Polar Bears Maul St Peter’s For District Spot
A fast start by #3 Margaretta led to a sectional championship performance at Shelby where the Polar Bears dismantled #7 St. Peter’s 57-39.
The Spartans (13-9) had won 4-consecutive sectional titles under head coach Joe Jakubick entering the tournament, but an 11-0 run to open the game for the Polar Bears built a ball of momentum that never slowed with the starters on the floor.
Nick Leibacher, who finished with 14 points, hit a trio of 3-pointers to start the game as Margaretta ran out to a 14-2 advantage through one quarter of play. The Spartans deficit swelled to 27-14 by halftime as St. Peter’s shooting woes continued, finishing 14-41 (34%) for the contest.
A Spartans early third quarter push was quickly answered as the Polar Bears would not be challenged in this game, led by Dylan Morris’ game-high 18 points and a defensive effort that held St. Peter’s to just 24 points entering the fourth quarter.
Margaretta (17-6) advances to face #2 South Central (19-4) in the D4 Willard District Semifinals.
St. Peter’s Guts Out Rivalry Win Over Mansfield Christian
St. Peter's raced out to a 17-6 lead after the first quarter on senior night against cross-county rival Mansfield Christian, but had to hold off a game Flames squad late for a 53-49 victory.
Despite finding themselves in an early hole, Mansfield Christian (5-17, 2-8) stormed back to claim a 44-41 edge with 6:21 left in the fourth quarter after finishing the third on a 6-0 spurt. The Spartans knocked down late free throws and locked down defensively, however, outscoring the Flames 12-5 down the stretch to secure the win.
St. Peter’s (13-7) got a game-high 17 points from Jonah Ramey while Luke Henrich finished with 13 points and Caleb Stewart had 11 in their final home games.
Mansfield Christian (5-17) saw their 3-game win streak snapped as Jared Mount scored 16 points and Ethan Barry poured in 14.
Lucas Beats St Peter’s For 1st League Crown Since 1991
It had been a while since Lucas Cubs basketball fans last tasted a conference championship before the 2019 version ended a 28-year drought with a Mid-Buckeye clinching 65-52 win over 4-time defending champ St. Peter’s.
The Cubs (12-5) are still perfect in MBC play with a spotless 9-0 mark, handling the Spartans (11-7, 7-2) by double-figures for the second time this year as sophomore guard Ethan Sauder scored 14 of his career-best 22 points in the second half to go along with 16 from Logan Niswander and 13 by Riley Gossom.
It’s the most points allowed by St. Peter’s this season, who got 22 points from senior guard Caleb Stewart but his Spartans trailed 18-6 after the first and 32-14 by halftime, falling into a 53-31 hole by the start of the fourth.
St. Peters Beats Loudonville 54-32
St. Peters defeated Loudonville 54-32 with a wire to wire victory over the Redbirds in Mid-Buckeye Conference action.
St. Peters seniors Caleb Stewart had a game-high 22 points with Luke Henrich adding 14 to carry the Spartans scoring load. Loudonville senior guard Joe Henley led Redbirds with 13, while Garret Fry had 6 points.
The win was the fourth in a row for St. Peter’s who improved to 9-5 overall and 6-1 in the league. Loudonville dips to 7-7, 3-4 in MBC play.
Spartans Take Rivalry Win At “The Furnace”
St. Peter’s took Mansfield Christian’s best shot in a rivalry showdown between the two Mansfield schools, surviving a tough 60-52 battle against the struggling Flames.
Coming off their only win of the season, Mansfield Christian (1-11, 0-5) hung with the four-time defending Mid-Buckeye Conference champs in the first half, as Jared Mount’s team-best 14 points helped the Flames enter the halftime locker room tied at 23 apiece.
The third quarter is where the Spartans (7-5, 4-1) made their move, outscoring MC 20-12 in the frame to hold a 43-35 edge heading into the final quarter of action. Both Caleb Stewart and Luke Henrich played key scoring roles in the second half for St. Peter’s, combining for 40 points in the contest to help Sparty close out a tough rivalry victory.
St. Peter’s Strong Finish Sinks Plymouth
It was a slow start to a Tuesday night contest in front of the home fans for St. Peter’s but the fourth quarter belonged to the Spartans in a 42-34 win over visiting Plymouth.
Coming off a three game losing streak, St. Peter’s (6-5) stumbled into a 13-8 hole following a tough first quarter of action and found themselves trailing 19-12 just before the half. A Caleb Stewart 7-0 run in less than a minute span would help the Spartans tie the game heading into the break where players say head coach Joe Jakubick provided some motivating words of wisdom in the locker room.
Offense was a struggle for both squads as the contest opened the final quarter with St. Peter’s in front 26-24 before Sparty rushed on a 10-2 run and outscored the Big Red 16-10 in the frame to close out a much needed win.
Luke Henrich netted a game-best 15 points for the Spartans, scoring 10 of those in the fourth quarter alone with teammate Caleb Stewart adding 11 and Shawn Perkins-Harris contributing with nine while holding Plymouth (5-5) top-scorer Jacob Adams (24 ppg) to just six points.
Lucas Tops St. Peter’s For Mid-Buckeye Lead
It had been a long time since St. Peter's School last lost a Mid-Buckeye Conference game and even longer since league foe Lucas has tasted victory against the Spartans, but the Cubs would take a monster 47-38 win on the road to end each lengthy streak.
Lucas hadn’t beaten their Richland County rivals in the last 12 meetings against St. Peter’s and it appeared that drought would continue after a fast start by the Spartans. The Cubs fell into a double-digit first-quarter hole, trailing 13-3 before clawing their way back to a 15-9 deficit by the start of the second stanza.
Behind Logan Niswander, who scored seven of his team-best 12 points in the second quarter, Lucas surged to a 27-21 advantage by the half and held the Spartans to just 23 points in the final 24 minutes of action.
Though St Peter’s pulled to within 31-30 by the start of the fourth, the Cubs closed out the contest on a 16-8 run to claim their first win in the series since 2011, and also ended the Spartans 36-game win streak in MBC play.
Caleb Stewart led all scorers in the game with 18 points, but no other Spartan scored more than eight while five Lucas players netted at least six points. The win now bolsters the Cubs (6-3, 4-0) to the top of the league standings, taking a 1-game lead over St. Peter’s (5-4, 3-1).
Spartans Slash Crestline 53-35
The four-time defending Mid-Buckeye Conference champion St. Peter’s Spartans continued their league dominance by protecting home court against visiting Crestline, routing the Bulldogs 53-35.
St Peter’s led from start to finish, going on top in the opening seconds and never looked back, as the squad built an 11-7 first quarter cushion that extended to 29-12 by the half with an 18-4 run to end the second quarter. Crestline outscored the Spartans 13-11 in the third and would trim the deficit to 12 early in the final frame, but St Peter’s balanced attack would cement a home court win.
Four Spartans finished in double-figures scoring with Shawn Perkins-Harris netting a game-best 14 points while Caleb Stewart added 13 and both Luke Henich and Jonah Ramey scored a dozen. Max Anatra paced the Bulldogs scoring attack with 13 followed by Kaden Ronk with seven and Trevor Phillips scoring five points.
St Peter’s remains unbeaten in MBC play at 3-0, improving to 4-2 overall. The loss dips Crestline to 1-5, and 0-3 in league games.
Leaving A Legacy: Wade Wins 6 State Track Medals
St Peter’s senior Alysse Wade cemented her legacy as one of the most decorated track athletes Richland County has ever produced with another dominating performance at the State Championships in Columbus.
The Spartan speedster entered the day as defending State champ in the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash and 100-meter hurdles, having just won gold in all three events at the Division III Regional Finals the weekend prior. She would defend the hurdles title with style in the very first event to kick off Saturday’s State Finals, setting an all-time Division and State Meet record with a blistering time of 14.07 seconds.
Wade then took gold in the 100-meter dash just minutes later by barely edging Malvern sophomore Zoe Moser with a championship time of 12.3 seconds. This left just a 200-meters title between Wade and an amazing 6 State Championships, but she felt as though she didn’t properly warm-up her body in time for the event and would fall behind out of the blocks. She would make a strong push at the end of the race to finish behind Moser in third with a time of 25.34, ending her day with three medal-winning performances.
The Eastern Michigan bound star says she didn’t finish her prep career exactly how she wanted, but was still very pleased the result. Wade leaves St. Peter’s with 6 State Track medals, 5 gold, and 1 bronze. She plans to improve this summer while competing in AAU.
Trojans Handle St. Peter’s 63-44 In Season Tip-Off
South Central kicked off the new season of boy’s high school hoops with an impressive 63-44 blowout win at St. Peter’s.
The Spartans hadn’t lost a regular season game since early January of 2017, suffering their first home loss in over three calendar years. An early hole would contribute to St. Peter’s tough night as the Trojans led 14-8 after the first quarter, extending their advantage to 36-20 by the break with a 22-point second quarter.
Three South Central players scored in double-figures, led by All-Ohioan Simon Blair’s game-high 20 points while Jonah Ramey had 15 to lead St. Peter’s with Shawn Perkins-Harris adding 13.
Senior Spartans Chasing Gold Medal Glory At State
This weekend in Columbus, St. Peter’s senior standout Alysse Wade will defend Division III State Championship’s in three different events; the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash, and 100-meter hurdles. Although she was skeptical about winning regional titles in all three events last weekend against talented competition, Wade would live up to her “gamer “ status and accomplish that very feat, even breaking the state record in her division for the 100 hurdles with a time of 14.17 seconds.
Alysse says she “changes her mindset” for major competitions, and when healthy, has always delivered the best she can offer when the stakes are highest. Wade says cementing a prep legacy at the state track meet is something she thinks “about all the time”, adding that it’s a “big goal” to end her career with an amazing six state championships.
The only other Spartan competing at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium this weekend is senior Elijah Cobb, who is chasing his first state title in the high jump. He also has a high standard, fully expecting to win on Saturday, even though this is only Cobb’s second season competing in high school track and first trip to Columbus.
A strong showing at regionals with a personal best 6’ 4” high jump has fueled Elijah into the mix for state championship glory but knows he’ll have to go at least two to four inches higher to claim the title. He’s been putting in the necessary work to accomplish that dream along with Wade, though, and both feel confident they’ll be on top of the podium when the medal presentations come around.
#1 St Peter's Undefeated Season Ends At Regional Finals
For a third consecutive season, St Peter’s boy’s basketball squad saw their tournament run come to a close on the doorstep of the State Final Four, falling to Cornerstone Christian Academy in the Division IV Canton Regional Championship 72-56.
The AP #9 Patriots never trailed taking a 13-2 lead in the first four minutes of action as their defensive game plan to get the ball out of Spartans stud senior’s Jared Jakubick and Elijah Cobb’s hands held #1 St. Peter’s offense in check. CCA was on top 21-10 after the 1st, extending their advantage to 35-16 by the break behind six 3-pointers, half of which came from the hot hand of Ricky Adams. The Spartans deficit grew to as many as 22 points early in the 3rd quarter, trailing 42-20 before going on a 17-10 run to end the frame with Caleb Stewart scoring 9 of his 15 points in the stanza.
St Peter’s would get to within 12 of CCA to kick off the 4th qtr but drew no closer as senior guard Michael Bothwell dropped a game-best 21 pts and Ja’Shawn Robinson closed the door with 12 of his 16 points coming in the final frame. Jakubick finished with a team-high 16 pts with Cobb contributing 14 in their final game wearing a Spartans jersey. Over their 4-year careers, St Peter’s has accumulated a 92-17 record with a tournament mark of 17-4 that includes three consecutive District Championships.
The Spartans end their season as Sectional, District and Division IV AP Poll Champions with a 27-1 record, tying a program record for most wins in a season.
Spartans Move Past Hornets To Regional Finals
For an impressive third consecutive season, St Peter’s will play for a boy's basketball Regional championship after taking care of East Canton in the Division IV Canton Regional Semifinals by a score of 68-56.
The game was certainly closer than the margin would suggest as the #7 Hornets (19-8), who knocked out the #2, #3 and #4 seed to win their District tournament played the top-ranked Spartans tough throughout the contest. East Canton held a 12-5 1st quarter edge before St Peter’s closed the half on a 26-12 scoring run for a 31-24 halftime advantage. Led by Jared Jakubick’s game-high 30 points and Elijah Cobb’s 19, the Spartans extended their lead to 47-36 to start the 4th quarter and kept the margin near double-figures for the majority of the frame. The Hornets would threaten late, however, trimming the gap down to just four in the final minute before a pair of costly technical fouls sent Jakubick to the line where he iced the game, connecting on all nine of his 4th quarter attempts from the charity stripe.
Dallas Moldovan paced East Canton’s scoring attack with 13 pts with Joey Knopp adding 12 and both Anthony Baad and Mitch Mitchell contributing with 9 pts each. St Peter’s bench did not score a single point as starters Jonah Ramey (8), Luke Henrich (7) and Caleb Stewart (4) added to Jakubick and Cobb’s 49 combined points.
The #1 Spartans are now 27-0, tying the program record for most wins in a season, and will play #9 Cornerstone Christian Academy (19-7) for the Canton Regional Championship at 7 pm on Friday at the Canton Memorial Fieldhouse.
Spartans Edge Crawford For 3rd Straight District Crown
#1 St. Peter’s continued their perfect season with a hard-fought 54-49 win over #2 Colonel Crawford to claim the Division IV Willard District Championship.
It’s the third consecutive trip to regionals for the 26-0 Spartans who had to hold off an explosive Eagles (20-5) rally to cut down the nets. St. Peter’s led at the half 20-17 extending their advantage to nine early in the third quarter before Crawford sophomore guard Cameron McCreary nearly willed his squad to victory.
McCreary scored all of his team-best 22 points in the 2nd half helping bring the contest to a tie early in the fourth quarter where the sophomore dropped 13. The combination of senior guard’s Elijah Cobb (18 pts, 6 rebs) and Jared Jakubick (25 pts, 4 rebs) was too much for the Eagles to overcome, however, as Jakubick went 10-10 from the free throw line in the 4th, scoring 12 pts in the frame to knock Crawford out in the district finals for the second year in a row. Senior guard Brody Martin put up 11 points in his final game wearing an Eagles uniform and sophomore Jordan Fenner contributed with 12.
The state #1 ranked Spartans would move on to the Canton Regional to face an unlikely challenger in East Canton who survived the Struthers District as a #7 seed.
Balanced Spartans Wear Out Lucas At Districts
Top-seeded St. Peter's punched their ticket to a third consecutive district championship game completing a season sweep of MBC rival Lucas, 81-71.
With the Cubs defending Spartans senior studs Elijah Cobb (22 pts) and Jared Jakubick (16 pts) with a triangle and two technique for much of the contest, all 5 St Peter's starters would light up the scoreboard for double-figures with Jonah Ramey scoring 15, Caleb Stewart 13 and Luke Henrich 11.
Lucas (15-9) pushed the AP #1 Spartans for most of the night, trailing by just a point at the break but couldn't slow down the St. Peter's offensive arsenal in the final two quarters. Brian Sauder poured in a game-high 25 pts for the Cubs with Jeb Grover adding 16 and Logan Niswander chipping in with 15.
The Spartans (25-0) would next put their undefeated record on the line when they faced #2 Colonel Crawford (20-4) in a rematch of the 2017 district title game.
Cobb Eclipses 1,000 Points In Spartans Sectional Title Win
State #1 Mansfield St. Peter's (24-0) remained undefeated with a 70-30 blowout of #12 Monroeville (1-22) in the Division IV Lexington Sectional Championships.
Spartans senior guard Elijah Cobb eclipsed the 1,000 point mark for his career, scoring a game-high 23 points while Jared Jakubick added 20 points to carry the St. Peter's offense. Cody Schaffer finished with a team-best 15 Eagles points but no other Monroeville player had more than three in the loss.
Next up for the Spartans would be a third matchup against
Mid-Buckeye foe Lucas (15-8) in the district semifinals.
Tournament Takeover: St Peter's vs Danbury & Mansfield Christian vs Plymouth
Recap from St. Peter's 71-28 blowout of Danbury as the AP poll champion Spartans remain undefeated behind Elijah Cobb's game-high 24 points with Jared Jakubick adding 18.
Mansfield Christian also advanced past Plymouth with a 44-40 victory, led by Jared McPeek's 16 points and Kyle Kurtz's 11. The Big Red received solid performances from Kade Collins (13 pts) and Jacob Adams (12 pts).
Rivalry Recap: Mansfield Christian vs St. Peter's
Recap of the Mansfield, Ohio cross-city rivalry between AP #1 St. Peter's and Mansfield Christian in boy's hoops.
See how Jared Jakubick & Elijah Cobb helped keep the Spartans undefeated with a 57-50 victory at The Furnace despite a monster performance by Kyle Kurtz.
Hardwood Heroes: St. Peter's v Northmor
See which hardwood heroes rise to the occasion in this battle of state-ranked unbeatens between Mansfield St. Peter's and Northmor in boy's high school hoops.
Constructing A Season: St Peter's Basketball
Just past the midway point of their 2017-'18 regular season,
St. Peter's was the only undefeated boy's hoops squad remaining in Richland County.
The state-ranked Spartans were 12-0 as they prepared to face cross-city rival Mansfield Christian in a key Mid-Buckeye Conference showdown, with the ultimate goal of playing for a state championship in March after making it to the Regional finals each of the past two seasons.
Eye Catching Cuts: The Mansfield Holy War
Check out the Top-10 highlights from St. Peter's 56-31 victory over rival Mansfield Christian in girls basketball where Spartans senior forward McKynzi "And 1" Daniels plays BIG with a game-high 14 points but teammate Kimberly Dull steals the spotlight with a basket to be remembered!