High school basketball: Bees were classy in victory, even classier in defeat

With 28.8 seconds to go and his team down by 12 points, Medina boys basketball coach Chris Hassinger removed center Christian Howard from the game for the final time and urged 200 Bees fans in attendance to get up on their feet. Moments later, during the same delay in play, senior shooting guard Brandon Geschke exited for the last time and embraced his father Bill, a Medina assistant coach. Finally, with 25.2 ticks on the clock, Bees point guard Corey Tripp went to the bench, where one of the best players in program history exchanged hugs with Hassinger and a number of teammates. It was enough to make a grown man cry. But the Bees, who lost 65-55 to Greater Cleveland Conference rival Mentor on Saturday afternoon in the Twinsburg Division I Regional final, barely shed a tear. "There's hardly any tears in there," Hassinger said, motioning toward the Medina locker room. "Everyone is joyful with what we accomplished. Only the guys in that locker room and the coaches thought we could go this far. Those three guys took our program to another level." The only seniors on Medina's roster, Tripp, Howard and Geschke took the Bees where only two other teams in school history — and three in Medina County — had gone. Class AAA Wadsworth in 1981 and Medina in 1983 are the lone county teams to appear in the state tournament. The classy, mature, fun-loving 2021 Bees wanted desperately to end that 38-year drought, but will have to settle for joining the 2012 Medina team as just the fourth county squad to reach a regional championship game. "I want to cherish it and reflect back on all the moments," Tripp said. "There's heartbreak when you play the final game of your high school career, yeah, but it's still a moment I'll never forget." Nor should he. The 6-foot-3 point guard scored 28 points as the Bees (18-7) fell to the Cardinals (25-0), giving him a school-record 1,325 for his magnificent four-year career. An incredibly hard-working, talented and mature young man who never put himself ahead of the team, Tripp has college offers from the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Bowling Green, Cleveland State, Miami (Ohio) and Youngstown State. Northern Kentucky, Duquesne, Loyola-Chicago and Murray State have expressed strong interest, and Big Ten member Purdue is in the picture as well. "He's not a 'me' guy. He's a 'we' guy," Hassinger said. "There's no drama with him. With most stars, there's at least some drama. With Corey, it's always about the team." The 6-4 Howard, who also plans to continue playing in college, had 12 points and eight rebounds in his final game while displaying his trademark low-post moves and ability to grab tough rebounds in traffic. Projected by doctors to grow a few more inches — he won't turn 18 until Sept. 16 — he's improved by leaps and bounds but is still just scratching the surface. "He was rough around the ages when he started in our program," Hassinger said. "Now, he's such a joy to watch play." Geschke, a four-year letterwinner who will continue his career at Baldwin Wallace, is 6-1 but deceivingly strong. There were times this season when he played point guard on one possession, defended a 6-6 post player on the next, then shifted to shooting guard the next trip down the floor. "(Brandon's) Mr. Everything," Hassinger said. "He's like a grown man out there because of his intellectual skills. He's the utility man who can do a bit of everything." Unfortunately for the three seniors — and for rotational players Jajuan Jackson, Bryce Beech, Carter Hipp, Drew Hensley, Matt Spatny and Michael Rodak — Mentor was just a little better Saturday. Again. In improving to 5-1 against the Bees over the last two seasons, including a double-overtime victory in the regional semifinals last year, the Cardinals got 19 points from power forward Jonah Waag, 18 from tireless, great-to-watch, Youngstown State-bound point guard Luke Chicone and 13 from shooting guard Steven Key. Waag and Key are senior transfers who played huge roles in helping Mentor go 3-0 against Medina this year, but Bob Krizancic's program, like Hassinger's, has always been above board. Remember, this has been a unique, challenging season that was once in danger of not being played due to the coronavirus pandemic. Factor in the relationships high school kids build through AAU and it's hard to blame Waag and Key for wanting to maximize their final seasons. A very strong argument can be made that Medina would have beaten Mentor if Waag and Key hadn't transferred, but Massillon Jackson, a 60-53 loser to the Cardinals in the regional semis, could make the same claim. Tripp, Howard, Geschke and Co. knew the situation, but they wanted another shot at Mentor when the postseason started. The Bees got it Saturday, but they didn't make nearly enough shots in a 19-point first half that featured 1-for-9 3-point shooting and resulted in a 12-point deficit. Add an incredible 2:10 stretch that featured 12 points from Chicone — Medina's Swarm student section made the mistake of waking him up — and a contested, buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Waag that put Mentor back up 12 at the end of three quarters and it just wasn't the Bees' day. The day, however, was still memorable for the Bees, whose season-long display of class, already extremely high, went up another notch following their final game of 2020-21. Tripp, Howard and Geschke patiently waited for postgame interviews, and they were as eloquent and gracious in defeat as they were in victory. "Every year playing, we were a family," Tripp said. "It was always fun, no matter what. That's what I'll remember. I'll always stay in touch with these guys. This is my last time playing with them, but I'll always have their backs." "We had so much fun," Geschke added. "This group, we all grew together. We all hang out together. Our relationships are so strong. We're friends on the court and off. I feel thankful and grateful for every day, for every opportunity to play this game. I'll never forget it. I think, no, I know we led this program. We're each a piece to the puzzle." The three seniors, their teammates and Medina coaches then exited Twinsburg High, heads held high and eyes dry. "We know there's no shame in losing," Howard said. "Everything comes to an end at some point. We put our entire hearts into it. You can't be sad about that." Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4046 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @RickNoland on Twitter.