Five things to know about the Portage County boys basketball tournament brackets
Here are five things to consider as the boys basketball postseason gets started:
Crestwood, Garfield meet in all-Portage County first-round game
Portage County is guaranteed at least one all-local game as No. 23 Crestwood visits No. 20 Garfield in the first round Tuesday night. It should be a fun battle between former Portage County League and Portage Trail Conference rivals who haven't played since they met in a couple of classic games in 2019-2020. (The G-Men won their first meeting that year, but the Red Devils won the rematch to win the PTC by a game over their neighbors.) Of course, all that is well in the past, but it should be an entertaining game this postseason as sophomore standouts Dekota Johnson of Crestwood and Preston Gedeon of Garfield battle it out.
Mogadore has a solid chance to advance deep into the tournament
A top-five seed should provide a relatively favorable bracket. That's not always the case, of course, but No. 5 Mogadore got a pretty solid draw, all things considered. The Wildcats would play their first two games at home, first against No. 37 Leetonia and then a sectional final against No. 22 Oberlin should they advance. Perhaps most important, Mogadore will not have to face one of the state's best, Richmond Heights, until a potential district title game. (Ironically, the Wildcats girls basketball team will take on another top-seeded Spartans team in a Wednesday district semifinal.) What has been so impressive about the Wildcats has been watching them adjust, seemingly seamlessly, to the loss of leading big men Mason Williams and Trevor Davis. Mogadore now relies on talented sophomore big man Nick Stephenson and is also leaning into the 3-pointer more than ever. That included 12 3-pointers against Windham on Valentine's Day and 14 the prior Friday against Southeast. Oh, and in case you didn't believe the Wildcats could contend against top teams post-Williams and post-Davis, they just completed a season series sweep of Portage Trail Conference co-champion St. Thomas Aquinas.
A good dark-horse candidate
One dark horse candidate to make a run: No. 22 Southeast.
Yes, the Pirates ended the regular season with a 6-16 record, and, yes, they will have to hit the road immediately, starting with two MVAC Gray Tier opponents (No. 15 Memorial and then No. 9 Brookfield should it advance).
That said, Southeast is a potentially explosive force, as demonstrated in its regular-season finale when it poured in 96 points against Rootstown. With a daunting top scorer in Garrett Sprutte, an experienced point guard in Carson Dunn and a talented big man in Evan Riffle, the Pirates have a lot of the ingredients that it takes to find success in the tournament.
Ravenna seeks to make more history
It has been an emotional couple of weeks for the Ravens, who went from securing their first league title in 44 years to falling short in their quest to make it outright at Norton a week later.
For better or worse, there's no time to mourn in high school basketball, as five days later No. 7 Ravenna hosts Niles McKinley in a first-round game.
Wednesday is more than just win-or-go-home.
It's also another chance to make history for the Ravens, who seek to break a record set way back in 1926 with their 18th victory.
Moreover, the Ravens seek their first postseason victory since 2014, when Ravenna topped Salem in a sectional final before falling 64-52 to top-seeded Poland Seminary in a district semifinal.
Streetsboro, Waterloo, Windham hope for happy home finales
All told, half of Portage County's 12 boys basketball teams will open the postseason at home, with the Bombers, Rockets and Vikings joining the G-Men, Ravens and Wildcats in earning a tournament game on their own courts.
Although the seed difference at Marty Hill Court is notable with No. 12 Windham hosting No. 29 Grand Valley, this is an intriguing battle between former Northeastern Athletic Conference counterparts before the Mustangs ventured to the Chagrin Valley Conference. Moreover, the Bombers won by just three points (67-64) when they met at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse Jan. 30.
No. 13 Waterloo is also in for a tough challenge against No. 17 Crestview, which recently won by 20 points at Garfield and got 21 points and seven boards from Kirkland Miller, 13 points and eight steals from James Best and 11 rebounds from Matt Lindsay. Miller (17.8 points per game), Wyatt Miller (11.1) and Best (9.6) are all dangerous scorers for the Rebels.
No. 23 Streetsboro, loaded with sophomores, looks to maintain a streak of four straight years with a postseason victory when it hosts No. 25 Harvey. Not only are their seeds relatively even, but Martin RPI (the top statewide ranking of basketball teams) gives the Red Raiders (No. 44 in Region 5, No. 169 in Division II) and Rockets (No. 45 in Region 5, No. 171 in Division II) remarkably similar scores.
This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Five things to know about the Portage County boys basketball brackets