Trotwood-Madison, Versailles runner-up in final boys state polls

Dunbar’s Joseph Scates (left) closes on Trotwood’s Torrey Patton. Trotwood-Madison defeated visiting Dunbar 98-89 in a boys high school basketball game earlier this month. MARC PENDLETON / STAFF

Dunbar’s Joseph Scates (left) closes on Trotwood’s Torrey Patton. Trotwood-Madison defeated visiting Dunbar 98-89 in a boys high school basketball game earlier this month. MARC PENDLETON / STAFF

Trotwood-Madison (Division II) and Versailles (D-III) both were ranked runner-up in their respective divisions of the final Associated Press boys high school state basketball polls that were released on Monday.

Trotwood (20-2) was edged by just five points by unbeaten D-II poll champion Upper Sandusky (21-0). Sandusky also won a D-II state poll title in 2005 with Ohio all-time leading scorer (3,208 points) and then-sophomore Jon Diebler in its lineup.

Upper Sandusky had a 16-4 advantage over Trotwood in first-place votes and edged the Rams 215-210 in overall points. That was the closest winning margin for the four divisions.

Trotwood lost only to Prolific Prep (Calif.) in the Good Samaritan Flyin' to the Hoop 100-83 and was upset at Sidney, 69-67. Trotwood ended its regular season with an 88-73 win at Springfield this past Friday in a showdown of the area's best teams. Top-seeded Trotwood takes a seven-game win streak into the D-II sectional against Ross at Fairmont's Trent Arena on Saturday.

Joining Trotwood among the final D-II top 10 were second-seeded Dunbar (19-3) and No. 3 seed Alter (19-3).

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Leavittsburg Labrae (21-0) drew 15 first-place votes to two for Versailles (21-1) and was crowned the D-III poll champ, its first. Versailles won the Midwest Athletic Conference title and also is top seeded in the D-III sectional. The Tigers take a 16-game win streak into their postseason opener against Milton-Union on Friday at Northmont.

It's been a banner season for first-year Versailles coach Travis Swank, who was promoted to succeed Scott McEldowney following a 10-year run. Versailles was the D-III state runner-up in 2013.

Cross County Conference champion Bethel (19-3) was No. 9 in D-III.

The other poll champs were Cincinnati Moeller (D-I) and McDonald (D-IV). It’s the third AP state poll title for Moeller (22-0), which drew all but one of the 25 first-place votes. The Crusaders also bested the D-I fields in 2008 and ’14.

Springfield (19-3) finished No. 10 among D-I teams. The Wildcats finally cracked the top 10 last week and stayed there. Moeller outpointed runner-up Pickerington Central (20-2) by a 249-177 margin.

It’s the first state poll title for McDonald (20-1), located in Trumbull County and part of the Youngstown-Warren-Boardman metro areas. McDonald had 38 more points than No. 2 Mansfield St. Peter’s (20-0).

Southeastern (21-1) was No. 4 in D-IV. The Trojans won an Ohio Heritage Conference South Division and lost only to Tri-Village, which swept a D-IV poll title and state championship in 2015.

Last season Wayne (22-0) won the D-I state poll title, its first.

The final girls state polls were released last week. Voting is done by a panel of state-wide media who subscribe to AP.


See final boys polls on Scoreboard

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