Boys tournament brackets released

By Mark Carpenter

People’s Defender

It seems like just yesterday that the ball was being thrown up for the Southern Hills Athletic Conference preview, and now it’s time to see the ball go up for the postseason. The quartet of boys varsity teams in the county now know where that postseason trail will take them as the Southeast District released the Division II and IV sectional/district brackets last Sunday afternoon.

As explained in last week’s article on the girls draw, the process for filling out the brackets is significantly different this time around with the inclusion of the RPI ratings that determined seeding, a system that is confusing to many fans but is now being used to make the high school tournament process more similar to that of the NCAA. Simply, the team’s RPI rating equates to their seed on the bracket. Also different is the use of more neutral sites for sectional contests, different from the past where higher seeds hosted sectional match ups. No matter what changes are now in place, the whole thing comes down to one thing, “Survive and Advance”.

The highest seeded team from the county can be found on the Division III brackets, where Coach Nathan Copas and his defending district champion North Adams Green Devils earned the #3 seed. The Devils stood at 17-3 at press time, in the midst of a 15-game winning streak, and will see their first postseason action in a sectional final on Saturday, February 24. North Adams will tangle with the winner of a February 19 contest between #14 seed Zane Trace and #19 seed Lynchburg in a 6:15 tip off at Piketon High School.

If the Devils claim another sectional crown, they will move back to the Division III district semi-finals on March 3 at 8:15 p.m. at the Ohio University Convocation Canter, where if seeds hols, they would face #6 seeded Chesapeake, a team they defeated 59-45 earlier in the season.

“I’m fine with our tournament draw,” said Coach Copas. “It’s the tournament and you have to come out playing hard every night. One bad night and you go home. There are a lot of good teams in our district and we’re just going to take one game at a time and hopefully be able to make a good run.”

Two other teams from the county can be found on the Division III brackets, both playing in what the NCAA might call a “play-in” game or in this case. a sectional semi-final contest.

Coach Josh Arey and the Peebles Indians (9-12) are the #18 seed and will be traveling to the home court of #15 seeded Nelsonville-York on Monday, February 19 for a 7 p.m. tip off. If the Tribe get by that first round match up they will move to a sectional championship game on Saturday, February 24 at 6:15 p.m. That final will be played at Jackson High School with the opponent being the #2 seeded Minford Falcons, with a trip to “The Convo” on the line.

“We don’t know much about Nelsonville-York other than it will take a couple of hours to get there,but we’ll be prepared by then” said Coach Arey. “I’m very surprised at the Southeast District scheduling everyone to play on Monday instead of Tuesday. The regular season ends on Saturday and there are still several teams playing that day. I don’t think they took everything into account.”

The season has been a struggle for Coach Roy Cooper and his 3-17 West Union Dragons but the postseason is always an opportunity for redemption. The Dragons are the #28 seed and face a tough opening round match up at #4 seeded Northwest on February 19 at 7 p.m. If the underdog Dragons can pull off a “W”, they would advance to the sectional finals on February 23 at Zane Trace High School, facing the winner of #13 seed Adena and #20 Southeastern, again with a trip to Ohio University at stake.

Finally, Coach Austin Kingsolver and his 14-8 Manchester Greyhounds are the #7 seed in Division IV and will play for a sectional championship on Saturday, February 24 at 8 p.m., battling #10 seeded South Gallia on the hardwood at Piketon High School. A win there sends the Greyhounds back to “The Convo” on March 1 at 6:15 p.m., where they would likely have a district semi-final with fellow SHAC member, the #2 seeded Fairfield Lions.

“Our draw is about what I expected,” said Coach Kingsolver. “We’re going to have to beat a good team to win a sectional title and we will prepare to the best of our ability and just take things one game at a time. The goal at the beginning of the year was a district title and we will have to play our best basketball to accomplish that goal. I think we are capable of beating anyone if we shoot it well and defend.”

The full Division III and IV girls brackets can be found a thttps://www.ohsaa.org/Southeast-Sports-Tournaments/Basketball-Boys and the RPI rankings can be found at https://www.ohsaa.org/MaxPreps-RPI.

Follow all the postseason action in the pages of The People’s Defender and on C103 Radio and GoodGuysRadioTv.com.