Poland, Harding on tap today

The winter blizzard postponed the girls state finals until
Monday.

VINDICATOR/STAFF REPORTS

On Saturday, the phrase “Going cold from the outside” had a totally different meaning to the state’s best basketball teams.

Poland and Warren Harding saw their regional championship games pushed back one day due to the blizzard blanketing the state.

Poland will meet Cleveland Benedictine today at 3 p.m. at the Canton Civic Center in a Division II final, while Harding will meet Lakewood St. Edward today at 2 p.m. at Cleveland State’s Wolstein Center.

All 12 of the boys regional championship games originally scheduled to be played Saturday have been pushed back to today. Both area teams were informed of the time change on Friday afternoon.

The postponements didn’t end there.

The 33rd girls state high school basketball championship games set for Saturday at Value City Arena were pushed back to Monday.

It’s the first time in state tournament history that games have been postponed.

“We’re not putting kids, families and schools in jeopardy,” OHSAA commissioner Dan Ross said. “We don’t want anyone to be put in peril getting to a game.”

Ross said the girls state tournament teams were all staying in their Columbus-area hotels, with the OHSAA paying for any extra expenses.

Three of the four boys regional title games scheduled for Friday night were postponed. Haviland Wayne Trace defeated Van Buren 50-43 in overtime in the only regional championship game that went off as scheduled at Bowling Green State University.

In other changes, the boys state high school ice hockey tournament was rescheduled. The two semifinals will now be played today at 6:30 and 8:30 p.m., after the Columbus Blue Jackets play at 3 p.m. at Nationwide Arena. The high school championship game will then be played Monday at 5 p.m.

As the weather turned worse Friday afternoon, the OHSAA pushed back the girls championship game times on Saturday to give state, county, city and Ohio State University work crews more time to clear roads, parking lots and sidewalks.

But near-blizzard conditions and several more inches of snow overnight made the games a safety hazard for the thousands who turn out for them each March.

Since the Ohio State men’s basketball team hosts No. 17 Michigan State in its regular-season finale today at Value City Arena, there was no choice but to set the high school games back another day. Michigan State was scheduled to travel to arrive in Columbus mid-afternoon on Saturday.

The girls state basketball tournament games will be played Monday at their original times.

Shaker Heights Hathaway Brown (22-4) will meet Kettering Alter (24-3) at 10:45 a.m. for the Division II title, followed by the Division IV championship between Berlin Hiland (26-1) and defending champion Columbus Africentric (25-1) at 2 p.m. In the Division III game at 5:15 p.m., Versailles (27-0) takes on Sugarcreek Garaway (25-2), with the Division I title contested at 8:30 p.m. between West Chester Lakota West (26-1) and Cincinnati Mt. Notre Dame (25-2).