Mid-State League ‘23-24

buckcc said:
What was the final on the Bishop Rosecrans vs Fairfield Christian
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Rosecrans won 85-40. Was up 80-34 after the third quarter so the running clock likely kept it under 100. I won’t name names, but someone scored 54 points on 25 FGA, including 11-16 from 3. Wow.

In the MOCAL I saw Northside Christian lost to Shekinah Christian 57-51. Northside played them 3 games before this matchup and won 52-36. Not sure if players were missing or if Shekinah just had that massive home court advantage, but that score was a surprise to me.
 
Believe it or not, the regular season is nearly halfway over! I'm not going to do any rankings or postseason predictions just yet, but since the seeding RPI should be coming out soon I figured a list of the Cardinal/D4 teams in Central District would be warranted (teams not in D4 Central District are in italics). Any surprises so far?

MSL - Cardinal
1a) Harvest Prep: 8-4 (4-0)
1b) Grove City Christian: 5-3 (4-1)
2) Bishop Rosecrans: 7-3 (4-1. Lose tiebreaker to GCC as of now)
3) Fisher Catholic: 5-5 (3-3)
4) Wellington: 2-6 (2-3)
5) Miller: 3-6 (2-3. Lose tiebreaker to Wellington as of now)
6) Fairfield Christian: 3-7 (1-3)
7) Berne Union: 2-8 (1-4)
8) Millersport: 2-6 (0-3)

MOCAL
1) Tree of Life: 7-2 (4-0)
2) Northside Christian: 6-3 (3-1)
3) Shekinah Christian: 7-3 (4-2)
4) Granville Christian: 5-4 (2-2)
5) Delaware Christian: 5-7 (2-4)
6) Liberty Christian: 2-6 (0-3)
6) Madison Christian: 1-8 (0-3)
- Genoa Christian: 5-3 (2-3 if league opponents were official)

Other
- Northmor: 7-4
- Patriot Prep: 6-4
- Ridgedale: 6-4
- Elgin: 3-7
- Mechanicsburg: 1-6
- Newark Catholic: 1-7
- Danville: 1-10

I still feel Northmor, Patriot Prep, Tree of Life, and Northside Christian are the favorites to win the two District Titles, but Fisher Catholic and Shekinah Christian seem to be figuring things out and could contend. It's wild that Tree of Life was D3 last year and Northmor the year before, or else these Districts really could be wide open. I don't imagine anyone will win a Regional game this year.
 
JokesOnYou said:
HPS-64
GCC-50
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I thought this was an excellent game. The game was only an 8-point game with 2:00 to go. The Warriors did not shoot it well, which allowed GCC to sit in a zone. I was really surprised about how well the Eagles rebounded the ball.

GCC had Caleb Ransom and Seth Vaughn hit 1000 points last week. That makes three 1000-point scorers in the last two years for GCC. If my math is right, they both have a chance to break the scoring record this year held by Brandon Baker.
 
Gonna try to check out Grove City Christian for the 2nd time, tomorrow. Timlin warned me Saturday evening home games might not be the best options anymore.
 
I enjoyed last night's ball game between Fisher Catholic and Grove City Christian. Fisher Catholic had two kids that really played well from the perimeter, but #5 from Grove City Christian (Ransom) was lights out. Fun game to watch. Good luck to both moving forward.
 
WishIWasGolfing said:
I enjoyed last night's ball game between Fisher Catholic and Grove City Christian. Fisher Catholic had two kids that really played well from the perimeter, but #5 from Grove City Christian (Ransom) was lights out. Fun game to watch. Good luck to both moving forward.
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Seen where it was a 2-score game going into the fourth… at the house of the prohibitive league runner-up.

It’s there.
 
JokesOnYou said:
How coach David Dennis just won his 400th game as a coach. Beat Hilliard Davidson 63-47.
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Is there a breakdown of those 400 across HP boys, HP girls and LU girls?

My best guess in my head is it’s ~50 at LU, 100 on the girls’ side and the balance is his current tenure. With a bonus, too, that his winning percentage is highest with the Lady Warriors.
 
FC 44
Millersport 41

First time seeing the Irish live in-person this year. They are sincerely the most enjoyable boys’ team I’ve seen of FC in a decade. Very solid brand of basketball underway, across the board, being played.

Credit to MP on a well-coached and well-played game, too. The young Lakers weren’t going away as easily as I would’ve anticipated.
 
That GCC/Rosecrans game should be a great one to watch! I'm sure the atmosphere will be incredible! A similar matchup in the MOCAL will take place this Friday with Northside Christian traveling to Tree of Life. The teams still haven't met this season, so Northside catches a break by getting Tree after game #11. If Tree loses at home, I imagine Northside will have the advantage in round 2 when they are the home team and could have a leg up on the conference championship.

As for unmentioned games from last night:

- Looks like HP maybe showed some sympathy toward Berne after being up 65-8 at halftime. They must just really hate Miller for some reason.

- Speaking of Miller, they picked up a nice win over FCA, who seems to be struggling quite a bit at the moment.

- Wellington kept it close with a 54-43 loss against Rosecrans. Perhaps they are starting to figure things out. Getting healthy helps too!

- Genoa Christian knocks off Tree of Life! This would be Tree's first game without transfers (I think they have at least 2), so I'm not sure how much this is Genoa playing well or Tree trying to adjust to life without some of their guys. I don't think Genoa is officially in the conference based on the MOCAL website, but I do know that they play all of the MOCAL teams (some twice). I'll have to see if I can figure out if it's confirmed that they are formally joining the conference next season. According to MaxPreps, Genoa had two freshmen score 32 of their 40 points. They also played tight with Northside earlier in the season, so they nearly knocked off the top two seeds (according to the awful new RPI). Future is bright for them!

- Some other MOCAL games were closer than expected based on recent results (Northside beat Granville Christian by 20 after beating them by 36 the week before and Shekinah beat Delaware Christian by just 4 at home after beating them by 13 on the road two weeks ago). That tells me that with seeding being all junked up and some teams closing the gap, the Sectional tournament should be full of "upsets."
 
Over the weekend Tree of Life lost in OT to Northside Christian. I was hoping to make it out to the game but with the bad weather conditions I opted to stay home and Tree has no streaming options. Would love to know more details (guys missing) to see if it was full strength or a wild finish but haven’t been able to find anything.

This puts the MOCAL race as a 2-way tie between Tree and Northside Christian. The teams will still meet again at Northside on February 6 to likely determine the conference champion. Shekinah Christian has an outside chance as they have 2 losses and did beat Northside, but they’ll need to take down Tree and hope Tree wins on the road at Northside in that big showdown, which would lead to a 3-way tie (assuming no one else loses a random conference game).
 
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Congratulations to GCC on completing the sweep of Rosecrans last night! What an atmosphere for basketball last night on Hoover Rd. Capacity crowd, pep band, student section, and a loud environment!

Labishak could not be stopped in the first half. Timlin tried three different defenders and could not slow him down. I saw he ended with 19 in the first half. Rosecrans kept GCC from penetrating, and they seemed to settle on a bad shot—somehow, it was only a 3-point game at the half.

Rosecrans pushed the lead to 10 with about 6 minutes to play in the 4th. It looked like they tried to slow it down and take their foot off the gas. That allowed GCC to get over-aggressive on defense, and Rosecrans turned it over multiple times. GCC stormed back and took the lead with about 1:30 to go, thanks to two 3-pointers from Harris. The Eagles did a great job of not letting Labishak take a shot on the last two possessions. Walked away with a 58-54 win!

The most eye-opening stat from the evening was that the Eagles held Labishak to 1 point in the 2nd half. It was a great defensive adjustment and effort made at half. Timlin's son defended him well the rest of the way and hit two big shots down the stretch.

Last night was a top 5 game in high school basketball that I have watched. The Eagles now have a two game lead on the Cardinal division(excluding HP).
 
buckcc said:
Anyone have the score of the Patriot Prep vs Cols Kipp game from Monday January 22
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I'm not sure that they played. It's on maxpreps twice but not either of the school's schedules on arbiter.

Huge win for GCC! I'm guessing that'll lead to a safe finish toward the second league title.

Tree of Life lost at Delaware Christian in a big upset. Delaware Christian played Shekinah Christian close and beat Tree of Life, so it should be a good game against Fisher Catholic tonight.

Barring any wild upsets, Northside Christian will win at least a share of their second consecutive league title (and second MOCAL title ever). If Tree of Life wins out and can take down Northside on the road, they would also share the conference title.

Elsewhere, it looks like Northmor is charging hard toward the postseason as they have really been playing well lately. Patriot Prep had its 6 game winning streak recently snapped but has put together some solid games over the last few weeks.
 
I have been watching some MS basketball for the MSL and there are some hoopers. Bishop Rosecrans has two good middle school teams. They have a kid who plays similarly to #2 for BR. Berne Union has a 6'4" player that can run PG. He can score from all 3 levels with ease and throws dimes. Wellington has two players that will be starting for them once they enter high school. Two shifty guards that can score contested shots and finish at the lane. These kids will be stars for the MSL.
 
JokesOnYou said:
I have been watching some MS basketball for the MSL and there are some hoopers. Bishop Rosecrans has two good middle school teams. They have a kid who plays similarly to #2 for BR. Berne Union has a 6'4" player that can run PG. He can score from all 3 levels with ease and throws dimes. Wellington has two players that will be starting for them once they enter high school. Two shifty guards that can score contested shots and finish at the lane. These kids will be stars for the MSL.
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Future looks good for the Rosecrans Blue Devils!
 
Updating my list from a month ago, here are some updated standings for Central D4 teams.

MSL - Cardinal
1a) Harvest Prep: 16-4 (8-0)
1b) Grove City Christian: 13-4 (12-1)
2) Bishop Rosecrans: 13-7 (9-4)
3) Fisher Catholic: 9-8 (6-5)
4) Miller: 7-12 (5-6)
5) Fairfield Christian: 7-12 (4-7)
5) Wellington: 6-11 (4-7)
7) Berne Union: 3-13 (2-9)
8) Millersport: 4-15 (1-12)

MOCAL
1) Northside Christian: 14-5 (10-1)
2) Shekinah Christian: 16-3 (9-2)
3) Tree of Life: 11-7 (6-4)
4) Delaware Christian: 6-12 (4-7) - Had a forfeit somehow against Madison Christian
5) Granville Christian: 6-11 (3-7)
6) Liberty Christian: 5-9 (3-6)
7) Madison Christian: 2-17 (1-9)
- Genoa Christian: 10-6 (6-5 if league opponents were official)

Other
- Northmor: 14-4
- Patriot Prep: 10-7
- Ridgedale: 9-7
- Newark Catholic: 3-14
- Elgin: 3-14
- Danville: 3-17
- Mechanicsburg: 2-15

Not much movement in the Cardinal. Harvest Prep hasn't lost since my last update (9 wins in a row) and just beat Dublin Jerome and Coffman on the road (Coffman easily). I wonder if we see some of the top D3 seeds passing to avoid them at #4! GCC has clinched the second conference championship in the Cardinal and is currently set as 8th seed (out of 25 teams).

The MOCAL has seen a ton of movement. Don't know if it's injuries or transfers sitting the second half, but Tree of Life has fallen off a bit recently, losing 4 of their last 5 conference games (5 of 6 if you count Genoa Christian). Northside Christian has gone over a half-season stretch with their only losses being to KIPP and Whitehall, although they did have a tight one in OT against Tree. Barring a wild upset, Northside should win the conference. Shekinah Christian has a massive winning streak and is also the only MOCAL team to take down Northside this year.

Northmor has won 7 in a row and currently holds the top seed in the district. Will be curious to see if anyone challenges them or everyone goes in the opposite bracket. Assuming seeds 2 (Northside) and 3 (Shekinah) go opposite, will it be like some years where the 4-8 seeds all go to the other district or is Northmor not that much better than the other top seeds? Patriot Prep did beat Northmor last year and is currently the 5 seed, so maybe they will target them in the District Finals.

Newark Catholic has to be the scariest 3-15 team in the state. A couple nice wins against Lakewood and FC has jumped them up to the 13th seed. I wonder where they would be if coaches voted? Didn't they make it to a District Finals and maybe even win it a few years back with like 5 wins in the regular season? I'm sure the top seeds are hoping NC avoids them in the opening round!
 
The Dock said:
Championship game for girls’ basketball is tonight, @ The Cave.
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Congrats to the Lady Irish! Very proud of, and glad for, them. As a collective, they are indisputably one of the best groups of athletes to come through in FC history. Happy that they got another achievement under their belts — first league title in hoops on either side of the boys/girls line since 2009. It has been that long, yes.

Good luck to HP ladies the rest of the way.
 
Tournament draw is on Sunday for boys. Athens and Kettering Fairmont are the two districts. Any guesses as to teams that will be avoided? Teams to target? Athens has seemed to be the lighter region in past years, so I'm curious to see if teams line up on that side again.

Here are the seedings as of today if I'm looking at the right place from the OHSAA website. I think results for tonight and Saturday still count, so there still could be some changes, especially since some teams are very close to each other. For example, the top 3 seeds are all within .004 of each other and Northside has a game against 18-1 CVCA.

1. Northside Christian
2. Shekinah Christian
3. Northmor
4. Tree of Life
5. Patriot Prep
6. Fisher Catholic
7. Fairfield Christian
8. Ridgedale
9. Wellington
10. Liberty Christian
11. Delaware Christian (still don't know why they have a forfeit listed against Madison Christian)
12. Granville Christian
13. Newark Catholic
14. Elgin
15. Mechanicsburg
16. Berne Union
17. Millersport
18. Danville
19. Madison Christian
 
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