Which Division I Cincinnati boys basketball teams won district titles?

DAYTON, Ohio − The University of Dayton Arena housed four Division I boys basketball district finals Saturday, March 4, with Princeton and Moeller kicking off the action.

Here are quick hits on how each game went.

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Princeton 57, Moeller 36

Princeton boys basketball is going to the regional tournament for the first time since 2018.

The Vikings (19-7) went wire-to-wire Saturday afternoon in their 57-36 victory over Moeller at UD Arena.

Princeton will now play either Huber Heights Wayne or Greater Miami Conference rival Fairfield in the Division I regional semifinals on Wednesday, March 8, at Xavier University's Cintas Center.

3 keys to Princeton's win

• Princeton jumped on Moeller right away, opening up a 10-3 lead over the first four minutes of the opening period. The Vikings got transition buckets from sophomore guard Jaiden Arnold and a few thunderous dunks from junior forward Dorian Williams to set the tone.

• Princeton led 17-10 in the first quarter. In the second, the Vikings did not allow a point until Moeller junior Eric Mahaffey beat the buzzer with a mid-range jumper. Princeton forced 15 turnovers in the game, 11 in the first half to take a 27-12 lead into the intermission. Princeton finished with 36 points in the paint and had 8 second-chance points.

"Defense is our calling card," Princeton head coach Bryan Wyant said. "I didn't picture it going like that, but we've made so much progress since the beginning of the year. Our guys have really bought into being a defensive team."

• Moeller trimmed the lead to as little as 12 early in the third quarter, but Princeton responded immediately with a 13-4 run to pull away and coast to a district title.

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Key performers

Jaiden Arnold: The sophomore finished with a game-high and season-high 20 points on 9-of-12 shooting.

"I'm so proud of that kid," Wyant said of Arnold. "He's doing the best he's ever done leading our team. He's really worked his butt off to become the type of player he showcased tonight."

Dorian Williams: Williams was 8-of-9 from the field and finished with 18 points. He also registered a game-high 6 rebounds and had 4 of Princeton's 8 steals.

A.J. McBride: The Moeller junior had a team-high 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting. He scored 11 in the second half and finished the season scoring in double figures in five of the last six games.

Keven Adorno: Princeton's leading scorer on the season finished with 8 points.

Senior sendoff

Moeller finishes the year 18-8. The Crusaders went 18-5 after an 0-3 start. Moeller's seniors were Grant Smethwick, Eli Turner, Dwight Turner, Nick Williams, Donovan Mukes and Jason Henning.

Smethwick, one of the top 3-point shooters in the GCL-South, connected twice from the perimeter in the first half. Mukes, Moeller's leading scorer on the year and a first-team all-conference selection, had a pair of second-half buckets. Williams finished with 4 points.

Centerville 63, Anderson 39

Anderson was overwhelmed by Centerville in the second Division I boys district final of the day at UD Arena. Centerville (24-3), ranked first in the Associated Press Division I state poll, rolled to a 63-39 win over the Raptors.

Centerville advances to play today's Elder/Fairmont winner in Wednesday’s regional semifinals at Xavier’s Cintas Center. Anderson finished 23-4 in the first district championship game in program history.

After a closely competitive first quarter, the Elks charged past the Raptors in the second and third quarters, outscoring Anderson 50-19 in those two frames.

3 keys to Anderson’s loss

• Centerville outrebounded the Raptors by 10 in the first half, 20-10, and by 14 in the game, 33-19.

• Anderson committed 10 turnovers in the first half, most of them in the second quarter, which Centerville won, 24-6.

• Centerville shot 50 percent from the floor for the game (27-54) and had 17 assists on those 27 field goals.

“They can play such good pressure defense and really put pressure on you the whole length of the court and that kind of wore us down a little bit,” Anderson head coach Frank Brandy said.

Top performers

Gabe Cupps, Centerville: The Centerville senior is the reigning Ohio Mr. Basketball and a signee with Indiana University. The point guard controlled the game with 9 points, 9 assists and 5 rebounds.

Dulguun Gankhuyang, Centerville: The 6-foot-8 senior led the Elks with 12 points and 8 rebounds. He had two athletic tip-ins in the first half to help the Elks to a 21-point lead, 34-13.

Chandler Starks, Anderson: He led Anderson with 10 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists.

Senior sendoff

Anderson had an all-senior starting lineup with Chandler Starks, Ethan Hensley, Nick Engel, Trevor Platton and Charlie Thon.

Engel and Starks averaged 13.2 points per game coming into the district final. Engel averaged 3 rebounds and 3 assists. Starks averaged 11 rebounds and 6 assists. Hensley averaged 8.8 points per game. Thon averaged 7.6 points and 6.8 rebounds, and Platton averaged 4 points.

Starks played his first three years of high school ball at Covington Catholic, transferring to Anderson his senior year to play football, which he will play in college for West Virginia. Starks grew up in the Forest Hills School District with his teammates.

“It’s just been amazing. We were glad to have (Starks) back. We did something this year that we've never done in the long years of Anderson High School. And a lot of that was because of what our seniors did. They put the team on their back. They’re just great kids and they came out and they. performed this year for us.”

Coach Brandy on 1st district final

The Raptors have won sectional championships before but this was the first time the program played in a district final.

“I told the boys, you know, the last thing in the world our boys want to do is get a picture taken with a runner-up trophy, but I tried to explain to them that they have done something that 70 other teams have tried at Anderson and never done so," Brandy said. "It's going to be hard for these next couple hours and couple of days, but we'll look back and we'll celebrate what an incredible experience and run that these boys have made for us.”

Elder 53, Fairmont 44

Elder won a district championship for the second time in three seasons with a 53-44 win over Kettering Fairmont in the day’s third district championship game at UD.

Elder, 21-4 overall, will face Centerville in the first regional semifinal at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Cintas Center. It’s a rematch of a 52-43 win by Centerville in the 2021 regional semi.

“We played well against them for the first half the last time we played them (2021),” Elder head coach Joe Schoenfeld said. “There are some different kids for us and for them, but we played well in the first half and then we didn't respond well in the second half. We know for sure that we have to make sure we get off to a good start. We have a first quarter like we did tonight against them, we’ll be in trouble. So we got to make sure that we get off to a good start because they're explosive and they'll punish you when you make mistakes.”

3 keys to Elder’s win

• Trailing 25-22 in the third quarter, Elder went on a 10-0 run to take the lead for good. Senior Carson Browne started the run with a wide-open dunk. Sophomore Cam Williams scored his first basket of the game, and senior Sam Whitmer scored on an and-one to highlight the run. After Fairmont scored five straight to cut the Elder lead to two at 32-30, Browne scored two baskets and made a free throw, and it was 37-30.

• Elder outrebounded Fairmont by 12, 25-13 for the game.

• Elder withstood an early Fairmont lead in which the Firebirds made their first four shots. Elder limited the Firebirds to 37 percent shooting (11-of-30) the rest of the way.

“We knew that we were going to be a little bit bigger than them,” Schoenfeld said. “And they’ve done a great job on their offensive boards, so we knew we gave them extra chances.”

Top performers

Carson Browne: Elder’s 6-foot-8 senior center and co-player of the year in the Greater Catholic League-South, led Elder with 18 points and 6 rebounds. He shot 7-of-8 from the floor and had two blocks. Browne scored 11 in the second half.

Cam Williams: Elder’s sophomore guard went scoreless in the first half, but scored eight in the second half, with seven assists for the game.

Sam Whitmer: Elder’s other senior captain had 11 points, seven in the second half.

“Carson can get to the rim and finish and we stopped running kids over a little bit in the second half, which was great,” Schoenfeld said. “Cam did a great job bringing the ball up, handling the pressure, taking the ball and finishing at the basket. That little stretch he had where he got a bucket and got a steal, then got another bucket … the game just changed. Cam was super important for us tonight.”

Coach Schoenfeld on the senior class

Elder’s senior class is 61-11 over the last three years.

“They’ve been outstanding. They had other great senior classes ahead of them, so I think they really got to see what it looks like and how to prepare. Last year's group and the group before them really just set a high standard. A lot of the guys are the scout team guys. Those guys don't get in the games a lot, but they run the other team’s stuff, so they deserve a ton of credit.”

Fairfield 76, Huber Heights Wayne 51

Fairfield, 22-4 overall, won a district championship for the second season in a row. The Indians will take on Princeton in a Greater Miami Conference rematch in the second regional semifinal Wednesday night at Xavier. Wayne finished 21-4.

Fairfield beat Princeton 68-57 on Dec. 9 and 66-43 Feb. 10 on its way to the GMC championship.

“Yeah, another GMC contest,” Fairfield head coach D.J. Wyrick said. “You know, we’re obviously very familiar with them. They're a really good team. They're playing really well right now, playing a lot more guys lately, it seems like. It's going to be fun. Games with Princeton are always fun. The  atmosphere is very exciting.”

3 keys to Fairfield’s win

• Senior guard Deshawne Crim scored a personal 10-0 run in the second quarter, lifting the Indians from a 17-10 lead to a 27-10 advantage of 17 points. Crim hit a big 3-pointer in the run.

• Fairfield limited Wayne senior guard Lawrent Rice to 18 points, seven in the first half. Rice is a Murray State commit ranked sixth in Ohio in the Class of 2023 by 247Sports.com. The Fairfield team’s social media account hyped the matchup with Rice heading into the district final. Mason King and Michael Lewis had the primary guarding job on Rice, and the Indians frequently double-teamed him on the wings and forced him to give up the ball. Rice scored eight of his points late in the fourth quarter after the matter had been decided.

“We were trying to send chaos at Rice all night,” Wyrick said. “He is a really, really good player. We were just trying to make him uncomfortable and it's hard to make a player like that uncomfortable. Defensively, they played their hearts out and I felt like that set the tone for the game. We were able to speed them up a little bit and our guys just played really well.”

• Fairfield was efficient on offense, shooting 56.8% percent for the game, 25-of-44. The Indians shot 65.5% percent in the final three quarters (19-of-29) after going only 6-of-15 in the first quarter. The Indians only committed six turnovers. Ray Coney, Fairfield’s point guard, only had two.

“Ray did a great job of handling the ball for us,” Wyrick said. “Kam Sanders did a great job. With their pressure, we were able to handle it.

Top performers

Deshawne Crim: The senior guard scored 31 points, his second-high game of the year, on 10-of-17 shooting. In addition to his 10-0 run in the second quarter, he had a quick 5-0 run in the fourth quarter to put the game away.

“When his outside shot is falling and he's getting to the rim like he can, he's really tough to guard,” Wyrick said. “In my opinion, he's one of the best players in the state and he was able to able to do what he does and make plays. I’m really proud of him.”

Ray Coney: The Fairfield senior guard had 9 points and 3 assists in the first half and 15 points overall plus 4 assists and 4 steals.

Aamir Rodgers: Fairfield’s senior center had 9 rebounds and 6 points.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Which Division I Cincinnati boys basketball teams won district titles?