Four teams voted as top tournament seeds

Poland, Warren Harding, Campbell and Columbiana were selected as No. 1s.

VINDICATOR STAFF REPORT

COPLEY — Salem High boys basketball coach Will Klucinec was one of the first coaches to make his way home from the Northeast District boys basketball tournament drawing at Copley High School on Sunday.

Asked how he managed to make it out so fast, Klucinec smiled.

“Once Poland went on [the bracket] it made it pretty easy for everyone else,” he quipped.

The unbeaten (14-0), state-ranked (No. 2) and top-seeded Bulldogs wasted little time placing themselves on the bracket at the Division II sectional-district tournament, hosted by Boardman High School.

Poland took a first-round bye and will play the winner of a first-round matchup between Southeast and Crestwood on Feb. 22.

Predictably, most of the rest of the field stayed away from the Bulldogs. Only Lakeview — which as the No. 4 seed had to go in Poland’s half of the bracket — Salem (the No. 7 seed) and Niles (No. 9) opted to go into Poland’s half of the bracket.

Poland was one of four area teams to earn No. 1 seeds at seven sectional-district sites.

Warren Harding, which was moved from the Canton Div. I district to Warrensville Heights, was accorded the top seed, as was Campbell Memorial in the Div. III district at Salem and Columbiana in the Div. IV district at Struthers.

Warren Harding (13-1) also opted for a first-round bye and will play either Solon or Cleveland South on Feb. 23. Should the Raiders win the district championship, they will advance to a regional at Cleveland State University.

Campbell (11-4) was voted the top seed at Salem over Ursuline, East Palestine and Canton Central Catholic. The Red Devils will play either United or South Range in a sectional final on Feb. 22.

Columbiana was joined by McDonald, Sebring and Lake Center Christian of Hartville as the top seeds at Struthers. The Clippers (14-1) took a first-round bye and will play either Heritage Christian of Canton or Jackson-Milton on Feb. 23.

The district championships will be contested Feb. 29 or March 1, with other regional sites at the University of Akron (Div. I), Canton Civic Center (Div. II) and Canton Fieldhouse (Div. III and Div. IV).

The state tournament is scheduled for March 13-15 at Value City Arena in Columbus.