CINCINNATI — Tyson Davis scored 13 points, Bryce Curry had 10 and Lakota West beat St. Xavier 36-29 in a Division I regional semifinal on Wednesday night at Xavier University’s Cintas Center.
The Firebirds (20-5) will face Fairfield in a regional final at noon on Sunday at Cintas Center.
“First of all, I’m so proud of these guys,” Lakota West coach Kelven Moss said. “We knew it was going to be a grind-out game. We prepared the last few days with a minute 30 possessions. So, we knew what we were getting into.
“Our biggest thing was preaching patience on both ends of the floor. A few possessions we had this internal shot clock where we jacked it up pretty quick. But for the most part, we executed, and we guarded our butts off tonight.”
Lakota West has won eight in a row, including its 61-56 regular-season finale against St. Xavier on Feb. 15.
St. Xavier (19-6) was led in scoring by Brayden Reilly, who had a game-high 14 points. Bombers leading scorer Donovan Waleskowski, who averages 12.8 points a contest, was held to one point.
“Our goal was to limit Waleskowski as many touches as possible and force other people to beat us,” Moss said. “If they’re going to beat us, they’re going to have to beat us with tough stuff.”
The Firebirds moved out a 13-7 first-quarter lead before the Bombers came back to tie it at 16-16 heading into the halftime break.
Lakota West outscored St. Xavier 20-13 in the second half and was able to hang on. The Firebirds shot 13 of 24 (54%) from the floor for the game.
“We’ve been here before,” Moss said. “I’m super confident in my guys. I knew we would either close it out at the free-throw line or execute someway, somehow — and we finished it out.”
