Defending state champion Pickerington Central among No. 1 seeds in boys district tourney
Two area boys basketball teams advanced to the state tournament last year, and one raised the trophy every player across Ohio dreams of hoisting.
The first step to Dayton took place Sunday, when hundreds of teams participated in district tournament draws.
In the Central District, defending big-school champion Pickerington Central, Ready, Africentric and Northside Christian earned the No. 1 seeds in divisions I, II, III and IV, respectively. Central defeated Centerville 55-48 in last year’s Division I final and Africentric was a Division III semifinalist, falling to Ottawa-Glandorf 53-48.
Postseason games begin Feb. 21.
Boys basketball brackets: Postseason pairings from the OHSAA
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Pickerington Central, Olentangy Liberty lead pack in Division I
Central (15-3) is the top seed for the second consecutive season and third time since 2017, but coach Eric Krueger admitted pondering what that means at the end of the day.
“We’ll see a lot of good teams no matter what route we have,” said Krueger, whose team was ranked 10th in last week’s state poll. “Ultimately, it’s a good accomplishment and it gives you a chance to get on the bracket first and see how it goes after that.
“All you can do is sit back and see where everyone else decides to go. The tournament draw is always exciting. We picked our spot and then saw how everything shook out.”
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At No. 8, Hilliard Bradley (13-5) is the next-best seed in Central’s bracket.
Liberty (18-2) earned the second seed, the best in the program’s 20-year history. Olentangy Orange (17-2) and Westerville North (16-2) are third and fourth.
If seeds hold, potential regional semifinals would pit Central against North and Liberty against Orange.
“If we play well, we can beat anybody,” Liberty coach Greg Nossaman said. “If we don’t, we can lose to anybody. We talk about it every day that we have pieces, we just need to fine-tune some things.”
Orange was ranked fourth and Liberty fifth in last week’s poll.
Rounding out the top eight seeds are Dublin Jerome (15-4), Gahanna Lincoln (16-3), Pickerington North (14-4) and Bradley.
First-round games are Feb. 21. The second round is Feb. 24, followed by district semifinals March 1 and the district finals March 4 at Ohio Dominican.
CCL rivals Ready, Watterson, Hartley make top five in Division II
The Division II district tournament could have two champions from the CCL, which has three teams seeded in the top five.
Ready is the top seed, Watterson is third and Hartley is fifth. Caledonia River Valley is seeded second and Bexley is fourth.
Ready and Hartley could meet in a district final March 4 at Central Crossing, with the winner moving on to the Ohio University regional. Watterson is in the other district bracket, which feeds into the Vandalia-Butler regional.
“Hartley jumped in with us at the bottom of the bracket,” Ready coach Tony Bisutti said. “That could play out. River Valley is a pretty good team. I have to feel that us, Watterson and Hartley could compete with any Division II team in the district the way these teams have played this year.”
Ready is in its first season in Division II, having moved up from Division III. The move hasn’t concerned Bisutti or his players, who are seeking the program's first district title since 2014.
“We didn’t know that was coming; we thought we would be (in) Division III again,” senior forward Kaleb Schaffer said. “When it happened, we really couldn’t do anything about it, so we just moved past that and started to focus on Division II opponents, and we did what we could with it.”
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Ready wrapped up its second consecutive league title with a 59-40 win over St. Charles on Friday night. The Silver Knights (19-0 overall, 6-0 CCL) were ranked first in the state last week.
Watterson (11-8 overall, 2-4 CCL) has won eight district titles under coach Vince Lombardo, with the last coming in 2021.
“(Our seed) is a reflection on the schedule that we’ve played,” Lombardo said. “Our league is demanding and we’ve had a pretty tough nonleague schedule as well. That’s something that we typically believe in doing and usually it pays off, prepares us well for the late part of the season and postseason.”
Hartley (10-7 overall, 3-4 CCL) is looking for its first district title since 2019.
The other two CCL teams, DeSales and St. Charles, are in Division I.
“There are no easy games in our league,” Lombardo said.
First-round tournament games are Feb. 21. The second round is Feb. 24, followed by district semifinals March 1.
In the Southeast District, Fairfield Union (15-3) is seeded second behind Washington Court House.
Africentric earns top seed in Division III
Before beginning postseason play, Africentric (16-4 overall, 13-0 City League-South Division) will try to win a second consecutive City title. The Nubians take on City-North champion Northland on Saturday at East.
“We’re excited to get the (No.) 1 seed,” Africentric coach Michael Bates said. “We’re happy that the coaches looked at the schedule, because we did have four losses and you had some teams that only had two losses. Most of the coaches respected the toughness of the schedule that we played. It’s always cool when your peers can recognize that.”
Africentric’s district bracket includes third-seeded Columbus Academy and sixth-seeded KIPP Columbus.
Academy (15-2) is seeking its first district title since 2012.
“If you would have told me (before the season that we would be) 15-2 and (the No.) 3 seed, I didn’t see that coming,” Academy coach Jeff Warstler said. “I’m happy with (our bracket), but there wasn’t going to be anything easy. You’re going to have district semifinals that look like district final games. D-III is really deep.”
Academy's MSL-Ohio rival, Worthington Christian (16-2), is the second seed. The Warriors advanced to the state title game in 2021, losing to Cleveland Heights Lutheran East 61-56.
James Storey is in his first season as coach after Kevin Weakley guided Worthington Christian for 22 seasons.
“I guess you’re always a little bit nervous when you go into (the tournament draw), but when you have a great coaching staff with you it makes it easier,” Storey said. “We all work together and we’re on the same page. We had a great plan and we’re glad that it came to fruition. At this point of the season, you’re just trying to continue to get better.”
First-round games are Feb. 22. The second round is Feb. 25, followed by district semifinals Feb. 27 and the district finals March 2 at Capital.
Northside Christian, Patriot Prep top Division IV pairings
Top-seeded Northside Christian (16-3) and second-seeded Patriot Prep (13-6) slotted themselves in opposite brackets that will feed to the Ohio University and Kettering Fairmont regionals, respectively.
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Northside Christian’s bracket includes four other top-seven seeds in No. 4 Fairfield Christian (12-6), No. 5 Millersport (12-8), No. 6 Danville (7-12) and No. 7 Newark Catholic (4-15). Teams standing in Patriot Prep’s way include third-seeded Galion Northmor (12-7) and eighth-seeded Delaware Christian (10-10).
The lone first-round game, 14th-seeded Madison Christian at 13th-seeded Granville Christian, will be Feb. 22. All other teams begin with second-round games Feb. 25, followed by district semifinals Feb. 28 and district finals March 3 at Ohio Dominican.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Postseason pairings set for Ohio high school boys basketball
