Boys sectional hoop: Centerville No. 1 seed

Centerville’s red-hot streak through the second half of the boys high school basketball regular season hasn’t gone unnoticed. The Elks, 14-5 and winners of 10 straight, were awarded a No. 1 seed on Sunday in the upcoming Division I sectional.

Most area girls teams have ended the regular season and begin the postseason this week. Most area boys teams will end their regular seasons this week and start tournament play the following week.

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Centerville was staggering at 4-5 after losing at top-ranked (D-I) Moeller on Jan. 5, but hasn’t lost since. Springfield (12-8) is the No. 2 seed, followed by No. 3 Butler (18-2) and No. 4 Sidney (17-3). Springfield and Sidney are the only teams that could play in a sectional.

Other top boys seeds were Trotwood-Madison (at Springfield) and Chaminade Julienne (at Trent Arena) in D-II, Anna (at Northmont) and No. 2 Stivers (at Butler) in D-III, and Jackson Center (at Piqua) and Legacy Christian (at Troy) in D-IV.

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• Three of the four Greater Western Ohio Conference boys basketball divisional titles will be decided this week. That includes Butler at Sidney on Tuesday. Both are 11-2 in the GWOC American North, with crossover losses to Trotwood. Sidney beat Butler 51-46 in overtime in mid-December.

The GWOC National East features co-leaders Springfield and Wayne (9-2), then Centerville (8-2). Springfield can clinch at least a tie by winning at Fairmont on Tuesday. Centerville is at Beavercreek on Tuesday and hosts Wayne on Friday.

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Miamisburg and Lebanon share the GWOC National West lead (5-5), each with one game remaining. Trotwood (13-0) already has clinched the GWOC American South title.

• The Waynesville girls basketball team did something no other area boys or girls basketball team accomplished in the regular season: go undefeated.

Waynesville (21-0) edged visiting Franklin 48-46 on Saturday to complete its first unbeaten regular season. Spartans senior Rachel Murray scored 21 points, connected on five-3-pointers and hit what stood up as the winning free throws.

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It was the fourth win in eight days for Waynesville, which had a Jan. 12 game at Anna (16-4) canceled because of weather. Waynesville is top seeded in the D-III sectional at Covington and drew a first-round bye. The Spartans were 24-2 last season under veteran coach Tim Gabbard, a Franklin grad.

• Streaking Wayne served notice it’ll be a major player in the girls D-I sectional following a 66-42 blowout of visiting Centerville on Saturday night. University of Dayton signee Destiny Bohanon scored 21 points to lead the Warriors, who mounted a 17-point halftime lead.

»» RELATED: Boys state basketball polls

»» RELATED: Girls state basketball polls

Once 6-4 with three straight losses, No. 2 seed Wayne (14-4) takes an eight-game win streak into the Butler D-I sectional. Centerville (20-2) had a 10-game win streak snapped and is top seeded in the D-I sectional at Troy. It was the only GWOC National East loss for Centerville (11-1). Wayne (10-2) finished runner-up.

• Trotwood (18-2) moved into a tie with Columbus South (19-1) as the state’s No. 1 D-II boys basketball team on Monday. Former No. 1 Chaminade Julienne (17-3) dropped to No. 4. The final Associated Press girls state polls will be released on Tuesday. The boys final polls will be announced next week.

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• Beavercreek junior Taylor Ewert reset her own record by winning the women’s USATF race walk mile (6:28.21) in the 112th Millrose Games at the Armory in New York on Saturday. That also was a national high school record. She also won the women’s elite 1500 meters (6:02.85) and was sixth in the girls junior mile (4:51.97).

At the same meet, Tri-Village grad Clayton Murphy was third (3:53.30) in the Wanamaker Mile. Now running professionally for Nike Oregon, Murphy won bronze in the 800 meters in the 2016 Olympic Games at Rio. Versailles grad Sam Prakel, representing adidas, was 10th (3:59.36).

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• Instant replay for Ohio football might be in the works. The National Federations of State High School Associations announced on Monday it will allow states to “create instant-replay procedures.” It’ll be for the postseason only and it’s on each state association whether to adopt instant replay and create a “methodology” to do so if approved.

“The ultimate goal of each game official and each officiating crew is to get the call correct,” said Todd Tharp of the NFHS Football Rules Committee.

The NFHS also approved a mandatory clock rule change for football next season. There are five exceptions, otherwise, play will begin with a 40-second clock start. Previously, all plays began with a 25-second clock start.

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