St. John's Jesuit will be making its seventh appearance in a Division I boys basketball final four Saturday, when the Titans (19-9) face Akron Archbishop Hoban (24-3) at the University of Dayton Arena.
Tipoff time is at 8:30 p.m., with the winner advancing to Sunday's 8:30 p.m. D-I championship game against the winner of Saturday's earlier semifinal. That semifinal pits top-ranked, 2021 state champion Centerville (25-3) against seventh-ranked defending champion Pickerington Central (23-5).
The Titans of fourth-year head coach Mike Schoen seem to be playing with house money at this point, having entered tournament play as the No. 9 seed in the northwest Ohio district.
In five of their six tournament wins, the Titans were the underdog.
“It allows you to play with a little more freedom, and it allows you to play with a chip on your shoulder,” Schoen said. “You can always use that as motivation but, honestly, we have not talked about that a lot throughout the run.
“More than anything we've really tried to focus on the task at hand in front of us. We're just trying to put ourselves in a situation Saturday night to play well and hopefully win.”
St. John's, which closed the regular season at 13-9 overall, tied for fourth place in the Three Rivers Athletic Conference at 8-6. The Titans entered tournament play on the heels of a 66-64 overtime loss to rival St. Francis de Sales in their TRAC finale.
“That turned us around,” senior C.J. Hornbeak said. “We were very mad about that loss. It hit us. But we just had to keep moving on. Our mentality has always been us and getting better every day.”
The Titans have regrouped to reel off six straight tournament victories, beating ninth-ranked Garfield Heights 50-38 in last Saturday's regional final at Kent State University.
“We've just kind of put it together at the right time,” Schoen said. “Our preparation has been at a very high level, and the way we've played and defended has been at a high level. We're starting to find ourselves offensively and play to our strengths.”
TITANS LINEUP
St. John's has been led by senior four-year starter C.J. Hornbeak, a 6-foot-3 guard who excels at both ends of the court and is equally adept scoring on the drive, from mid-range, and beyond the 3-point arc.
He is averaging 19.7 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game, shooting 49 percent overall, 39 percent on 3-pointers (52 of 132), and 76 percent at the foul line (99 of 131). He ranks No. 2 in career scoring at St. John’s with 1,572 points, trailing only 2013 Ohio Mr. Basketball Marc Loving, who totaled 1,678 points for the Titans. In St. John’s regional-final win, Hornbeak passed previous No. 2 B.J. Raymond (2005 grad, 1,551 points).
Complementing Hornbeak in the back court are 6-2 junior Jaylen Murphy (11.6 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.4 assists) and 5-9 senior Marquez Frazier (6.9 points).
“I feel like we're playing our best basketball right now, and we're executing more,” Murphy said. “We're playing defense better as a group, we're burying more shots, and we're finding more open guys. Being the underdog gives us a chance to go out there and play with a chip on our shoulders to prove everybody wrong.”
Manning the front court are 6-3 junior Joseph Taylor (9.6 points, 5.2 rebounds) and gritty 6-4 senior Mitchell Michalak (4.0 points, 4.6 rebounds, 3.1 assists).
“I just kind of want to do whatever my teammates need me to do to win,” Michalak said. “We're not a very big team this year, so I had to step up and rebound. I also knew I could contribute with other aspects of my game.
“A lot of our losses were close games that could have gone either way. So, paying attention to detail and honing in on some late-game scenarios helped us move forward in this tournament.”
Taylor, a college recruiting target as a track runner, returned for the regionals after missing the previous nine games with an ankle injury.
Tops off the bench for St. John's have been 6-5 freshman Race Kowalczyk (2.4 points), the son of University of Toledo men's head basketball coach Tod Kowalczyk, and 6-2 junior Eddie Heywood (1.7 points), who each picked up court time with increased roles while Taylor was sidelined.
THE MATCHUP
Hoban’s team is making its third appearance in a state final four. The Knights of 30th-year coach T.K. Griffith won the Division III state championship in 1989, when Griffith was a Hoban backup player, and reached the 1998 Division II semifinals when Griffith was the head coach.
The Knights (24-3) have outscored foes by an average score of 62.2 to 45.3 this season, and their losses came against Canton GlenOak, 60-59, Cincinnati Taft, 51-44, and local rival Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary, 50-44. Hoban avenged the first of these by pounding GlenOak, 81-46, in a district semifinal.
Hoban then topped Macedonia Nordonia, 58-44, to win a district title, and beat Lakewood St. Edward, 44-40, and Cuyahoga Falls Walsh Jesuit, 56-37, in the regionals.
“It's somewhat unexpected, and we're just thrilled to have this opportunity to represent Hoban at this level,” coach Griffith said.
The Knights are led by their potent guard trio of 6-3 junior Jonas Nichols (16.0 points, 5.6 rebounds), and 6-2 seniors Will Scott (14.2 points, 3.2 rebounds) and Logan Vowles (8.5 points, 4.2 rebounds).
“Will Scott is a very dynamic guard whose got a lot of upside still left in him,” Griffith said, “hopefully for this season, and for his own future.
“Jonas Nichols has put us on his back many times, especially in the districts. He's one of the best guards at his grade level.”
In the front court are 6-7 senior forward Andrew Griffith (6.1 points), the coach's son, and 6-8 freshman center Sam Greer (5.1 points, 4.1 rebounds). The top subs are juniors Joey Hardman (6-2, 3.5 points) and Josh Greer (6-5, 2.4 points), and seniors Colin Coyne and Lamar Sperling.
“They're really talented, and they're good at both ends of the floor,” Schoen said. “They run a lot of great action offensively. They've got two dynamic guards in Scott and Nichols. Those two can do so much with the ball in their hands, and they've got guys that can really spray it from the outside.”
“We'll have to find ways to contain them when they're on offense and find ways to get shots, because they're as good of a defensive team as we've seen all year.”
Griffith believes Hoban will have its hands full with a Titans team he said might be a “team of destiny.”
“All I know is what I see, and they're one of the most efficient, patient, well-coached, organized, and dynamic teams that we've played,” Griffith said. “They never seem to panic, and they're well-scripted with what they run.”
First Published March 17, 2023, 2:53 p.m.
