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Wheeling Central repeats in West Virginia
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The Wheeling Central boys basketball team repeated as the West Virginia Class AA state champion.
The No. 1 Maroon Knights held No. 2 Wyoming East to 11 field goals over the final three quarters for a 55-39 win in the Class AA state championship game Saturday at Charleston Coliseum.
Eli Sancomb -- the two-time Gatorade West Virginia Boys Basketball Player of the Year-- led Wheeling Central with 21 points and 11 rebounds. Luke Sancomb and Max Olejasz each had 10 points.
The Maroon Knights have completed a 23-0 season, including wins over Ohio Division III state runner-up Steubenville (82-72), Oak Glen (84-41), and extended their winning streak to 35 games.
Massillon wins first basketball state title
DAYTON -- The Massillon boys basketball team reached the state tournament for the first time in 81 years and came home with its first state championship Sunday.
The Tigers rallied from a 15-point deficit late in the third quarter to beat defending Division II state champion Westerville North in a 68-63 overtime thriller in front of 4,642 fans at University of Dayton Arena.
Massillon's previous best finish was as state runner-up in 1937 under coach Paul Brown, better known as a football coach.
Trailing 45-30 with less than 2 1/2 minutes left in the third quarter, the Tigers clawed back to lead 57-51 with two minutes to play in the fourth quarter. Westerville North countered with a 7-1 run of it own over the final 1:56 of regulation to tie the game at 58-58.
With seconds remaining, Warriors senior Jacob Medhane had a fastbreak opportunity when Tigers junior Xavier Williams blocked the potential game-winning layup from behind, sending the game to overtime.
In overtime, Williams scored six points as Massillon held a 10-5 edge for the victory.
Massillon shot 10-of-12 from the floor in the fourth quarter and overtime.
Gio Jackson had a team-high 17 points on 8-of-11 shooting with nine rebounds. Williams and Isaiah Lamp added 10 points apiece. Braylon Gamble grabbed 10 rebounds.
Massillon finishes with a school-best 27-1 season and a 24-game winning streak
Westerville North (26-2) made its fifth trip to the state tournament.
Four in a row for Lutheran East
DAYTON -- The Cleveland Heights Lutheran East boys basketball team became the first in OHSAA history to win four straight state championships.
The Falcons did it by beating Gahanna Columbus Academy, 50-36, in the Division V state final Saturday in front of 2,813 fans at University of Dayton Arena. It was their 28th consecutive postseason victory and ninth straight state tournament appearance.
Lutheran East had another dominating performance by taking a 28-10 halftime lead and leading by as many as 29 points at 45-19.
Devontey Perkins scored 18 points and Dylan Zeigler added 14 to lead Cleveland Heights Lutheran East to a 50-36 win over Gahanna Columbus Academy in the 2026 Division V state championship game.
Six-foot-7 junior Devontey Perkins had a 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting with 12 rebounds and sophomore Dylan Zeigler added 14 points for the Falcons.
Lutheran East finishes at 25-2 with an all-underclassman starting lineup with all five players averaging in double figures.
In the regular season, the Falcons played five teams that reached the state tournament.
They defeated Division VI state champion Berlin Hiland (57-54), Divison II state runner-up Westerville North (51-49) and Division IV state runner-up Cleveland Glenville (71-59). The two losses were to Division I state semifinalist Lakewood St. Edward (62-58) and Division IV state semifinalist Zaneville Maysville ( 82-76).
No perfect men's brackets left
(AP) -- Well, that's that. No perfect NCAA Tournament brackets remained among the 26 million-plus of entries in the ESPN bracket challenge and in the contests tracked on the NCAA's official website.
The end came Sunday night when No. 6 seed Tennessee beat No. 3 seed Virginia 79-72 in the 44th game of the tournament -- and before No. 9 seed Iowa pulled the biggest stunner of the weekend by knocking off No. 1 seed and defending national champion Florida 73-72.
The day started with two perfect brackets left in the ESPN contest and four on the NCAA's site, which tracks the ESPN challenge along with six contests run by other outlets. ESPN had 26.5 million entries, and 36 million were tracked by the NCAA.
After a pair of No. 2 seeds eliminated No. 7s Sunday -- Purdue beat Miami 79-69 and Iowa State topped Kentucky 82-63 -- ESPN had two intact brackets and the NCAA had three.
When Dylan Darling's buzzer-beating layup gave No. 5 seed St. John's a 67-65 win over No. 4 seed Kansas, ESPN had one perfect bracket left.
The number of perfect brackets in the women's tournament dropped to 279 in the ESPN contest and less than 400 on the NCAA website after higher seeds won the first six games Sunday.
The closest women's games were 4-vs.-5 matchups. Minnesota beat Mississippi 65-63 on a last-second shot and North Carolina got past Maryland 74-66. The other four games were blowouts decided by no fewer than 23 points. No. 1 seed Texas and No. 2 seed LSU hit triple digits, with the Longhorns routing No. 8 seed Oregon 100-58 and the Tigers mauling No. 7 seed Texas Tech 101-47.
The odds of going 63-0 in a bracket contest are somewhere between one in 9.2 quintillion (for totally random guesses) or one in 120 billion (semi-educated ones).