals.

Meridian held second highest scorer from Forreston guard Wyatt Kerchner to just seven points.

“I've got great kids. They have done everything that I have asked them. We start five seniors and the other senior comes off the bench so it is about experience and about leadership,” said Coach Griffin. “And these guys have understood all year long what it takes to win ballgames. We understood how good Forreston was DeVries and Kerchner were very good players for them. We knew that they would penetrate and we did our best to keep them out of the lane. Down the stretch we went to what we call our “grown man” defense. We stepped it up and did a great job of rebounding. We outrebounded them by 28. That is amazing.”

The Cardinals were even cold from the charity stripe as they hit just 2-of-11 while Meridian hit 13-of-20, including 9-of-their-final-10.

“We are going to prepare the same way we have since the postseason started. We try not to go overboard with a lot of information. We look at personnel and try to match up. We look at any adjustments we have to make,” said Coach Griffin. “But we have a smart group of kids, DJ (Weldon) is the class valedictorian, Davarae (Edmonds) is the class salutatorian and Davis, Nesby, Ryan Moore, they are all good students. They are smart kids. They pick up on things really fast. We are going to enjoy this win and then come out and play tomorrow. Our kids are relaxed and loose. We are about a good of a state mentally as we can be.”

The Bobcats will take on 33-2 Brimfield on Saturday, who beat Colfax Ridgeview, 53-34, in the second semifinal game.