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Madison's Josh Foster drives to the basket during the first half of the Division III district finals game against Shroder Paideia Thursday, March 11, 2010 at the University of Dayton Arena.

Staff photo by Nick Graham Madison's Josh Foster drives to the basket during the first half of the Division III district finals game against Shroder Paideia Thursday, March 11, 2010 at the University of Dayton Arena.

Madison’s switch to a matchup zone defense helps the Mohawks put away Shroder Paideia.

By John Bombatch, Staff Writer Updated 2:27 PM Friday, March 12, 2010

DAYTON — When the Shroder Paideia High School boys basketball team put the pressure on, the Madison responded.

The Mohawks went on a 13-2 late run to earn a 74-62 victory in a Division III district title game Thursday, March 11, at the University of Dayton Arena.

The upstart Jaguars turned up their defense and pulled to within two points of tying Madison with just under seven minutes left to play before the Mohawks clinching run.

“I reminded the kids after the game that we’re just two games away from the state championship,” Mohawks coach Jeff Smith said. “We switched to our matchup zone defense right about the time they were making a nice run against us. And I think we converted more shots with our fast break after that, too.”

Mark Maloney led Madison (24-0) with a game-high 25 points. The Mohawks’ 24 victories ties the school record for wins in a season.

“This is this team’s first district title, and to tie the school record for wins is a good feeling,” Maloney said. “We just hope to keep it going.”

Three other Mohawks finished in double-figure scoring as well. Matt Houser finished with 14 points, Justin Brunswick added 13, and Tyler Dietz finished with 12. Josh Foster didn’t score in double figures, but he was key in getting his teammates the ball. Foster had 11 assists in the game.

“I was under pressure the whole night, and that was making it hard for me to find my shot. Shroder played great defense on me, and I didn’t have the legs to shoot, so I did my best to get the ball to my teammates,” Foster said.

Madison never trailed.

Shroder coach Thomas Owens said his Jaguars didn’t play as well on defense as he’d expected.

“We didn’t get back on transition defense like we needed to,” Owens said. “We’ve got a lot of kids coming back though. We’ll be back next year.”

Senior guard Landon Williams led Shroder (12-12) with 15 points. Junior center Jalen Billups finished with 14 points, and senior Antwan Tolliver was the other Jag in double figures with 10.

Madison will now play Taft (22-2) in the D-III regional semifinals, an 8 p.m. Wednesday contest at Fairmont’s Trent Arena in Kettering. Maloney said the team is looking forward to the matchup against one of the premier D-III programs around.

“We’re excited to play Taft. They’re supposedly the team picked before the season to win state. So it’ll be a good test for us.”

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2851 or jbombatch@coxohio.com.

Madison 74, Shroder 62

Shroder: Landon Williams 5 3 15, Tremaine Dees 1 0 2, Chris Knight 4 0 8, Jalen Billups 7 0 14, Antwan Tolliver 4 0 10, Anthony Williams 1 1 3, Kairo Cannon 3 0 6, Dennis Adams 1 0 2, Ladell Griffen 0 2 2. Totals: 26-6-62.

Madison: Matt Houser 4 4 14, Joe Adleta 0 1 1, Mark Maloney 12 1 25, Justin Brunswick 5 3 13, Tyler Dietz 5 2 12, Josh Foster 3 3 9. Totals: 29-14-74.

Shroder 18 16 17 11 — 62

Madison 20 24 11 19 — 74

3-pointers: Shroder 4 (L. Williams 2, A. Tolliver 2); Madison 2 (M. Houser 2)

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