PIQUA — Piqua advanced to the championship game of the WPTW Holiday Classic Wednesday night with a 63-26 win over Newton.

The Indians jumped out to a 28-2 lead in improving to 7-1 on the season.

Newton dropped to 3-6.

Piqua will play Graham in the championship game at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Newton will play Troy Christian in the consolation game at 6 p.m.

Piqua got nine points from Anson Cox and seven points from Dre’Sean Roberts to jump out to a 25-2 first quarter lead.

The Indians led 42-10 at halftime and 57-19 after three quarters.

Dre’Sean Roberts led a balanced attack with 16 points, five steals and three assists

Ky Warner added 14 points and three steals and Cox scored 12 points.

Bryson Roberts had five points and four assists and Tate Kuhlman added five points.

Mickey Anderson grabbed five rebounds and Colten Beougher blocked three shots.

Quinn Peters led Newton with nine points and Harold Oburn added seven points.

Graham 53,

Troy Christian 49

PIQUA — In the opening game Wednesday, Troy Christian led for most of the first three quarters, but an 11-0 run by the Falcons in the fourth quarter doomed the Eagles chances.

Troy Christian dropped to 5-3 overall and will play Newton in the consolation game, while Graham improved to 4-5 and will play Piqua in the championship game.

Troy Christian led 16-12 after the opening quarter and was trailing 25-24 late in the first half when Alex Free stole the ball and scored to make it 26-25 at the break.

The Eagles trailed 38-36 going to the fourth quarter, but a 3-point play by Free put Troy Christian on top 39-38 with 5:04 remaining in the game.

But, Graham would score the next 11 points to go up 49-39 with less than a minute remaining before Troy Christian’s rally came up just short.

Kyle Sebor had two 3-pointers, sandwiched around a basket by Free to get the Eagles within 49-47 with 9.2 seconds to play.

Parker Penrod scored with three seconds to go to get Troy Christian within 51-49, but Graham was fouled on the inbounds and hit two free throws to seal the win.

Penrod led Troy Christian with 14 points, while Free scored 13.

Frank Rupnik and Sebor both added nine points.

Graham’s Bode McGuire scored 29 points to lead all scorers.

Bradford 54,

Covington 51

COVINGTON — Owen Canan’s 3-pointer with one second to go allowed the Bradford boys basketball team overcame some adversity to gut out a win over Covington in the opening round of the Covington holiday tournament.

Bradford, 7-1, was scheduled to play Russia in the championship game Thursday, while Covington, 1-7, faced Northwestern in the consolation game.

Bradford lost leading scorer Parker Davidson to injury in the first quarter and he did not return.

The Railroaders trailed 13-10 after one quarter and 26-22 at halftime, but took a 42-37 lead after three quarters. It was tied at 51 when Canan hit his 3-pointer just before the buzzer.

Landon Monnin led Bradford with 18 points.

Hudson Hill scored 10 points and Canan and Landon Wills each had nine points.

Britton Miller paced Covington with 16 points.

Brogen Angle scored 13 points, Bryson Hite and Connor Humphrey had six points each and Gunner Kimmel added five points.

Westerville North 61,

Miami East 58

WESTERVILLE — The Miami East boys basketball team might have suffered its first loss of the season, but the gave D-I Westernville North all they wanted in a road game.

The Vikings, 9-1, will host Versailles on Friday.

East trailed 17-8, 29-22 and 49-44 at the quarter breaks.

Wes Enis had 34 points, 11 rebounds and three assists and Jacob Roeth had 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists.

Mitchel Kemp grabbed nine rebounds.

Sports Editor Rob Kiser can be reached at [email protected]