Andrew Grimm Big Red senior Tre’Von Wiggins attempts to get a shot up from mid-air during Friday night’s Division III state championship game inside UD Arena. Big Red fell, 48-47.

DAYTON – The dream came one shot short.

After trailing by 10 points in the second half, Big Red came all the way back to lead Friday’s Division III state championship game in the final minute.

Trotwood Madison, though, took the lead on a late bucket from Darius Dennis on a contested shot with 8.6 seconds to go.

Big Red called timeout, drove the length of the floor and Santino Haney let a shot go with the clock winding down. The shot, however, did not fall and the rebound was tipped around until the clock hit zeroes, giving Trotwood-Madison a 48-47 victory inside a packed UD Arena.

“We didn’t start out very well, we were trailing most of the game,” Big Red head coach Mike Haney said. “But our guys are resilient, they kept believing we were going to win the game. It seemed like we picked up the energy late in the third quarter and really got going in the fourth quarter.

“It came down to the last possession, it was a great game. (Trotwood-Madison) is a great team.

“Our guys made Big Red Nation proud. The way they played, the way they fought, they gave everything they had. We just came up short.”

Big Red had taken its first lead of the game with 22.1 seconds to go, Santino Haney making a foul shot in the bonus to break a 46-all tie.

Big Red senior Cole Bowers, who knocked down three 3-pointers and led Steubenville with 22 points, had sunk a pair of shots from the line with 31.6 seconds left to knot the score.

The deficit was double digits on three occasions early in the third quarter after Trotwood-Madison led 36-29 at halftime.

Bowers, though, sparked the comeback with a big 3 that cut the deficit to five late in the third quarter. He then made a pair of early fourth-quarter buckets in the paint to trim the margin to four after it had gone back to nine, later sinking another long-range bomb to again make it a four-point game.

Fellow senior Jermaine Moore sunk a pair at the line to make it a four-point game again after a Trotwood bucket the other way, then another senior – Tre Wiggins – drained a triple to make it a one-point game.

After Trotwood made one of two at the line, Bowers’ makes knotted the score and set up the dramatic finish.

Bowers had four rebounds to go with his team-leading point total. Santino Haney finished 16 points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals.

Big Red shot 36 percent in the second half after shooting 27 percent in the first half. They were 41.7 percent in the fourth quarter.

While it was not the ending they dreamed of, Big Red finishes the season 26-2 and as the first hoops team from the school to reach the state final in 74 years.

Among the large crowd that made the trip across the state were multiple people who watched that 1951-52 team play. Steubenville canceled school Friday for the occasion and it showed, the student section was full and rocking and the Big Red band made the trip. The Steubenville end of the floor was just as packed as the Trotwood side, despite TM being from less than 20 minutes down the road.

“It means everything to us,” Bowers said of the community support. “We’re three hours away and they’re 15 minutes away, and it almost felt like a home game for us. We were down six in the fourth quarter and I looked up and saw all of our fans standing up, we knew they had our backs and were behind us.”

“I’m cherishing these moments with these guys,” Wiggins said. “We came a long way together and the city showed really showed they had our backs.”

Big Red departs five seniors from the history making squad – Bowers, Wiggins, Moore, Che’Mier Adams and JoJo Rea. A group that started playing together all the way back in elementary school.

“It’s hard to explain what these guys mean to us,” coach Haney said. “From second grade (for the seniors) with the EDGE program, all the way through. They played junior high, travel ball together … we’re going to miss these guys. I love them.

“They’re like my kids. I watched them grow up together from second grade, sharing meals together, staying over at the house. They mean the world to me.

“That is going to be the hardest part, that these guys aren’t going to be putting that Big Red jersey back on.”