Trotwood coach back for D-II regional semi

Trotwood-Madison has had four straight blowout postseason wins, but that figures to change at the next level.

Trotwood (23-3) will play Columbus South (22-4) in a boys Division II high school basketball regional semifinal at Fairmont’s Trent Arena at 5:30 p.m. today. The second game features Cincinnati Metro Conference rivals Hughes (23-3) and Woodward (17-9) at 8 p.m.

The winners return at 3 p.m. Saturday to decide the D-II regional championship. That winner advances to next week’s season-ending state final four at Columbus.

Placed in the Springfield sectional, Trotwood overwhelmed Greenville, Northwestern and Northridge in succession before taking out Chaminade Julienne 78-60 in a district final. But the Northwestern game, a 93-45 win, proved costly: coach Rocky Rockhold earned an automatic two-game suspension following his second technical.

Rockhold will be back on the bench against South. The Rams carry a 16-game win streak into the showdown.

Senior Myles Belyeu leads the Rams in scoring (24.7) and rebounding (7.1). All the other key Trotwood players are underclassmen, including high-scoring backcourt mate and junior Amari Davis (20.8), junior Malachi Mathews (9.6), sophomore Carl Blanton (9.1) and junior Justin Stephens (7.4).

Neither Belyeu nor Davis have committed, but both often huddle with college coaches after games.

Woodward advanced by derailing Dunbar and its eventful tourney journey 68-60 in a district final. Hughes and Woodward split their regular-season series.

Marion Local 55, Catholic Central 33: Trey Dunn’s 3-pointer pulled the Irish within three points midway through the third period, but the Flyers answered with a game-deciding 22-5 run in a boys D-IV regional semifinal at Trent on Tuesday night. Marion Local (22-4) will play Fort Loramie (25-2) in the regional final at 7 p.m. Friday at Trent.

Nathan Bruns, the quarterback of Marion Local’s D-VI state-title football team, led the Flyers with 20 points. It was the third time in the last four seasons Marion Local has played in a regional.

Dunn led Central (22-4) with 14 points. The regional appearance – and the D-IV district title – was the first for Central since 1997. The Irish also won their first league title, capturing the Ohio Heritage Conference, for the first time in 17 seasons.

Fort Loramie 48, Russia 45: Dillon Braun hit three 3-pointers and scored 17 points as the Redskins made it a season sweep in the other boys D-IV regional semi on Tuesday. Jordan York led Russia (16-9) with 15 points. The Raiders overcame a double-digit deficit, closed within two in the final seconds and missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

Loramie won all three games from Russia, including two in the Shelby County League regular season.