Film study leads to success: Hoban advances to OHSAA boys basketball state final

DAYTON — Archbishop Hoban boys basketball players Jonas Nichols and Will Scott Jr. love to shoot and drive to the basket.

Offense is important, for sure, as you need to score points to win.

Defense is also vital to success, and both guards are well aware of that as evidenced by their effort Saturday night in a Division I state semifinal at University of Dayton Arena.

Hoban built a large lead and rolled to a 49-36 win over Toledo St. John’s Jesuit in front of 4,392 spectators.

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Hoban outscored St. John’s 28-9 in the middle quarters to advance to meet defending state champion Pickerington Central in the state final at 8:30 p.m. Sunday. Pickerington Central (24-5) beat Centerville 57-53 in Saturday’s other state semifinal.

Hoban limited St. John’s to 26.9% shooting from the field (14 of 52).

“There are 24 hours in a day. I think we watch film 26 hours,” Nichols said with a smile. “We watch film a lot. We watched film in the hotel and back at school. I think his [Hoban coach T.K. Griffith] preparation and going over clips, knowing everything they do and every player’s offensive tendencies [is important]. He scouted them very well. I think that is why we stopped them in the second and third quarters.”

Nichols, a 6-foot-3 junior, totaled 14 points and 11 rebounds to lead Hoban (25-3). Scott, a 6-2 senior, contributed 12 points, four rebounds and three assists.

Hoban 6-8 freshman Sam Greer finished with 12 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks.

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“I love big Sam,” Scott said. “It is hard to get around his screens, man. With him in the paint, he is a force on the offensive and defensive side.”

Hoban’s only other state final appearance came in 1989 when T.K. Griffith was a senior reserve and helped the Knights win the Division III title.

“I can not believe that this is true,” Griffith said of advancing to Sunday’s state final. “It doesn’t feel real. I am so proud and excited for our school community and for these players. Jonas and Will have put us on their back, but there are a lot of other guys on the team that have played a role as well.

“... The intangibles that they provide, the chemistry that they provide and the cohesion that they provide [is important]. Bottom line, I can’t believe this is true. I can’t wait until next week when I can go back and watch all of this and actually believe that it happened.”

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Joseph Taylor, a 6-3 junior, paced St. John’s (19-10) with 11 points, eight rebounds and three steals. Titans 6-3 senior C.J. Hornbeak chipped in 10 points and six rebounds, 6-2 junior Jaylen Murphy scored seven points and 6-4 senior Mitchell Michalak had six points and eight rebounds.

“He was our focus,” Nichols said of Hornbeak. “In practice, we had people be him in different ways. We knew where to force him. He is a great player. We knew what to do and what not to do. … He was the main focus.”

Hoban came onto the court focused and built a 12-2 lead with 2:40 to go in the first quarter. Greer dropped in a layup, a 3-pointer and a tip-in in the opening run and Nichols contributed a layup and a 3-pointer.

“We were playing in the flow of the game,” Nichols said. “We happened to be open and made shots. Sam is very good in the post. I have been trying to get going in these playoffs. I had a couple of shots fall.”

The Titans cut their deficit to 14-10 by the end of the first quarter, but the Knights responded to take a 28-14 halftime lead as Scott scored six points in the second quarter.

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“We got off to a fast start offensively,” Greer said. “We were hot. We were playing good defense, stopping them and making our shots.”

Nichols scored six points in the third quarter as Hoban’s lead reached 42-19 heading into the fourth quarter.

“Respect for Hoban. Obviously, they earned the win,” St. John’s coach Mike Schoen said. “We did not play well enough to win this game and they really did. T.K. is a great coach. I respect him and his team. They were prepared.

“They really defended well. Their size bothered us at the rim at times and the ball didn’t go in the basket. That is critical. If you watch that first half, I thought we had some really good looks that didn’t go in. They had some good looks and it looked like the ball was a magnet to the hoop.”

Hoban 6-2 junior Joey Hardman, 6-7 senior Andrew Griffith and 6-2 senior Logan Vowles each made one 3-pointer. Griffith finished with five points and three assists. Vowles, Hardman and Griffith combined to grab 12 rebounds.

“A large part of our success was the amount of preparation we had going into this game,” Andrew Griffith said. “Not having a game for an entire week, practices were kind of brutal and we watched so much film. We watched literally all of their games, we knew all of their sets and we called them out in the game.”

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Hoban made 40.4% of its shots from the field (19 of 47) and also had the edge in rebounds (39-32).

T.K. Griffith was a 17-year-old senior on Hoban’s 1989 title team. He is now 51 and Hoban’s principal and coach.

“I remember crying when that game was over because of how much we put into it and how much it meant to me,” he said. “My dad went to Hoban. I bleed Hoban blue and gold. My aunts, uncles, wife, father-in-law and kids all went to Hoban.

“I had been a ball boy who had gotten cut as a sophomore, so to be part of that mix was special. It feels similar, but more stressful now because I have got the load of trying to get prepared for games. We put a lot of time into trying to prepare for games.”

Michael Beaven can be reached at mbeaven@thebeaconjournal and is on Twitter at @MBeavenABJ.

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This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Hoban advances to OHSAA Division I boys basketball state final