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Johnnies Against the World: Johnstown takes down Western Reserve to advance to regional final

By Jake Spegal, 03/10/21, 7:30PM EST

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Gavin Foe explodes for 33 points to lead the Johnnies

LIMA, Ohio -- One of the best things about high school sports is that they can bring an entire community together, no matter how small or large.

Coining the phrase, "Johnnies Against the World," this season, Johnstown has continued to take down every obstacle in their way in the postseason with the support of their whole town behind them.

Wednesday night's regional semifinal matchup at Elida High School against Western Reserve was no different either as the Johnnies answered every blow the Roughriders threw their way in order to come out on top in a 75-69 victory.

Leading all scorers with 33 points in the contest, Johnstown senior Gavin Foe was unstoppable from start to finish on Wednesday. The Marian commit bullied guys around inside for a ton of easy scores, made a handful of big defensive plays and even nailed a triple in the contest.

In what was a shootout of a first quarter, Western Reserve jumped out to an early lead thanks to excellent perimeter shooting from their entire starting five.

After they jumped out to a 20-12 lead just five minutes in, the Roughriders continued to stay red hot from deep in order to take a 28-21 lead into the second quarter.

Despite the early deficit, Johnstown never wavered.

After back-to-back baskets from Foe to open up the second quarter, Western Reserve called a timeout just a minute into the frame with their lead cut to 28-25.

After the teams continued to trade blows for the rest of the quarter, it looked like Western Reserve would go into halftime with the lead after an and one from John Skrada put them up 37-36 with three seconds left in the frame, however a full court inbound pass from Jake Lusk to Foe led to a Johnstown bucket at the buzzer to put them ahead 38-37 at the break.

Going for 19 first half points, Foe dominated every matchup Western Reserve threw his way as they had no answer for him or Lusk on the interior.

Continuing his dominance in the third quarter, Foe got going in transition and in the half court to give Johnstown their first lead of more than four points all night when finished a second chance score to put them ahead 54-48 with 2:25 left in the frame.

After heading into the fourth quarter ahead 57-50, Johnstown had a few mishaps that allowed Western Reserve to stay in the game, however the Roughriders had no answer for Foe or Lusk all night and it was made evident down the stretch.

After a two and a half minute span where neither team scored with Johnstown ahead 68-61, Foe finished off a big and-one underneath the rim to put the Johnnies ahead 70-62 with 55.2 seconds to go, all but sealing the deal in this one.

Outside of Foe's 33 points, Johnstown also received 19 from Lusk and 12 from Tylar Cox which included two big three-pointers down the stretch.

They advance to the Division III, Region 10 regional finals where they will take on the winner of Archbold versus Ottawa-Glandorf on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Elida High School.

This is Johnstown's first regional final appearance since 2006.

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