DAYTON, Ohio — With the Ohio High School Athletic Association girls' basketball championship last weekend, the NCAA Men’s Basketball “First Four” games this week, and now the OHSAA boys' basketball finals, there’s little doubt Dayton could be called “Hoopsville."
Schools from Louisville, Maysville, Glenville and Westerville—and 10 others—are trying to become residents of “Champsville” by winning a state title in first year of the OHSAA’s expansion to seven divisions.
Spectrum News 1 and the Spectrum News App will bring you every second of the action from the University of Dayton Arena, with direct links provided below.
Division III State Championship: Aiken (26-1) vs. Louisville (23-5); Friday at 1 p.m.
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Cincinnati Aiken was one loss at the buzzer away from having a perfect record, falling to Trotwood in the regular season finale. But the Falcons know all about comebacks, beating the Rams in the regional final to make the state tournament for the first time since 2016.
Aiken has been resilient all postseason, trailing at halftime in each of its last five playoff games, before pulling out victories, including a 56-55 win over La Salle in which the Falcons led for only three seconds all game in the regional semifinal.
Guard Jaiden Arnold, who is signed to play in college next year in the Horizon League at Purdue-Fort Wayne, leads the team with a 19.8 per game scoring average. His backcourt mate, James Burnett, Jr., chips in 17.5 per contest.
With a school-record 26 wins, Aiken aims to become just the third Cincinnati Public School (Taft in 2011 & 2022, Woodward in 1988) to win a boys basketball state championship.
Trying to prevent that will be Louisville from Stark County, making the school’s first appearance in the state tournament.
The Leopards are led by a tight, eight-man rotation comprised entirely of seniors. Brayden Gross, who will continue his career at Walsh, is the top scorer at 17.7 points-per-game.
Point guard Beau Siegfried (son of head coach Tom Siegfried) will head to Ashland next year as Louisville’s all-time leader in assist and three-point field goals made.
Trailing Garfield Heights (which featured Ohio’s Mr. Basketball Marcus Johnson) in the state semifinal by 11 in the fourth quarter, the Leopards scored the game’s final 12 points, sending their fans, which made the short drive to Canton’s historic Memorial Field House, into a frenzy.
This a battle-tested program, having played the likes of St. Ignatius, Richmond Heights, Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary, Kettering Alter and Westerville North, losing only North in that group, which is in the Division II championship game.
Louisville has 87 wins over the past four years, including in 18 of its last 18 contests.
Division IV State Championship: Maysville (26-3) vs. Glenville (19-8); Friday at 4:15 p.m.
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The bar for success with Maysville continues to be raised each season. In 2022-23, the Panthers won 23 games and graduated the school’s all-time leading scorer (Hayden Jarrett).
Last year, Maysville set a new school record with 26 victories and watched Alex Bobb break Jarrett’s scoring mark before graduating.
Now, the Panthers can get to 27 wins this season, and are led by junior Gator Nichols, who averages 25.4 points a game, over 10 points per night from his sophomore year.
All that’s left to do is win a state championship. Last year Maysville outlasted Shelby in a thrilling state semifinal that nearly blew the roof off UD Arena in Dayton, before succumbing to Alter in the final.
With no seniors on the roster, this group has come up together through the program’s feeder schools. Junior Jordyn Watson (who tied a Division II record with 14 made threes in last year’s state tournament) adds nearly 17 points a contest.
Nichols ended a back-and-forth state semifinal against Wyoming with a three-pointer at the buzzer in double-overtime, providing the winning 75-73 score and giving his fellow students Friday off from school to be able to travel to Dayton for the championship game.
On the other bench is Glenville, making the school’s first-ever appearance in the final four. The Tarblooders punched their ticket to the final with a win in the state semis over Hawken in Canton’s Memorial Field House, just steps from Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium, where the football team claimed back-to-back state titles in 2022-23.
Bryon Ottrix is in his first season, taking over from longtime head coach Michael Holt, looks toward Xavier Vickerstaff for production, who averages 15.7 points a game. Don’t lose track of freshman Garry Pritchett, Jr., whose toughness and tenacity underlies his 5’8” still growing frame.
Glenville could become only the second Cleveland Metropolitan Public School to win an OHSAA boys basketball championship, joining East Tech which cut down the nets in 1972, 1959 and 1958.
Division II State Championship: Westerville North (24-2) vs. Massillon Perry (14-13); Friday at 7:30 p.m.
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It will be a 90’s kind of night on Friday when Westerville North meets Massillon Perry.
For starters, North would love to play up-tempo and score in the 90’s, something the Warriors have done four times this year, including a school-record 111.
Additionally, both programs are back in the state tournament for the first time since the 1990’s. Perry made the final four in 1991 (falling in the state semis), while North’s most recent trip (a third straight) came in 1996, winning it all two years prior.
Shan Trusley is not only a graduate of Westerville North, but he was also an assistant coach on those 1990’s final four teams. The ’94 state champs featured future Buckeyes Shaun Stonerook and Kevin Martin.
The Warriors arrive in Dayton as hot as anyone, winning 23 straight games (only losses earlier in the year were to Olentangy Orange & St. Ignatius which both made the Division I state tournament) and cruising to five playoff victories by an average margin of nearly 40 points a game.
Westerville North is led by brothers Tai and Tyson Perkins (senior and sophomore, respectively) and their stepbrother, Micah Young. Tai had 32 points in the regional final win, including a school-record eight made three-point shots. He’ll play for Akron next year, while Young (29 points vs. Toledo St. Francis in state semifinal) will attend Concord.
What a remarkable story Massillon Perry has turned into. The Panthers finished the regular season with a 9-13 mark and had dropped 13 of their last 18 games. The 13 defeats are most by a team reaching the final four since Linden in 2005 (14). All-time, Perry becomes the sixth school to get to the state tournament with 13 or more losses and are the only one to win a game once there.
It's taken some remarkable heroics to still be playing. Senior Luke Wolf made three throws with less than a second left to win the district semifinal against Solon, then days later his off-balance three provided the winning margin against Warren Harding in the regional semis.
Then, in the state semifinal against North Royalton and its 24-game winning streak, the Panthers rallied from 11 down to win 66-63.
Just like Louisville in Division III, Perry was able to reach the championship game with a win just down the street at Canton’s Memorial Field House.
Division V State Championship: Columbus Academy (28-0) vs. Lutheran East (24-4); Saturday at 10:45 a.m.
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Saturday’s action begins with one of two remaining undefeated teams in the state, as Columbus Academy meets Lutheran East.
The Vikings reached the state tournament for the first time since 1981, and thanks to a senior-heavy squad (seven), they have controlled nearly every game with just two decided by single-digits all year.
Columbus Academy features balanced scoring, with three players averaging in double figures, including junior Jason Singleton (13.1 PPG). He’s the son of former Buckeye Jason Singleton that played on Ohio State’s 1999 NCAA Tournament Final Four team, who is also the athletic director at Academy.
Theo Falkenhain (12.4 PPG) and Caden Ivery (10.6 PPG) add their scoring touch, as the Vikings pursue the first boys basketball state title in school history.
Lutheran East has won five state championships, including three of the last four. If you take out 2020, when the state tournament was not played due to the pandemic (Lutheran East was still alive), the Falcons have made eight straight final fours.
Now, the “Lue” will look to become just the fifth boys program in state history to win a third straight state title, joining neighbors Richmond Heights (2022-24), Cincinnati North College Hill (2005-07), Columbus Wehrle (1988-90) and Dayton Stivers (1928-30).
The Spartans of Richmond Heights didn’t make it back to the state tournament, because they were also in Division V (with the OHSAA expansion) and met up with Lutheran East in a regional final, with Falcons claiming a 64-59 triumph.
Without a senior on the team (which has just eight active players), some talented underclassmen have led the way, including one of the country’s top juniors, T.J. Crumble. The top 100 recruit is averaging 26 points and 13 rebounds a game.
Sophomore Chris Hill is the only returning player from last year’s state championship team, and freshman Dylan Zeigler (15 points per game) is starting to capture the attention of recruiters as well.
Division VI State Championship: Marion Local (26-2) vs. Monroe Central (23-3); Saturday at 2 p.m.
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You might look at Marion Local’s basketball schedule and wonder why its first game wasn’t until December 20th, a 57-35 win over New Knoxville.
Well, 10 players on the roster had just completed a football season that saw the Flyers win a fourth straight state championship, to go with 64 consecutive victories, establishing a new state record.
Success is nothing new for the school, which has 26 state titles over five sports. Marion Local is the only school in OHSAA history to win a football, boys basketball and girls basketball state championship in the same school year (2017-18).
The Flyers pride themselves on defense, allowing just 40.9 points per outing, while shooting an efficient 58.2% field goal shooting.
Malone-bound Austin Niekamp leads the way with just under 18 points a game (17.9).
Marion Local’s two losses were to Delphos St. John’s (reached Region 26 final in Division VII) and undefeated Russia, which is in the Division VII championship game (see below).
Monroe Central has never been to the state tournament before, although the school was formed in 1994 when Woodsfield and Skyvue were combined (Skyvue did make back-to-back final fours in 1984 and 1985).
With only one player taller than 6’2”, and just five over six feet, the size of Marion Local’s Niekamp could be a challenge.
The Seminoles will counter with Tucker Howell (15.7 PPG) and Chance Allen (14.8 PPG). Howell, whose younger brother (Cooper) also starts, is the school’s all-time leading passer in football, and the all-time leading scorer in basketball (Skyvue & Woodsfield record books included).
Monroe Central will look to become the first “Ohio Valley” school to win an OHSAA boys basketball state title since Yorkville (Belmont County) in 1943.
Division VII State Championship: Russia (28-0) vs. Cornerstone Christian (21-8); Saturday at 5:15 p.m.
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Moving to Division VII, where Russia (pronounced ROO-she) is on a mission. The Raiders have reached the state tournament for a third straight year, compiling a 80-6 record over that span. Not only would a state championship be the first in school history, but it would be the program’s 1,000th all-time win.
In each of the previous two state semifinals, the Raiders gave defending state champions (each time) Richmond Heights all it could handle before bowing out.
Russia has dominated its opponents, winning by an average of 27 points a game, which has jumped up to 35.2 in the six-game tournament run, and no one has played the Raiders closer than 11 points.
On offense, there are four players that score in double figures, led by coach Spencer Cordonnier’s son Braylon (14.1 PPG). Vince Borchers adds 13.2, Dominic Francis 11 and Benjamin York 10.
Defensively, opponents are held to 34 points a contest.
That defense will be tested by the state’s all-time leading scorer. Cornerstone Christian’s Quinn Kwasniak sits on 3,304 points heading into Saturday’s championship game. Kwasniak—also coached by his father, Babe—broke Jon Diebler’s career scoring mark a few weeks ago. Quinn also holds the state marks for most career made three-pointers (566), and most three-pointers made in a single-season (177).
Kwasniak does more than shoot and score. He averages 7.7 rebounds a game, and 8.1 assists a contest.
Babe has won state championships as a head coach (three at Cleveland Villa Angela-St. Joseph) and a player (two at VASJ playing for his father, Tedd).
The Patriots won a state title back in 2016 and are making a third appearance all-time in the state tournament.
Division I State Championship: Reynoldsburg (26-1) vs. Olentangy Orange (25-2); Saturday at 8:30 p.m.
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The Ohio Capital Conference, with 34 public schools in Central Ohio, spanning seven counties and divided into five divisions, does not play a conference championship game.
Well, not officially, although two of its members are playing for a bigger prize in Dayton Saturday night.
Reynoldsburg and Olentangy Orange each are making the first state tournament appearances in school history and will now square off in the Division I state championship game.
The two battled in a district final last year, which the Pioneers won 60-40, but this represents the first time two teams from Central Ohio are meeting in a boys basketball state championship game since 1963 (Columbus East defeated Marion Harding).
The Raiders only loss this season was to Columbus DeSales, while knocking off defending Division I state champion St. Ignatius, Toledo Whitmer (reached state tournament last year), Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary, Trotwood and Pickerington Central (twice in conference play).
Reynoldsburg is comfortable being uncomfortable, too, trailing in the tournament by 11 to Hilliard Bradley, six (with 1:20 left in overtime) vs. Olentangy Liberty and four to Lakota West (with :20 left) in the state semifinal.
Xavier McKinney, son of legendary former Columbus Africentric girls’ head coach Will McKinney, scored the winning basket in that game against Lakota West, as the Raiders inbounded the ball from under the basket with just one second on the clock.
McKinney is one of four players who plan to play in the Mid-American Conference in the future. Seniors Toby Nwokolo (14 PPG) and Jordan Fisher (19.5 PPG) have signed with Toledo and Ohio, respectively, while McKinney and Jordie Bowens (juniors) have given their word they would like to play for the Bobcats, as well.
Orange counters with the only Mr. Basketball finalist (won by Garfield Heights’ Marcus Johnson) in a state championship game in Devin Brown. The Davidson signee contributes 14.2 points an outing.
Levi Davis adds 12.2 points, and will play football at Ohio University, following his second-team all-Ohio performance as a quarterback this past fall.
After finally breaking through to the state tournament, following losses in consecutive years in the regional final, the Pioneers played a thriller against defending champ St. Ignatius in the state semis, needing overtime to pull out a 58-54 win, closing with a 12-4 run.
Head coach Anthony Calo is trying to join his father, Ed, as state championship coaches. The elder Calo, still on the bench at Westerville South, piloted the Wildcats to the 2016 state crown with the Wesson brothers (Andre & Kaleb) who went on to play at Ohio State.
Seven champions will be crowned in Dayton, and we’re guaranteed to get a first-time champion in Divisions III, IV and I.
Each game will be preceded by OHSAA Championship Gameday 15 minutes prior and will recap the events following game coverage on Spectrum News 1.
