Ohio Valley Hoops Classic

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.