Springfield, Southeastern among top 10 in final polls

Springfield (Division I) and Southeastern (D-IV) high schools both ranked among the top 10 in the final Associated Press boys high school basketball polls that were released on Monday.

Springfield (19-3) finished No. 10 among D-I teams. The Wildcats finally cracked the top 10 last week and stayed there. Springfield had a seven-game win streak snapped by visiting Trotwood-Madison last Friday 88-73 and rebounded with a regular season-ending 68-60 defeat of Miamisburg.

Springfield won the realigned Greater Western Ohio Conference National East (11-1), its first boys basketball title since Springfield South won a GWOC title in 2005. South won a Class AAA boys state poll title in 1984, finishing the regular season at 20-0.

Top-seeded Springfield plays Tecumseh in Friday's D-I sectional opener at Trotwood-Madison (5 p.m.).

Southeastern (21-1) was No. 4 in D-IV. The Trojans won the Ohio Heritage Conference South Division and lost only to Tri-Village, which swept a D-IV poll title and state championship in 2015. Southeastern was the 2002 D-IV state poll champ, going 20-0 in the regular season.

Also seeded No. 1, Southeastern opens D-IV sectional play against Yellow Springs at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Troy.

Graham (D-II) was the last Springfield-area team to capture a boys state poll title, going 19-0 in 2009.

This season's poll champs were Cincinnati Moeller (D-I), Upper Sandusky (D-II), Leavittsburg Labrae (D-III) and McDonald (D-IV). It's the third AP state poll title for Moeller (22-0), which drew all but one of the 25 first-place votes. Among its victories was a 54-51 defeat of visiting Springfield last month. The Crusaders also bested the D-I fields in 2008 and '14.

Trotwood (20-2) was edged by just five points by unbeaten Upper Sandusky (21-0). Sandusky also won a D-II state poll title in 2005 with Ohio all-time leading scorer (3,208 points) and then-sophomore Jon Diebler in its lineup.

Last season Wayne (22-0) won the boys D-I state poll title, its first. The final girls state polls were released last week. Voting is done by a panel of state-wide media who subscribe to AP.


See final boys polls on Scoreboard

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