Mahoning wins state crown

COLUMBUS -- The Mahoning County MR/DD Indians let their intentions be known early Saturday, showing they were determined to come home with a Special Olympics state basketball finals.
Three passes and four seconds after the opening tip, the Indians put the ball in the hoop. They immediately stole the inbounds pass and scored another for a 4-0 lead that set the trend in scoring.
The Defiance Tigers never really challenged as the Indians cruised to a 64-31 victory, claiming the Division IV title at Hilliard High School.
Top scorers: Younzuia Harris had 16 points for the Indians, and Aldo Cedrone added 12 points, leading 13 players who scored.
"Everybody played, and everybody scored," Indians coach Terry Bacha said. "It was a total team effort -- no one was selfish or ball-hogging."
The Indians reached the state final by defeating the Pike County Cougars, 58-28, in the semifinal Friday.
Aldo Cedrone was leading scorer with 19 points and Rocco Romeo had 10 points. Everybody scored in that game as well.
The Indians were 7-0 in Div. IV in the regular season, competing against teams from most of Northeast Ohio.
They advanced to the state tournament by winning three postseason games Feb. 23-25 at Lorain County Community College.
The tournament victories were against Geauga (50-44); Medina (60-28); and Stark (59-26.)