COLUMBUS — Banners line the ceiling of the St. Francis DeSales gymnasium in Columbus. But there’s only one Division II Boy’s Basketball State Championship banner and it’s from 1987.

What You Need To Know

  • St. Francis DeSales won the Division II Boy’s Basketball State Championship in 1987

  • The stallions won the 1987 game 71-64.

  • More than 30 years later, a new coach and a new team will have their shot to bring a second state basketball title to the school

  • St. Francis DeSales will play Dayton’s Chaminade Julienne in the State Semi-Final game on Saturday

“They were a really tight-knit group,” said Tony Bisutti, who was an assistant coach at that time. 

Bissuti coached alongside the late Vince Chickerella, an inductee in the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame. The stallions won the game 71-64.

“We go in at halftime and we’re up 41-17 and Steve Dedent and I, the other assistant, we were just rambling off things we have to do better and Coach Chick just stopped and looked at us and said, ‘What do you want me to do? We’re up 41-17. What else do you want me to do?’”

Now, more than 30 years later, a new coach and a new team will have their shot to bring a second state basketball title to the school — at the same arena as the 1987 team.

“That’s been on our mind,” said Desmond Watson, a senior. “That’s a long time, so I think the time is now.”

Just as Bisutti describes the 1987 team, Watson used the same words to describe his team.

“I think this group is special because we’re so tight-knit. We’re so together. We don’t really care about what one person or another person has or the highs or low we just look at each other as the same,” he said.

St. Francis DeSales will play Dayton’s Chaminade Julienne in the State Semi-Final game on Saturday.

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