DAYTON, Ohio — While there’s no First Four this year at the University of Dayton Arena, we instead get a Final Four.
Dayton usually hosts the play-in games for the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament, but with the pandemic, all those contests are being hosted in Indiana. However, the Ohio High School Athletic Association’s Boys State Basketball Tournament welcomes the final four teams in each of its four divisions, with four teams left to cut down the nets on Sunday.
For the first time since a two-year run in 1986-87, which also was at UD Arena, the OHSAA Boys State Tournament is being contested outside of Columbus. While the location may have changed, many of the same teams are back, and the goal—a state title—remains.
The first Division IV semifinal begins Friday at 11 a.m., with Richmond Heights taking on Botkins.
The Spartans reached the state tournament the last time it was played, in 2019, and feature one of Ohio’s top juniors, Josiah Harris. Botkins returns to this stage for the first time since 1994. The Trojans are in the Shelby County Athletic League, which saw league-member Fort Loramie win a state championship in 1987, the last time the games were played in Dayton.
The Division IV semifinal at 2 p.m. pits New Boston against Columbus Grove.
The Tigers are the first Scioto County school to reach the state tournament, in either boys or girls, since 2012, and it’s the first trip for the school in 61 years. Columbus Grove reached the final four in 2006, but all four of these Division IV semifinalists seek a first-ever state championship.
Friday afternoon, in Division III 5 p.m. game, Taft High School looks to honor the 10th anniversary of its last state championship with a new title to celebrate. On that 2011 squad were Adolphus Washington and Dwayne Stanford, who played college football at Ohio State and Oregon, respectively. They were on opposite sidelines of the 2015 BCS Championship game, won by Washington’s Buckeyes.
Back to the present, the Senators’ Rayvon Griffin is considered by 247sports.com to be one of the top 25 sophomores in the entire country. Worthington Christian is back for the first time since falling in the 2008 Division IV state title, getting 33 points in the state tournament from Tyler Joseph, better known as half the band Twenty One Pilots.
Capping the action on day one, Lutheran East (located in Cleveland Heights) returns for a fourth-consecutive final four, a run that began with a state title in 2017, and continues due to no state tournament last year. Georgetown recruit Jay Billingsley leads the way for the Falcons, averaging over 18 points and 13 rebounds per game.
The Titans of Ottawa-Glandorf stand in opposition, joining the girls program with 2021 state tournament trips. O-G was loaded a year ago, perhaps the best team in Division III when the season was halted by the onset of the pandemic.
On Saturday at 11 a.m., Dayton Chaminade Julienne adds to its rich history by reaching the state tournament for an astonishing seventh straight decade, beginning in the 1960’s and continuing through the 2020’s. The Eagles are 51 years removed, though, from their most recent state championship.
Its Division II opponent is DeSales, which last won it all in 1987, also at UD Arena, for the Columbus school’s only state title. Davidson recruit Desmond Watson passed Nick Kellogg as the Stallions’ career scoring leader in the regional final win over Meadowbrook.
There will be plenty of interest in the Division II semifinal at 2 p.m., with Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary taking on Lima Shawnee.
LeBron James’ alma mater can make a case for the best boys program in OHSAA history, with a state-record eight championships, 17 trips to the final four, and a remarkable 31 district titles. Senior Malaki Branham paces the Irish with 21.3 points per game, and signed to play next year at Ohio State. Shawnee features show-stopping George Mangas, who has scored more than 2,000 career points, and is averaging more than 31 points per game as a senior. That includes 40- and 39-point performances in the regional tournament.
In Division I, the 5 p.m. match-up gives us Centerville and Mentor.
The Elks clinched their first-ever state tournament appearance by knocking off Moeller in the regional final. Centerville previously had fallen to the Crusaders in three-straight regional tournaments, and dropped a regular-season affair, too.
The Mentor Cardinals are the lone remaining undefeated team in the state, arriving in Dayton with a 25-0 mark. Luke Chicone, who will play in college at Youngstown State, is the grandson of legendary John Carroll head coach Mike Moran. The Cardinals high-flying offense has hit 90 points or more 13 times this season.
The final semifinal game has Westerville Central squaring off with St. Ignatius. The Warhawks punched their final four ticket for the first time in school history thanks to an amazing winning shot as time expired from beyond half-court by Tasos Cook. The lone Westerville school without a state title (South in 2016, North in 1994), Central is coached by Kevin Martin who played on Westerville North’s state champion team 27 years ago.
St. Ignatius last cut down the nets in 2001, and is coached by Cameron Joyce, the son of Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary head coach Dru Joyce. St. Ignatius played teams in the regular season that are also in Dayton in all four OHSAA divisions. Mentor (Division I), Akron SVSM (Division II) and Lutheran East (Division III) got the better of those match-ups, while the Wildcats bested Richmond Heights (Division IV).
Spectrum is your home for the entire tournament, with Friday’s semifinal games available on channel 314. Saturday’s Division II and Division I semifinals can be seen on Spectrum News 1, and the Spectrum News App, as can all four championship games on Sunday, with the following game times:
10:45 a.m. – Division IV
2 p.m. – Division III
5:15 p.m. – Division II
8:30 p.m. – Division I
OHSAA Championship Gameday airs 15 minutes before each game.
