Canton McKinley ends real long drought, 51-42

The Bulldogs won their first Division I state title since 1984.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- The Canton McKinley hex is dead.
Second-team All-Ohioan Raymar Morgan made three clutch free throws in the final minute to help top-ranked Canton McKinley beat Cincinnati St. Xavier 51-42 for the school's long-awaited second big-school state championship on Saturday.
Before a loud crowd at Value City Arena, the Bulldogs buried a lot of old ghosts.
"I think they [the players] understand what it takes and they were focused on what they had to do," coach Dave Hoover said.
Leading the Bulldogs
Morgan scored 18 points and third-team all-stater Ricky Jackson and Todd Brown each added 10 for the Bulldogs (26-1).
Johnny Wolf, a first-team All-Ohioan, carried the load for the Bombers (21-6), scoring 25 points and adding four assists.
"They're as good as any team we've played," St. X coach Scott Martin said.
"You hate to come to the state title game and leave as the runners-up. It hurts really bad. We lost to a great basketball team. We had an opportunity to beat them but McKinley did what they had to do."
It was a sweet, sweet victory for a Bulldogs program whose fans have had their hearts broken again and again each March.
10th title game appearance
McKinley was making its record 27th trip to the state's final four, and was appearing in the title game for the 10th time -- something else no school has ever done.
Unfortunately for the Pups -- as they are called by their fans -- no school has ever failed to win 25 times, either. McKinley's only previous title came with Gary Grant at point guard back in 1984.
The Bulldogs are renowned as the winningest basketball program in Ohio with 1,686 wins, but they're also known as the school that always seems to find trouble at the state tournament.
Not this year.
"It's huge right now," a smiling Morgan said. "There's no better feeling."
Brown hit a 10-foot pull-up jumper and Marcus Parker had a fortuitous layup -- after a loose ball was inadvertently kicked down the court directly on his path to the basket by St. X's Rob Schoenhoft, who will play quarterback at Ohio State this fall -- to give McKinley a 44-39 lead with 2 1/2 minutes remaining.
Wolf hit three free throws over the next 65 seconds, but they were offset by three McKinley foul shots.
With McKinley gripping a 47-42 lead, Xavier turned the ball over and then missed a shot. Morgan, who had hit a big free throw with 53.2 seconds left, stepped to the line with 22.9 seconds on the clock and hit both.
Poll champs won
McKinley's victory meant that the voters in the regular-season Associated Press poll correctly picked all four No. 1 teams.
The other top-ranked teams to capture championships included Upper Sandusky in Division II, Cincinnati North College Hill in III and Columbus Africentric in Division IV. It was the first time that the poll winners all went on to capture tournament titles.