By Josh Brown

and Rob Kiser

Miami Valley Today

BROOKVILLE — The Miami East wrestling team — seeded No. 5 in the Region 23 bracket in the State Duals tournament — upset fourth-seeded Troy Christian and top-seeded Covington on its way to the regional final match, but in the end No. 3 Brookville earned the state semifinal bid by handing the Vikings a 51-22 defeat.

Miami East beat No. 12 North College Hill 72-12 to start things off, then defeated Troy Christian 42-27 in the quarterfinal round.

Winning for the Vikings against North College Hill were: Cooper Shore (106, pin), Chance Rust (113, pin), Max Shore (120, pin), Garrett Kowalak (126, pin), David Davis (132, pin), Daniel Davis (145, pin) and Jayden Skeebey (220, pin) with five forfeits.

Miami East also picked up four forfeits against Troy Christian and scored five more wins to seal the match. Cooper Shore (106) won an 11-5 decision, Kowalak (126) won a 6-3 decision, Dylan Williams (170) won a 9-4 decision, Jarret Winner (182) won a 5-2 decision and Dustin Winner (195) scored a pin. For the Eagles, Jason Shaffer (113) won a 19-4 tech. fall, Ethan Turner (132) won a 15-3 major decision and Austin Awan (138), Andrew Shaffer (152) and Connor Havill (160) all scored pins.

In the other quarter final, Covington knocked off No. 8 Clermont Northeastern 43-34.

The Buccaneers stormed out to a 43-10 lead versus Clermont Northeastern after the first 10 weight classes, which clinched the victory, then forfeited the last four bouts in preparation for the next round. Winning for the Buccs were Cael Vanderhorst (120, pin), Banks Koffer (126, pin), Kellan Anderson (132, 18-2 tech. fall), Connor Sindelir (138, 13-0 major decision), Austin Flick (145, pin), Deacon Shields (152, pin) and Trentin Alexander (170, 10-0 major decision), with one forfeit.

Miami East then advanced to the regional final with a 36-27 win over the Buccs.

The Vikings jumped out to an early 18-0 lead as Cooper Shore (106), Chance Rust (113) and Max Shore (120) scored pins. Cael Vanderhorst (126) picked up a pin to get the Buccs on the board, but David Davis (132) won a 6-4 decision and Coleman Demmitt (138) won a 9-8 decision to push the lead to 24-6.

Covington ran off four straight wins to tie the score, with Flick (145) winning an 8-4 decision, Shields (152) scoring a pin, Jensen Wagoner (160) winning a 5-0 decision and Alexander (170) scoring a pin to even things up at 24-24. Miami East’s Jarrett Winner (182) then won a close 2-1 decision and Dustin Winner (195) won a 5-0 decision to put East up by six, but Covington stayed within striking distance with Dylan Staudt (220) winning a 3-0 decision. But Cael Rose (285) sealed the win with a pin in the final match to propel the Vikings to the regional final.

There, Miami East faced off with No. 3 Brookville, which upset No. 2 Legacy Christian 48-34 in the other regional semi. The Vikings gave up two forfeits and only scored four victories on the mat, though, as the Blue Devils advanced to the state tournament.

Cooper Shore (106), Max Shore (120) and Skeebey (220) all scored pins for the Vikings, while David Davis (132) won a 14-5 major decision.

• Boys Basketball

Troy 49,

Celina 36

CELINA — The Troy boys basketball team avoided a letdown after its emotional win at Tippecanoe the previous night, holding off Celina 49-36 for a non-league victory Saturday on the road.

Troy (12-8) led 18-15 after the first quarter, and the game remained tight at halftime with the Trojans up 26-23. But Troy extended its lead to 37-29 heading into the fourth and outscored Celina 12-7 in the final quarter to seal the win.

Jaden Owens led the Trojans with 11 points as Troy spread its offense out between eight different scorers. Austin Stanaford and Tre Archie each had seven points and Shaeden Olden chipped in six.

Troy travels to Stebbins Tuesday before closing out the regular season Friday at home against rival Piqua.

Lehman 55,

Jefferson 46

SIDNEY — The Lehman Catholic boys improved to 11-8 and need one more win to clinch their first winning season since 2014-15.

Lehman led 12-9, 28-13 and 44-32 at the quarter breaks.

Branden O’Leary had 29 points and six assists for the Cavaliers and Luke Frantz added 12 points.

Newton 67,

Bradford 44

PLEASANT HILL — The Newton boys picked up a Cross County Conference win to improve to 6-14 overall and 3-8 in the CCC.

The Indians led 18-8, 37-25 and 53-39 at the quarter breaks.

Ethan Cook took advantage of Senior Night, pouring in 24 points.

Mitchell Montgomery added 14 points and Ross Ferrell added 10 points.

Tavon Leach led Bradford with 12 points.

Fairlawn 58,

Miami East 51

SIDNEY — Miami East was in control early but couldn’t hang on Saturday night at Fairlawn, dropping to 9-10 on the season with a 58-51 non-league loss.

The Vikings took a 16-8 lead after the first quarter, but Fairlawn took a 23-22 lead at halftime, maintained a 41-40 lead after three and outscored East 17-11 in the fourth to wrap it up.

Noah King had 15 points, Sam Zapadka had 14 points and three assists, Brendon Bertsch had nine points and Collen Gudorf had six points and 14 rebounds for the Vikings, who host Anna Tuesday.

• Girls Basketball

Tippecanoe 45,

Butler 30

TIPP CITY — The Tippecanoe girls basketball team made sure there was less drama this time against Butler as it put away the Aviators 45-30 to finish Miami Valley League Miami Division play at 18-0.

The Red Devils, who improved to 18-4 overall with the win and only beat Butler by five in the first meeting, jumped out to a 16-2 lead after the first quarter Saturday. Butler closed the gap to 22-15 at halftime, but the Devils extended the lead to 33-20 after three and coasted from there.

Troy Christian 47,

Graham 28

TROY — Having lost three of its last four, Troy Christian looked to start rebuilding some momentum entering the postseason Saturday, routing Graham 47-28 at home.

Holding a four-point lead after one, the Eagles (18-3) used a 17-7 second quarter to take a 26-12 halftime lead. Graham trimmed into the lead slightly, trailing 35-24 after three, but the Eagles put the game away with a 12-4 fourth quarter.

Sarah Earhart had 18 points, six rebounds and five assists, Megan Baker had 16 points and seven rebounds and Morgan Taylor had 10 points, six rebounds, six assists and four steals to lead the Eagles, who finish the regular season at Chaminade Julienne Monday.

Lehman 40,

Bellefontaine 31

BELLEFONTAINE — The Lehman Catholic girls improved to 15-6 with the win.

They will host Northridge in a makeup game Tuesday night.

Lehman led 10-7, 22-13 and 34-26 at the quarter breaks.

Lauren McFarland had 14 points, six rebounds and three steals; while Rylie McIver filled out the stat sheet with 10 points, six rebounds, four assists and seven steals.

Anna Ciancioplo had seven points and Heidi Toner grabbed eight rebounds.

Eaton 54,

Bradford 41

EATON — The Bradford Railroaders closed the regular season at 14-8.

Austy Miller led Bradford with 13 points.

Other scores: Miami East (10-11) 41, Northwestern 18. Houston 46, Covington (10-11) 33.

Contact Josh Brown at [email protected], or follow @TroyDailySports on Twitter. Contact Rob Kiser at [email protected].

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