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Lakota East defeated Goshen 67-44
Loveland defeated Preble Shawnee 64-54 Cincinnati St. Xavier defeated Fairmont 45-38 Colonial (FL) defeated Sycamore 72-65 Richmond Heights defeated Kettering Alter 62-46 Little Miami defeated Mason 58-47 Wyoming defeated Hilliard Bradley 57-41 Aiken defeated Beavercreek 80-65 Summit Country Day defeated Harvest Prep 65-54 Moeller defeated Chaminade-Julienne 51-42 CHCA defeated Tri-Village 66-60 (OT) Richmond Heights wins the battle of defending champs Without a doubt the most anticipated game of the event and potentially of the whole weekend. Richmond Heights entered this game the 3-time defending state champions in Division IV while Alter is the defending state champions from Division II. Many anticipated this game to be a battle of two focuses. Alter’s height vs Richmond Heights’ guard play. It was also anticipated this game would be a close one, but Richmond Heights left no doubt with their trio of Dorian Jones, DeErrick Barber and Demarris Winters playing well and handing the Knights a 62-46 loss on opening weekend. It’s a statement that the Spartans may have lost some talent from a year ago, but guards win and they’ve got 3 winners in their backcourt. Alter doesn’t have any alarms going off with this loss, but many eyes were on them and their two Division I commits in RJ Greer (NC State) and Brady Conner (Wright State). Wyoming’s juniors picking up where they left off The junior class at Wyoming has had plenty of success. As freshman they lost in the District Finals to eventual State Semifinalist Chaminade-Julienne. As sophomores they lost to Kettering Alter in the Regional Finals. This group wins and they had a tough opening game with a very organized Hilliard Bradley team. The Cowboys not only won, but beat the Jaguars by 16 points. It’s tough to score 45+ on Bradley and their stout defense. But behind Kellen Wiley and Darren Gray, Wyoming has plenty of offensive firepower. This group will be heavily favored to contend in Division IV with Kettering Alter being the team in their way. Summit Country Day, CHCA cement themselves as teams to watch Summit impressed me in Cincinnati just a few weeks ago and they again turned heads with a convincing win over powerhouse Harvest Prep. The Knights have been getting production from Max Joiner (Fr) and Tim Martin (Jr) and beat a Warriors team that was considered a favorite in Division V alongside Richmond Heights and Lutheran East. CHCA meanwhile won a dual between Luke Sanders and Tri-Village’s Trey Sagester. The Eagles are coming out of Division IV and have a solid core around Sanders and it showed against the well-coached Patriots. Both CHCA and Summit come out of the Miami Valley Conference and I have no doubt they will both be households names in the conference throughout the year. AIken can score…a lot We knew Aiken had potential with all the athletes on their roster. But Jaiden Arnold and James Burnett combined for 50 of AIken’s 80 points on Saturday. Being able to defend not one but two potential scoring threats is not an easy task. With transfers DeAndre Carr-Short and Antwan Hinton both joining, Aiken is going to have potential to put up 80+ points on a nightly basis. GCL South won over Dayton Both Moeller and St. Xavier were tasked with facing Dayton area teams in their openers. St. X was matched up with a Kettering Fairmont team down a few guys to injury. The Firebirds battled it out and only lost by 7, but they struggled with Jacob Wassler who clearly created issues with his 6-foot-10 frame. Moeller got a matchup with Chaminade-Julienne in what would’ve been a true GCL game 10 years ago. For the Crusaders, their defense held C-J standout David Cartwright under double digits and Alex Kazanecki exploded for 22 points as Moeller started the year on a positive note winning in true GCL fashion.
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Alter could defend their title in a new division
The new divisional alignment certainly helps the defending champion Knights. After winning a state title in Division II a year ago, Alter returns 3 starters and will look to run things back in a new division. Replacing the guard combination of Gavin Leen and Joe Brand will be a challenge, but Alter has plenty of size in Brady Conner (Sr), Charlie Uhl (Sr), and Matt Lunne (Sr), along with NC State commit RJ Greer (Sr). The Knights will again have Cincinnati Wyoming in their way in their Region, along with Taft and Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy (CHCA). Assuming the Knights can limit turnovers and utilize their size, they make a strong case to take home their 2nd straight State Title. GWOC again will be tough Every year seems to see the GWOC get a little tougher and tougher. Last season saw Centerville again win the conference title, but Beavercreek, Wayne and Springboro all finished 1-game back of the Elks. This year is no different and looks to be a competitive season in conference play. Centerville returns the Greenburg twins along with and the addition of Trey Sam (So) from Bellbrook. All 3 will be needed to replace Jonathan Powell and a lot of scoring from a State Runner-Up finish last season. Wayne again is losing their best player, but have plenty of skilled guards in Myles Perkins (Sr), Jaysean Price (Sr) and Isaiah Thompson (Jr) all back. Beavercreek has Isaiah Williams (Sr) returning for his final year, but depth will be a question for the Beavers. Springboro loses some major pieces, but have several role guys back. Springfield, Northmont and Fairmont all look solid and only make predicting this conference that much tougher to do. Tippecanoe and Sidney are the teams to beat in the MVL The Red Devils and Yellow Jackets have plenty of talent at their disposal and seem to be the favorites out of the MVL this year. Tippecanoe brings back CJ Bailey (Jr) along with a solid senior class. Sidney is senior heavy and has arguably the best scorer in the league in A’Zon Steele (Sr). He along with Julius Spradling (Sr) and Jayce Daniel (Sr) will be a tough trio for the Valley division to defend. What will the City League look like? Transfer and graduation affected the Dayton City League quite a bit with 5 of the 6 teams losing 3 or more starters from the previous year. Dunbar again looks to be the team to beat behind Moses Sanford (So) and Carlisle transfer Justyce Taylor (Jr). Meadowdale, Stivers and Thurgood Marshall all return key seniors, but will they have the depth to challenge the Wolverines at the top of the league standings? SWBL has a couple contenders For the first time in a few years, the SWBL has several teams that not only could contend within the league, but could make postseason noise as well. Oakwood had a successful season under 1st year coach Braden Short, and has Luke Rubin (Sr) returning for another big season. Valley View is young but the sophomore combo of Brody Denny and Ty Fritz are going to be a problem for years to come. Carlisle only loses one starter from a season again and has Blake Lawson (Sr) leading an upperclassmen heavy team. Bellbrook saw major growth in Austin Webb (Sr) in the offseason and bring back 4 starters from a season ago. Tri-Village in the WOAC again It should come as no surprise when it comes to WOAC that Tri-Village is identified as the team to beat. Behind legendary coach Josh Sagester, the Patriots have been a force in both conference play as well as in the postseason for many years. Trey Sagester (Jr) grew a year ago and evolved into a deadly perimeter shooter. While he is losing several seniors from a District champion team a year ago, Tri-Village does a great job of reloading vs rebuilding and will have new faces to pick up the pieces. Division VI is not as strong in SW Ohio and appears to be Tri-Village’s to take. Russia can finally win a state title For two straight seasons, the Russia Raiders reached the State Final Four, only to be defeated by eventual state champions Richmond Heights. With the new divisional alignments, Russia is away from the Spartans and are now the presumed team to beat in Division VII. Russia is losing one of the best seniors classes that has come through in recent history, but still has the pieces and the culture to contend year in and year out. Braylon Cordonnier (Sr) and Benjamin York (Sr) played major roles a year ago and are now back in more leadership roles as Russia will be the team to beat in the SCAL as well. SCAL foes Jackson Center and Botkins could have something to say, but few teams in Division VII have the depth and recent postseason success to match the Raiders. TRC could be open For the first time in the conference’s brief history, we could have an open race in the TRC this year. After years of seeing Troy Christian and Miami East dominate, we could finally see some change. Troy Christian graduated a legendary senior class and look to be a little down this year. Miami East will still hang around behind Ty Rohrer (So) and Kamden Wolfe (Sr). Northridge has been getting better each year and now look to be a potential favorite. Bethel and their standout guard Mike Halleg (Sr) will have something to say as well. |
Written by: Tony Peters & Seth KeimEdited and Published by: Seth Keim Archives
December 2024
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