First Posted: 3/27/2015
COLUMBUS — The rematch has arrived for Lima Central Catholic and Cleveland Villa Angela-St. Joseph.
LCC won last year’s Division III state championship game 64-62 over pre-tournament favorite VASJ.
To say Villa Angela-St. Joseph was surprised would be an understatement. To say the Vikings didn’t use that loss as motivation this season would be untrue, coach Babe Kwasniak said earlier this week.
Today at 1:30 p.m. at Ohio State’s Value City Arena, LCC (26-2) will go for a second consecutive state championship and its third since 2010. Villa Angela-St. Joseph (22-4) will be playing for its sixth state championship and its second in the last three seasons.
VASJ, with three players who have signed to play NCAA Division I college basketball, gets the favorite’s role again this season in most people’s eyes.
“I told our guys they might have three Division I kids but I’ve got a locker room full of A-1 athletes,” LCC coach Frank Kill said. “Our guys are hard-nosed and we’re not going to back down from any challenge.
“We know what we’re up against. Will it be David against Goliath Part II? To be determined,” he said.
Villa Angela-St. Joseph has all five starters back from last year, led by the three Division I recruits — Carlton Bragg, a 6-foot, 8-inch forward going to Kansas, Dererk Pardon, a 6-foot, 8-inch post player who signed with Northwestern, and Brian Parker, a 6-foot, 2-inch guard who will go to Marist.
Bragg averages 18.6 points and 6.8 rebounds a game. Parker averages 15.5 points and 5.8 rebounds a game and Pardon scores 12.8 points a game and leads the team in rebounding (8.1) and blocked shots (3.5).
The Vikings’ four losses were to Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary, Oak Hill Academy, a Pennsylvania team and a Florida team.
LCC has three returning starters from last year. Dantez Walton, a 6-4 forward, averages 15.9 points and 8.2 rebounds a game. Tre Cobbs, a 6-1 junior guard, averages 13.0 points and 4.5 assists a game, and center Jake Williams averages 7.7 points and 7.7 rebounds a game.
Cobbs’ status for today’s game is uncertain, though, after he suffered a dislocated shoulder for the third time recently just over a minute into LCC’s 55-50 state semifinal win over Dayton Chaminade-Julienne on Thursday.
“It’s probably not good,” Kill said after the win over Chaminade-Julienne. “It’s unfortunate. He is a big part of our puzzle. We’ll see. It’s probably just up in the air.”
LCC led 95 percent of the time in last season’s state championship game. Martyce Kimbrough scored 22 points and got the Thunderbirds off to a good start when he scored 18 points in the first half. Then Xavier Simpson scored 16 of his 18 points in the second half.
Kimbrough was a senior and Simpson transferred to Lima Senior last summer.
While LCC can’t match Villa Angela-St. Joseph’s size, there are ways it can compensate for that size difference, Kill said.
“Fundamentals are really going to be key. It’s two heavyweights from last year’s game. It is going to be a defensive game for us because that’s who we are,” he said.
Villa Angela-St. Joseph’s Kwasniak said even though his team averages 81 points a game, defense is something the Vikings do well.
“Our defense has been unbelievable. We’re going to score. But when we guard people we’re really good,” he said.
While Villa Angela-St. Joseph is favored, Kwasniak pointed to last year as evidence nothing is certain.
“If we were unbeatable, we wouldn’t have gotten beat last year. We wouldn’t have lost four times this year. So, you’ve really got to pay attention to details,” he said.
Players from both teams say they’ve anticipated this rematch.
When Bragg was asked about it after VASJ’s 62-34 semifinal win over Columbus Eastmoor before LCC’s semifinal win, he said, “Oh yeah, I would love that.”
After LCC’s win over Chaminade-Julienne, Walton said, “We definitely wanted to come back and play them.”
