2006 Ohio Boys Basketball Tournament

[tedginn05]

This D1 Title game is getting ugly.

Score after 1st Quarter

Canton-21
Trotwood-7

Score with 4:00 in the 2nd

29-11 Canton

[tedginn05]

Halftime Score of D1 Final

Canton-34
Trotwood-12

This one looks...well...over.

[tedginn05]

Score after 3rd Quarter

Canton-50
Trotwood-16

[tedginn05]

Final Score

Canton-63
Trotwood-33

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

DDN

3/26/06

COMMENTARY
State tourney offers glimpse of basketball's future stars

By Kyle Nagel
Dayton Daily News

COLUMBUS | Before they went on to root for their own team, a few Dunbar High School cheerleaders took turns in a hallway of the Schottenstein Center giggling and getting their pictures taken with O.J. Mayo.

Mayo, a sensational North College Hill junior, had just finished scoring 34 points in his team's Division III state final victory. Up next was the D-II final, featuring Dunbar.

But, before the cheerleaders concerned themselves with the Wolverines' fate, they wanted to make sure they got this meeting with Mayo on film.

After all, he could be a superstar some day, if he isn't already.

Such was the case with several players this weekend at the boys state basketball tournament. On 16 teams, we saw several players who shocked us and entertained us, sometimes both at the same time. Here's a glimpse at a few of the best:

O.J. Mayo, North College Hill: The 6-foot-6 guard was absent from Thursday's semifinal (because he missed class, he said), but he made up for it in the final, with 34 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. He's well built and can shoot, pass, dribble, everything.

Raymar Morgan, Canton McKinley: A Michigan State-bound senior, the tall, athletic Morgan is a force inside at 6-8. But he also likes to run with his braided hair flapping behind him.

Daequan Cook, Dunbar: We had seen plenty of him already, but not on the biggest stage. He finished the weekend with 49 points in two games in leading Dunbar to its first state title since 1987.

Brigham Waginger, South Webster: As confident as he is talented, Waginger is a cool, collected point guard. He scored 20 points, plus had five steals, in South Webster's D-IV title game win.

Ricky Jackson, Canton McKinley: The first thing you notice about the 6-6 Jackson is that he is a man. He's strong inside with long arms to divert passes and has a nearly unmatched intensity.

Bill Walker, North College Hill: The ultra-power forward, Walker is the spice to Mayo's sugar. On any other team in any other state, he would be Mr. Basketball.

State sights and sounds

• I've rarely seen the kind of start to a basketball game that happened in the Division IV final.

South Webster turned the ball over on its first possession, missed two shots on the next and then made 11 of its next 12 shots in building a 27-10 lead in the first six minutes of the game. It went on to top Columbus Grove 83-65 for the school's first title, becoming the first team from the Southeast District to win a championship since 1988.

However, after the first six minutes, the game was effectively over.
"We were definitely digging ourselves out of a hole the whole game," said Columbus Grove coach Troy Schwemley.

• When South Webster's Nick Aldridge scored on a pull-up jump shot with 4:32 left in the third quarter, he became the 37th player in Ohio high school history to score 2,000 career points.

Later, Mayo matched the feat.

Curious as to who some of the others were, I dug into the state tournament program. Jay Burson of New Concord John Glenn leads the all-time list at 2,958 points from 1981-85. LeBron James, you ask? He's third with 2,646.

Other notables include: No. 8 Jerry Lucas (2,460 points for Middletown from 1955-58), No. 9 Bob Huggins (2,438 points for Conotton Valley-IVS from 1967-71) and No. 12 Matt Witt (2,366 points for Bethel from 1998-02).

• Talk about treasured memories. After each state final, as the losing team accepted its runner-up medals, a photographer waited. The players stopped and faced the camera, presumably to get a photo to remember this wonderful moment.

Only problem is most of them looked like they had just been kicked in the stomach by a mule.

Quite the keepsake.

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

ABJ

3/26/06

Posted on Sun, Mar. 26, 2006
Future looking good for Buckeyes

By Terry Pluto

COLUMBUS - Scribbles in my notebook from the state basketball tournament...

• On the same Value City Arena court Saturday, you could find Ohio State recruits Daequan Cook and David Lighty, along with Malone-bound Linc Rottman. You could see a team like Triway, which represents the best of high school basketball. You could see North College Hill, whose two top players moved to the Cincinnati area from Huntington, W. Va.

• There is nothing illegal or against the rules about O.J. Mayo and Bill Walker moving into the North College Hill district, but it doesn't feel the same as watching Dayton Dunbar win the Division II title with Dayton-area kids, many of whom have played together since they were in junior high.

• Dunbar beat Triway 73-46, ending Triway's season at an amazing 26-1.

After the game, Triway coach Keith Snoddy broke down as he talked about his three seniors -- Linc Rottman, Jamie Breneman and Jeff McCartney. Snoddy started to say, ``I don't have any sons
... '' and couldn't finish the sentence.

• Triway making it to the Division II state final two years in a row is a tremendous accomplishment for a school with no Division I college prospects. It's a testimony to the unselfishness of the players, along with the coaches who have trained these kids going all the way back to elementary school. When a team has a cumulative 3.5 grade-point average, the players remain winners regardless of what happens in the state finals. If that sounds like a cliche, so be it.

• Triway has no reason to be embarrassed. Dunbar is a powerhouse with at least two other future Division I recruits, in addition to Cook. It lost only two games this season -- to Memphis Ridgeway and Indianapolis Lawrence North, the nation's top-ranked team.

• Rottman found himself matched up against Cook. The 6-foot-5 Dunbar forward is ranked the 20th-best senior in the country by Rivals.com, a respected recruiting service. Rottman said: ``Cook is a ridiculous athlete; his hands are so big. I usually can gain ground on anyone when we run down the court. He just took a couple of steps and pulled past me. He made a bunch of free throws; that's great confidence... he's going to Ohio State for a reason.''

• Cook finished with 23 points. He plays way above the rim. His jumper is so-so, and he can be a little sloppy with his ball-handling. When he wants to defend, he's very tough. You can easily imagine OSU coach Thad Matta molding him into a very effective player in the Big Ten. He has NBA-type athleticism.

• The other OSU recruit here was Lighty, the 6-foot-5 jumping jack who scored 20 points for Cleveland Villa Angela-St. Joseph. I liked Lighty a little better than Cook. He's ranked right behind Cook at No. 21 by Rivals.com. Lighty has the ballhandling skills to play guard. He's skinny, about 185 pounds, with thin legs. But he played in the middle of his team's zone defense, and out front handling the ball on offense. He's fearless driving to the basket. He seemed a little more determined than Cook this weekend.

• You add Cook and Lighty to Indianapolis Lawrence North recruits 7-foot Greg Oden (Ranked No. 1) and 6-1 guard Mike Conley (No. 26), and it is truly an incredible recruiting class for OSU.

• Then there's O.J. Mayo and Bill Walker, the two North College Hill stars.

Mayo seemed to breeze his way to 34 points, swishing 10-of-15 shots against Villa Angela-St. Joseph. He has a soft jumper, is an excellent passer, plays like a 10-year NBA veteran and has the body of one at 6-5, 210 pounds. But he does not play with a lot of passion.

• Mayo cut a class on Thursday, which meant the school had to sit him out of Friday's Division III semifinal game. I give the school credit for sitting him out. Mayo has been billed as the next LeBron James. At this point, Mayo is a much better shooter than James was as a junior at St. Vincent-St. Mary.

But I've never seen a high school player pass the ball like James.

• Mayo's teammate is Walker, listed at 6-foot-6 and 220 pounds. Like Mayo, he's a remarkable physical specimen. He's more of an inside player, a leaper.

Neither Mayo nor Walker sweated much on defense. Supposedly, new Kansas State coach Bob Huggins has the inside track on these two juniors.

They probably could use Huggins screaming and using some tough love on them. Both might have gone to the NBA in 2007 but a new rule prohibits players from declaring for the draft until a year after their high school careers.

• I really appreciate how Canton McKinley's players remain under control and play together. They have a superstar in Michigan State-bound Raymar Morgan (ranked No. 48), but Morgan and his teammates really do carry themselves with class. Lots of credit to coach Dave Hoover.

• A personal list of the five best players I saw this weekend in order: 1. Mayo. 2. Lighty. 3. Cook. 4. Walker. 5. Morgan. A strong honorable mention to Dayton Dunbar's 6-9, 280-pound junior center Aaron Pogue (would be great for OSU), along with Linc Rottman and Marcus Johnson of St. Vincent-St. Mary. Rottman's younger brother, junior Jock Rottman, played with a bandage on his nose and must have set a state tournament record for floor burns. His hustle was inspiring.

[bkochmc]

Originally Posted by tedginn05

Didn't see the Division 4 Box Score posted, so here it is.

http://www.ohsaa.org/sports/bk/boys/2006/d4final.htm


Final Score Division 4

Columbus Grove(21-6) 65
South Webster(26-2) 83

I went to the game and have a few observations:

• A majority of that lead was built in the first quarter when South Webster scored 18 straight points. The score was tied at 7 three minutes into the game then they went on that amazing run using their speed and capitalizing on some of Columbus Grove's lazy passes. South Webster's largest lead was 26 but Grove cut that lead to 15 a few times... if they didn't build that large lead the game would have been much closer.
• I am speechless that Nick Aldrige was not on the D4 1st-team all-state, let alone the player of the year. He was originally committed to Cincinnati but his offer was revoked when Huggins was let go. He had a huge game (34 points) and was one of the best D4 players I've seen in a while... he could play inside and outside and was very mobile for a player his size. There was a period in the third quarter when he just took over the game and made 6 or 7 straight shots.
• My Bulldogs came out looking flat and couldn't hit the broad side of a barn in the first half... if they played the first half like the second half they would have had a shot to win the game... of course it is easy to make that assertion though. I think South Webster still would have won by 8-10 with their speed and shooting (61.7% for the game).
• Here are the official attendance totals for all four championship games:
  • Division 4: 16268
  • Division 3: 16024
  • Division 2: 15674
  • Division 1: 15531

I find it interesting that the Division 4 game had the highest total, even if it was only by a few hundred. Does anyone know what the "sellout" capacity was for the championship games? I know the Schott holds 18000+... I think part of that total is because of the support these small communities give their teams. I know that the entire town of Columbus Grove was there (they were joking about the last one out of town turning out the lights) plus I saw many fans and players from the teams in Grove's two conferences (Putnam County League and Northwest Conference).

Overall, even though my alma mater lost I am very proud of their accomplishment on Saturday. I talked to my dad later that night and he said that the town had a welcome back rally in the town square... the team was escorted into town by not only Columbus Grove's fire trucks but every town in the county also sent one to welcome home... a great gesture from the surrounding communities! It's awesome to hear about that kind of community support and is something you just don't see (or at least notice as much) in the city.