Division IV - State Championship - Round 2 - Game 1 - Boys Basketball

Kalida vs. Oak Hill - Game Preview & News

It’s always good to have the King on your sideline.

With Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James cheering on his alma mater from behind the bench, Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary overcame a big-time performance by Thurgood Marshall junior Juwan Staten to capture the Division II state championship with a hard-fought 59-53 victory at The Ohio State University’s Value City Arena.

Daylen Harrison scored 21 points for the Fighting Irish, which captured its first state title since 2003 (James’ senior year), and fifth overall.

For 2 1/2 quarters it appeared as if unranked Toledo St. John's could play even with second ranked Princeton. In the end, though, the 15th ranked team in the country was too much for the Titans. St. John's used a 17-3 run that spanned 4:54 seconds in the third and fourth quarters to put St. John's behind them, ultimately winning the game, 55-41, and setting up a matchup with No. 1 ranked Northland Saturday night at 8:30 p.m.

Normally missing free throws can cost a team a win. For the Fighting Irish of Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary, their own missed free throws helped them put away the Stallions of St. Francis DeSales. Leading 63-56 with just over 1:30 left in the ballgame after leading by 19 at the half, Daylen Harrison stepped to the free throw line and promptly missed the shot. BJ Brophy rebounded the miss and scored to go with a DeSales foul. Brophy then missed the ensuing free throw, but Harrison was there to put the ball back. Just like that, the Irish had opened up a 67-56 lead in a matter of four seconds and were on their way to playing Dayton Thurgood Marshall on Saturday evening at 5:15 p.m.

Every year there's a small player that makes big plays in the state tournament. This year, it was 5'9" junior Treg Lymanstall. Lymanstall scored 13 points -- including 12 in the second half -- to lead the Rams to the state championship game with a 43-38 win in Columbus. The Rams will play Cleveland Central Catholic at 2:00 p.m. "When he's shooting the basketball well we give him a lot of freedom," said Tinora coach Rob Mahnke of his point guard's performance.