Basketball draw: East-Mason III could be on the horizon

It didn’t rise to the level of controversy, but Clint Adkins certainly raised some eyebrows Sunday at the Division I Cincinnati sectional boys basketball draw at Lakota West High School.

Lakota East earned the No. 6 seed and Adkins placed his Thunderhawks in the Cincinnati 2 bracket with fourth-seeded Greater Miami Conference rival Mason, even though the Cincinnati 1 bracket was empty at that point.

“We kind of had a game plan going into it, and that’s what we decided to do,” Adkins said. “There was really no, ‘We want to jump on this team or that team.’ Looking at the draw, we just thought, ‘Let’s go here.’ ”

East (13-7) has already lost to the Comets (16-2) by 14- and 15-point margins. Round 3 will happen if both teams win one game first — the Thunderhawks face either No. 15 Amelia (16-3) or No. 18 Kings (9-11) at 6 p.m. on March 1 at West, while the Comets must get past either No. 16 St. Xavier (7-13) or No. 25 West (5-15).

RELATED: Southwest District sectional pairings

“Obviously we haven’t done real well against Mason. They thumped us both times we played,” Adkins said. “In this Southwest District, you’re going to have to beat somebody good. If we’re fortunate enough to get to a sectional final, we might be playing Mason. At that point, we’ll talk about what we need to talk about.

“I think the system’s a little bit flawed. I think there should be a computer-based system that takes some of the animosity out of it. A lot of people get ticked off at each other because they got this seed or that seed. If football can do it, why can’t we move to a computer-based system that takes out the subjectivity of it and go from there?”

There are two other factors in this equation. No. 1, the Cincinnati 1 winner is likely headed for a district matchup against top-seeded Moeller (21-0). No. 2, Mason’s top scorer (Eddie Puisis) suffered an ankle injury Friday.

Comets coach Greg Richards doesn’t know when Puisis will be back in action, but believes he will play again this season.

Richards admitted he was a little surprised by Adkins’ move.

“But everybody can jump where they want,” Richards said. “It’s been done before. If you’ve got to play some of the good teams, then play the good teams. No big deal.

“I think we’ve been playing really well. We played with a lot of emotion Friday night (against West), which is a thing that at some time during the year we were lacking. It was Senior Night … maybe that was the reason for it. But I like the way we’re playing. We’re starting to understand roles and what it takes to beat good teams.”

Hamilton (10-10) is seeded 11th, the program’s highest seed since getting voted sixth in 2006-07. Big Blue will meet No. 10 Elder (10-10) at 6 p.m. on Feb. 24 at West.

“We’ve been going through a lot of adversity at the end of the season with sickness and injuries, and we think we’re close to getting healthy again,” Hamilton coach Sean Van Winkle said. “I feel like we’ve won some games we maybe shouldn’t have and obviously we’ve stubbed our toes, but wholistically over 20 games, we’re pretty proud of our guys. It put us in a situation to make decisions for the tournament draw.”

Van Winkle said he doesn’t have a great desire to play Elder. He simply wanted to be in the Cincinnati 1 sectional, where the highest seed is No. 7 Walnut Hills (13-6).

“We knew it was going to be Elder or Walnut or Northwest or Withrow, one of those type teams,” Van Winkle said. “If you look at the coaches in the bracket, it’s going to be fun. Every team’s going to be prepared. We’re in a bracket where we can compete. We had a very, very good idea of what we wanted to do coming into today, and we did exactly what we wanted to do. Now we’ve just got to see how it plays out.”

The HHS-Elder winner gets No. 8 Northwest (15-5). In the bottom part of that bracket, No. 13 Fairfield (10-10) plays No. 20 Sycamore (7-13) at 8 p.m. on Feb. 24 at West, with the victor advancing to face Walnut Hills.

“Our goal coming in was, ‘Let’s get to a sectional final,’ ” said Fairfield coach Jeff Sims, whose squad split with Sycamore during the GMC campaign. “When you see a bracket where all six teams think they can win the sectional, then I think you go into it.”

Edgewood (14-6) didn’t get much love in the voting with a No. 21 seed. The Cougars went into the Cincinnati 5 bracket with No. 3 Oak Hills (17-3) and will play No. 19 Loveland (9-11) at 8 p.m. on Feb. 25 at Fairfield.

“This is just how it works for us,” Edgewood coach John Thomas said. “There’s a lot of teams here that are very good and have two, three, four times as many as kids as we’ve got, and I know we play a little bit different schedule than they do. So I understand why they vote the way they do.”

Also on Feb. 25 in Cincinnati 5 play at Fairfield, it’s No. 17 Middletown (7-13) vs. No. 14 Glen Este (11-9) at 5 p.m. and No. 30 Talawanda (3-18) vs. Oak Hills at 6:30 p.m. The St. X-West game is set for 8 p.m. that day at Hamilton.

• Here are the remaining first-round matchups for teams in the Journal-News coverage area:

Badin — Seeded 11th in the Division II Fairmont 1 sectional. Faces No. 12 Monroe on Saturday, Feb. 25, at noon

Carlisle — Seeded fourth in the Division III Dayton 3 sectional at Vandalia Butler. Faces No. 8 Anna on Saturday, Feb. 25, at 8 p.m.

Cincinnati Christian — Seeded first in the Division IV Taylor sectional. Faces No. 12 Hillcrest on Saturday, Feb. 25, at 7 p.m.

Fenwick — Seeded eighth in the Division II Fairmont 2 sectional. Faces No. 4 Franklin on Saturday, Feb. 25, at 4:30 p.m.

Franklin — Seeded fourth in the Division II Fairmont 2 sectional. Faces No. 8 Fenwick on Saturday, Feb. 25, at 4:30 p.m.

Lebanon — Seeded 18th in the Division I Dayton 3 sectional at Vandalia Butler. Faces No. 14 Miamisburg on Friday, Feb. 24, at 5 p.m.

Madison — Seeded 14th in the Division II Fairmont 3 sectional. Faces No. 16 Clinton-Massie on Friday, Feb. 24, at 8:30 p.m.

Middletown Christian — Seeded sixth in the Division IV Taylor sectional. Faces No. 7 Fayetteville on Saturday, Feb. 25, at 3 p.m.

Monroe — Seeded 12th in the Division II Fairmont 1 sectional. Faces No. 11 Badin on Saturday, Feb. 25, at noon

New Miami — Seeded 11th in the Division IV Taylor sectional. Faces No. 1 Cincinnati Christian or No. 12 Hillcrest on Wednesday, March 1, at 7:30 p.m.

Ross — Seeded 20th in the Division II Fairmont 1 sectional. Faces No. 1 Trotwood-Madison on Saturday, Feb. 25, at 1:30 p.m.


Division I Cincinnati Boys Basketball

Here are the seeds and records from the Division I Cincinnati super draw:

1. Moeller (21-0); 2. La Salle (17-3); 3. Oak Hills (17-3); 4. Mason (16-2); 5. Princeton (12-8); 6. Lakota East (13-7); 7. Walnut Hills (13-6); 8. Northwest (15-5); 9. Withrow (12-8); 10. Elder (10-10); 11. Hamilton (10-10); 12. Wilmington (12-8); 13. Fairfield (10-10); 14. Glen Este (11-9); 15. Amelia (16-3); 16. St. Xavier (7-13); 17. Middletown (7-13); 18. Kings (9-11); 19. Loveland (9-11); 20. Sycamore (7-13); 21. Edgewood (14-6); 22. Anderson (9-11); 23. Little Miami (12-10); 24. Milford (7-13); 25. Lakota West (5-15); 26. Turpin (6-14); 27. Harrison (5-15); 28. Colerain (3-17); 29. Western Hills (5-15); 30. Talawanda (3-18); 31. Winton Woods (3-15)

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