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By Ed
Letsinger
North
College Hill began the season as the clear-cut favorite to win their
second straight Ohio Division III title and the Trojans lived up to
those expectations on Saturday afternoon before 16,024 fans at Value
City Arena in Columbus, Ohio, with a 90-73 win over Villa Angela-St.
Joseph.
In winning, the top-ranked Trojans (26-1) became
just the 14th school in Ohio tournament history to win
back-to-back titles and the first since the LeBron James-led St.
Vincent-St. Mary teams in 2002 and ’03. They also join Elder (1973 and
’74) as the only other Cincinnati school to win consecutive titles.
Only two schools (Columbus Wehrle and Dayton
Stivers) have won three straight titles and with junior stars O.J. Mayo
and Bill Walker expected back for one more season, the word three-peat
is already being mentioned.
“That’s our goal,” said Mayo after the game. “I’d
like to win three (state titles) in a row for our school and for our
community.”
Mayo scored a game-high 34 points and added eight
rebounds and seven assists. The 6-5 junior, who surpassed the 2,000
career scoring mark on his first basket of the game, shot 10-of-15 from
the field and 11-of-15 from the free throw line. Mayo’s point total was
two shy of the Division III state tournament record. His big
performance came despite battling repeated leg cramps during the game
and a tender stress-fractured foot that caused him to leave the game
late in the second quarter.
Walker added 22 points and a game-high 10 rebounds
in another typical high wire double-double performance that included
several of his patented slams.
Most teams know Mayo and Walker are going to put up
big numbers but the wild card performance of the day came from senior
Andre Evans, who picked the perfect time to play the best game of his
career. Evans scored 24 points, going a perfect 9-for-9 from the field
and 6-of-6 from the foul line in 24 minutes of action.
“I woke up this morning hoping I would play good
and that’s what I ended up doing,” said Evans of his performance.
“We wanted to keep the ball out of Mayo’s hands and
double up Walker as much as we could and just take our chances on the
other kids,” said VASJ head coach Dave Wojciechowski of his team’s
strategy. “We fought hard the whole game and never gave up…but let’s be
honest here, that team is just really good.”
North College Hill never trailed in the game and
jumped out to a quick 27-15 first quarter lead with Mayo pouring in 16
points. VASJ closed the gap to 27-21 early in the second quarter on a
basket by David Lighty, an Ohio State University recruit who scored 20
points on the day, but that was the closest the Vikings would get. The
Trojans closed the quarter on a 20-9 run to take a 47-30 lead into
halftime.
“We started out quick and got the early lead but
then I thought we got a little complacent and started turning the ball
over,” said North College Hill coach Jamie Mahaffey.
VASJ made one last run midway through the third
quarter. Trailing by as much as 18 points, the Vikings whittled away at
the lead and cut it to 56-45 on two Lighty baskets. With a chance to cut
the lead to single digits on their next possession, Lighty blew a wide
open lay-up, Walker killed the momentum on the Trojans’ next possession
with a monster baseline slam, and then the entire game blew up for VASJ.
The animated Wojciechowski, clearly upset with
several questionable calls during the game, got a technical called on
him after disputing a call at the 2:02 mark and two Mayo free throws
pushed the lead to 60-45. A minute later Mayo and VASJ’s Maurice Haynes
got tangled up under the basket and Haynes got whistled for a technical
foul, followed by another one and ejection from the game after he
disputed the call. Mayo dropped in four more free throws and within
three minutes a potentially single digit game went to 64-45.
North College Hill closed out the game with a
22-point fourth quarter that helped set a new scoring record for a
winning Division III team. The Trojans shot 60.0 percent from the field
for the game and out-rebounded VASJ 32-27.
It’s been quite a season for North College Hill,
who has battled through both intense hype and attention and certain
adversity at times. The Trojans dismissed junior center Keenan Ellis
from the team for undisclosed reasons during the season and most
recently sophomore Courtney Davis. Then they had to deal with Mayo’s
much-publicized one-game suspension for the semifinals against Archbold
for school-related issues.
“I feel relieved and now I’m just going to relax a
little bit,” said Walker, who was named the tournament’s Most
Outstanding Player.
“I think I’m just going to go to sleep and I
probably won’t wake up until about June, I’m tired,” said Mahaffey.
“It’s been a long year.” |
