Cincinnati Moeller boys win 9 in row over rival St. Xavier

February 14, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Cincinnati Moeller stuck it to rival St. Xavier with a stickback.

The Crusaders beat the Bombers 43-42 on a rebound follow at the buzzer by Griffin McKenzie. The 6-foot-9 McKenzie, who has signed with Xavier University, led Moeller (13-3) with 15 points and five rebounds.

Moeller now has beaten its Greater Catholic League South rival nine straight times, the Bombers having last won the matchup in February 2006. Included was Moeller’s 43-40 win over St. Xavier in the 2007 Division I state title game.

“It’s a bitter rivalry,” Moeller coach Carl Kremer said.

The St. X gym was nearly full despite a snowstorm in the city.

“With the bad weather, it was good to see so many people here,” Kremer said.

St. X (8-8) now has lost four last-second decisions this season.

“It’s kind of a curse,” coach Scott Martin said.

Note this

Coldwater picked up the 1,000th win in boys basketball on Monday night, defeating New Knoxville 68-52 behind 26 points from Eric Lefeld, who will go to Cincinnati next season to play football; only one game now separates the six boys teams in the Buckeye Border Conference standings — all three 4-2 teams (Stryker, Pettisville and Pioneer North Central) lost last week to the three 2-4 teams (West Unity Hilltop, Gorham Fayette and Edon); and, make it four overtime games in the past six for the Paulding boys after Friday’s 49-41 win over Lincolnview.

Production lines

Cincinnati Princeton drilled host Sycamore 85-35 with Ohio State signee Jordan Sibert scoring 22 points on 6-of-8 from 3-point range; Cardington-Lincoln’s Riley Thomas, averaging 26.1 points a game, scored 27 of his team’s 54 points in a 54-37 win over Morral Ridgedale; and Mount Blanchard Riverdale’s Ryan Frey made two 3-pointers in the final 35 seconds to tie the game, then hit the winning free throw in overtime to give the Falcons a 61-60 win over league-leading Ontario.

Hot hand

Tayler Tackett, a sophomore guard and forward at South Central, scored 46 points in a 74-66 victory over Monroeville to set the school’s girls scoring record. The old mark of 44 points was set in 1991 by Becky Hintz, the head coach of the Trojans this season. Tackett averages 20.4 points per game.

Double trouble

League-leading programs are crossing gender lines at several schools in Northwest Ohio. At Findlay Liberty-Benton, the boys (15-0, 7-0) and girls (16-0, 7-0) are both unbeaten, ranked No. 1 in the state Division III polls and in first place in the Blanchard Valley Conference. Marion Harding’s boys (14-1, 6-0) and girls (17-0, 8-0) are both leading the Greater Buckeye Conference. New Riegel’s boys (13-2, 8-0) and girls (15-2, 9-0) are both leading the Midland Athletic League, and Kalida’s boys (12-2, 5-0) and girls (15-1, 3-0) are both leading the Putnam County League, although the girls, ranked No. 2 in Division IV, have a major PCL showdown on tap against top-ranked Ottoville (17-0, 6-0).

Depending on how things shake out in the next few weeks, the boys and girls teams at Mount Blanchard Riverdale, Columbus Grove, Bellevue and Tiffin Columbian could both be bringing home first-place hardware as well.

Climbing back

Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame had a 10-9 record entering this week, after winning the past four Division I state titles.

MND lost standout junior point guard Kathryn Reynolds to a season-ending ACL injury in late December, and has gone 6-6 since.

The Cougars inched above .500 last week with a 46-43 win over McAuley. Sophomore guard Raeshaun Gaffney led MND with 18 points, and she averages 20.2 points per game.

“I think this victory shows our team is getting stronger,” Gaffney said.

MND is seeded ninth in the Southwest District Division I tournament draw, with Cincinnati Ursuline (17-1) the top seed.

“It’s a feel-good situation that our peers voted us No. 1,” Ursuline coach David Loper said. “They’ve worked hard for it but they understand it’s a whole new season.”