Wayne and defending state champion Centerville also won district titles Sunday at the University of Cincinnati. And they all travel down I-75 again Wednesday for the Division I regional semifinals at Xavier’s Cintas Center.
“It’s awesome,” Molz said. “We’re all rooting for each other.”
Martindale said: “We’ve had an extremely good group of teams this year in the league – all eight teams – but especially those top three to advance.”
Fairmont (22-3) and Centerville (26-0) meet for the third time this season in the second semifinal at 8 p.m. Wayne (18-7) meets Fairfield (22-4) at 6 p.m. The last time three GWOC teams reached the regionals was in 2015 with Wayne, Centerville and Springfield. Wayne won the state title that year.
“When you start going outside the area, and even out of state, you start recognizing how good southwest Ohio basketball is and the GWOC in particular,” Centerville coach Brook Cupps said. “There are really, really good teams, really, really good players and coaches in the conference and programs that do things the right way. Fairmont and Wayne are two of the best teams we’ve played, regardless of whether it was in state or out of state.”
But the time has come for at least one season to end. The Elks won the Greater Western Ohio Conference, are on a 42-game winning streak, have been ranked No. 1 in the state all season and defeated Fairmont 48-36 and 51-31.
Cupps, however, said when you get this deep in the tournament every team is vulnerable. In the first meeting at Centerville, Fairmont rallied in the second half to trail by a point before the Elks closed with an 11-0 run. A slow start hurt the Firebirds in the second meeting. They cut their deficit to six entering the fourth quarter before the Elks finished strong.
“They’ve got tough kids, they’re well-coached, they play really, really hard,” Cupps said. “Hopefully we can pull away at the end like we did before, but we’re expecting a dogfight and we’re going to have to play well.”
In his third year at his alma mater, Molz has seen his team mature into one that can handle adversity. A big test came in late-season consecutive losses to Centerville and Wayne. The Firebirds, which had been ranked No. 4 in the state, responded with a victory on Beavercreek’s senior night.
“Our guys are learning that to get to this point you’ve got to go through tough times,” Molz said. “And when things aren’t going well for certain stretches not to give up on the process and trust each other.”
Molz wants his team to think that way Wednesday. When Centerville gets on a roll, the message is to stay focused, play solid basketball and don’t try to be spectacular and make uncharacteristic mistakes.
“We believe if we play the right way and we play well, we can beat them,” Molz said.
Centerville, which has faced high expectations all season and talked about staying focused on the next game, takes a similar approach.
“Our guys are very invested in what we do and are committed to each other,” Cupps said. “They’re ready to play and looking forward to the opportunity to compete. Anybody can beat us from here on out, but I don’t think it’ll be because our guys weren’t ready to play.”
Division III: Coming off its first district title since 1992, Meadowdale (15-8) opens regional play at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Fairmont’s Trent Arena against Georgetown (21-3).
Cincinnati schools Taft (15-8) and Mariemont (18-8) meet in the second semifinal at 8 p.m.. The final is at 8 p.m. Saturday at Trent.
Division II: Fresh off its 28th district title, Alter is two wins away from a 10th trip to the state tournament.
The Knights (23-2) face Columbus Linden McKinley (18-7) at 6 p.m. Thursday in the regional semifinals at Vandalia Butler. Cincinnati Woodward (22-3) and St. Bernard Roger Bacon (19-6) meet in the second game. The winners play at 11 a.m. Saturday at Butler.
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