Boys tournament draws held on Sunday

VW independent sports

The results of Sunday’s boys’ basketball tournament draw are in and Van Wert, Crestview and Lincolnview will all see familiar opponents when the boys’ postseason tips off the week of February 17. Seeds in every district were determined using MaxPreps RPI.

Division IV

Van Wert (8-12) and Kenton (1-18) will finish the regular season this Friday at Van Wert High School, then the same two teams will meet again just four days later, at 6 p.m. Tuesday, February 18, in the Division IV sectional semifinals at the Cougar’s Den. Van Wert is the No. 5 seed in the 10-team Findlay district, while Kenton is the No. 10 seed. The winner will advance to play No. 1 seed Elida in the sectional championship game, which is currently scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday, February 20. However, it’s expected that game will be moved to Friday, February 21, because Elida High School will host girls’ district games on February 20.

Upper Sandusky (14-6) is the No. 2 seed at the Findlay district and like the Bulldogs, the Rams opted to take an opening round bye and will host either No. 7 seed Ontario (6-14) or No. 8 seed Clear Fork (7-13) in the sectional finals on February 20. No. 3 seed Shelby (12-8) is scheduled to host No. 6 seed Ottawa-Glandorf (7-11) in the sectional finals at 6 p.m. Thursday, February 20, but that game is likely to be bumped to Friday, February 21, because Shelby is hosting girls’ tournaments. No. 4 seed Bath (12-8) will host No. 9 seed St. Marys Memorial (5-15) in the sectional finals at 6 p.m. Thursday, February 20.

All of the teams in the Findlay district were previously in Division II but dropped down to Division IV when the OHSAA expanded the number of divisions to seven.

Division VI

At the eight-team Division VI Elida district, Lima Central Catholic (13-6) earned the No. 1 seed, while Crestview (16-4) secured the No. 2 seed, followed by Bluffton (12-8), Columbus Grove (9-7), Wayne Trace (11-8), Ada (13-7) , Riverdale (10-10) and Lincolnview (5-14).

Crestview and Lincolnview will meet in their annual rivalry game this Friday, then will meet again in the sectional finals a week later, at 7 p.m. Friday, February 21, at Ray Etzler Gymnasium. The winner of that game will advance to the district semifinals at Elida and will face No. 4 seed Columbus Grove or No. 7 seed Riverdale.

Lima Central Catholic will host Ada in the sectional finals at 7 p.m. Friday, February 21, and No. 3 seed Bluffton (12-7) will host No. 5 seed Wayne Trace  in the sectional finals at the same time, 7 p.m. Friday, February 21.

At the Wapakoneta district, No. 1 seed Spencerville (18-1) will host No. 8 seed Perry (5-15) and No. 7 seed Parkway (7-12) travel to No. 3 seed Coldwater (12-7), with both sectional final games taking place at 7 p.m. Friday, February 21.

Division VII

Of note, No. 1 seed Delphos St. John’s (17-1) will host No. 8 seed New Knoxville (4-15) or No. 9 seed Waynesfield-Goshen (4-15) in the sectional finals at 7 p.m. Friday, February 21. No. 3 seed Ridgemont (15-5) will entertain No. 6 seed Delphos Jefferson (6-13) in the sectional finals at 7 p.m. Friday, February 21. The winners of those games will move on to the Lima Sr. district the following week.

No. 2 seed Ottoville (14-6) will host No. 5 seed Leipsic (10-9) in the sectional finals at 7 p.m. Friday, February 21. The winner will advance to the Elida district the following week.

Statewide tournament brackets can be found here.