With a new coach in Carl Blanton, Sr., the Rams believed they could put Trotwood-Madison basketball back on the map.
The Rams finished the season as Division III regional runner-ups, falling to Cincinnati Aiken 71-50 on Sunday afternoon at the Xavier University Cintas Center.
“I think we overcame what everybody else’s expectations were for us,” Blanton said. “I think a lot of people didn’t think we were going to do as well as we did. I take my hat’s off to my coaching staff and my players for buying in to what I was instilling during my first year of coaching.”
Trotwood 6-foot-8 senior post Jermiel Atkins had 16 points and 19 rebounds and senior Baron White added 11 points for the Rams, who finished their season 24-3.
“First of all, I just want to give my hats off to Cincinnati Aiken,” Blanton said. “They’re coached very well by (Derrell Black). They really came out to play. I think we jumped on them at first and when we had a little bit of control, we turned the ball over. The turnovers I think kind of cost us a game.”
Trotwood entered the game on a 17-game winning streak that included a 78-76 victory over Aiken on Feb. 13 — the Falcons only loss of the season.
In the first matchup, Atkins’ putback gave the Rams the win. He was dominant in the paint again, pulling down 10 boards in the first half as Trotwood grabbed a 22-19 halftime lead.
“He’s our go-to guy,” Blanton said. “We get the ball into him, he gets us going, he rebounds, he outlets and runs the floor. We couldn’t ask for much more from him. He had a great season, a great year.”
Aiken, however, pulled away in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Rams 26-9 in the final eight minutes. The Falcons ramped up the pressure, scoring 22 points off of Trotwood’s 24 turnovers.
“We had a great season overall, we just came up short,” said Atkins, who will play football at Kentucky next season. “We played a hard game and had some ups-and-downs. We really beat ourselves. We had (24 turnovers) to their two and that’s what won them the game.”
The Rams are graduating four seniors from this year’s team — Atkins, White, Giovannis Barber and Xavier Millerton. They’ll return several players that saw varsity action this winter.
“We’ve got something to work with and I think we’ll give ourselves a good shot to be in a position to try to be back here,” Blanton said.
The Rams won the state title in their last appearance in 2019. Trotwood was seeking its sixth trip to the final four in program history.
“We did above and beyond what we thought we could do,” Blanton said. “We gave it our best effort. One thing about it is we believe in ‘be phenomenal or be forgotten.’ We gave all the effort we could give and this last game just didn’t work in our favor.”
About the Author