HUNTINGTON | Andrean's Skyler Moss loves to muscle people in the paint, move them around like chess pawns, and score at will.
Fort Wayne Concordia had other plans during Saturday's Huntington North 3A Semistate matchup.
Call it a Skyler Moss “sequestering.”
With the 6-foot-4, 250-pound senior getting his fourth foul at 3:47 of the fourth quarter, the Cadets began sending everyone to the basket with hopes of fouling him out, shutting him down.
Springy Desmond McCall and Brian Gremaux, both 6-5, did the most damage as the Cadets slipped past Andrean in overtime, 68-63.
“I felt very helpless,” said Moss, who fouled out with 1:11 left in OT. “My key to playing defense is play hard and push people out. But I couldn't for fear of a ticky-tack foul.
“I would've loved to win but at least we got this far. I thank my coaches for working with me and putting up with my mess all season, school and those things.”
Coach Carson Cunningham, seeking the program's first semistate title since 2000, felt equally bad for his frustrated center.
“We like to front the post and it was harder for him to be aggressive,” Cunningham said.
Sam Toporski, in one of his best outings ever, led Andrean (22-4) with 20 points and eight rebounds. Collin Wojcik chipped in 17 points, Moss 16 and Valparaiso University-bound Nick Davidson had 10.
Davidson did not attempt a shot or score until his three-point play with 38.4 seconds left in the half.
“They were doubling Nick the whole game and putting so much pressure on him,” Cunningham noted. “He's so smart. When he gets doubles, he looks for other people.”
Davidson finished with seven rebounds and six assists, but also had six of the team's 19 turnovers, 12 coming in the fourth quarter.
Concordia scored 31 points off Andrean miscues.
McCall's 20 points topped the Cadets (23-4), who won their first semistate. Marq Rogers added 15, Gremaux 13 – scoring 11 in the last two periods – and Tom Starks Jr. had 10.
“The team we played is really good and we're really good,” Cunningham said. “It took overtime for them to beat us and by the slimmest margin.
“I love this team. It's a joy to coach them. I just wish I could've pressed a button so we could play another week."
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