Roundup: Upsets, state titles in Cincinnati high school basketball action, Jan. 22-28

The high school basketball regular season is quickly closing in Greater Cincinnati.

Before the Calendar flips to February, here's a recap of the best moments from the hardwood in Ohio and Kentucky in the last full week of January.

More: Who are Greater Cincinnati's boys basketball statistical leaders?

Ninth Region sweeps All 'A' state titles

The Holy Cross Indians became the seventh team to win back-to-back small school state championships. They did so in a similar fashion to their 2023 run, winning three games in blowout fashion, then grinding out a close championship game.

Senior Julia Hunt was the tournament's Most Valuable Player for the second straight year. Seniors Aaliyah Hayes and Miyah Wimzie and junior Aniyah Carter were also named to the all-tournament team.

'We had to go win this': Holy Cross goes back-to-back in All 'A' tournament

The Newport Wildcats completed the sweep with an overtime win over defending champions Evangel Christian. They are also the first public school from the Ninth Region to win the tournament. Newport came into the tournament averaging 67.8 points per game but scored just 52.5 per contest in wins over Sayre, Danville Christian, Lyon County and Evangel. Newport was hampered by injuries to Taylen Kinney and DeShaun Jackson, but it has proved over the last season and a half that it can win games in a variety of ways.

Jackson was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player, thanks to his lockdown defense of Lyon County's Travis Perry and his game-winning basket in the semifinals. Senior Jabari Covington and sophomores Kinney and James Turner were named to the all-tournament team.

'Really happy for the kids': Newport defeats Evangel Christian in All 'A' championship

Oak Hills' upset of Sycamore tightens GMC race

Sycamore took its second loss of the season with a 35-32 defeat to Oak Hills last week (see Wins of the Week). Sycamore is now 13-2 and 9-2 in the Greater Miami Conference. That is still good for first place, but now only one game ahead of Lakota West and Hamilton, who are both 8-3.

West has to deal with Oak Hills Tuesday then hosts Middletown Friday. Hamilton hosts Middletown Tuesday then Princeton on Friday. Sycamore hosts Princeton on Tuesday then Mason on Friday.

Moeller takes control of the GCL-South with defense

Moeller beat La Salle by 16, 54-38 to finish 3-0 in the first half of the Greater Catholic League-South double round-robin.

Moeller limited the Lancers to 44.4 percent shooting and held their leading scorer, Drae Arnold, to eight points on 4-of-11 shooting. Moeller outrebounded the Lancers by seven and got an efficient 16 points from leading scorer Alex Kazanecki on 7-of-10 shooting. Kazanecki also had six rebounds. A.J. McBride, the younger brother of New York Knicks player Deuce McBride, cracked the starting lineup and had 10 points, seven rebounds and four assists.

Elder is 2-1, 15-2 overall at the halfway point. St. Xavier is 1-2 and 12-4 after losing to Elder Friday, and La Salle is 0-3, 5-11. Moeller and Elder reconvene for the second time, this time in Price Hill. The Crusaders beat the Panthers 48-34 Jan. 12 at Moeller, limiting Elder to 33 percent shooting and its leading scorer, Cam Williams to 10 points.

Wyoming boys stay undefeated, girls hand Seven Hills first loss

Wyoming improved to 15-0, and 10-0 in the Cincinnati Hills League with three dominant wins last week by an average of 30 points. Those included two CHL wins over Deer Park and Reading. Wyoming has outscored foes by an average of 58-33 in 10 CHL games. Mariemont and Indian Hill are tied for second at 8-2. Wyoming plays both teams on the road this week, Mariemont on Tuesday and IH on Friday before heading to North Bend Road to take on St. Xavier at 5 p.m. Saturday.

On Jan. 22, the Cowgirls, 9-8 at the time, handed the Seven Hills Stingers their first loss of the season by a score of 50-41. Lila Svendsen scored a team-high 16 points and Cate Wagers grabbed 11 rebounds with her nine points. Virginia Theobald was the only player to come off the bench, but her 14 points, five rebounds and three assists were key to the victory.

The Cowboys can shake up the Cincinnati Hills League when they host Indian Hill on Jan. 31.

Waynesville is now the only girls team in Southwest Ohio that is still undefeated.

The MVC-Scarlet remains wild

The Miami Valley Conference-Scarlet Division has three teams with 10 or more wins. Purcell Marian shook up the race with a 57-53 overtime win over Summit Country Day Friday. Purcell is 6-2 in the division and Summit 7-2, one loss behind Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy at 6-1, 10-4 overall.

Purcell hosts Roger Bacon on Tuesday and plays at Clark Montessori Friday. CHCA plays at Clark on Wednesday and at Summit Friday. Summit hosts North College Hill on Tuesday.

Aiken has one of the best turnarounds in the city

Aiken was 7-15 last season and 0-10 in the Red Division of the Cincinnati Metro Athletic Conference. The Falcons are 12-4 this year and 5-1 in league play, a game ahead of second-place Woodward. A big part of that is junior guard Jaiden Arnold, who transferred from Princeton. In his first season in College Hill, Arnold has averaged 16.3 points, 5.7 assists, 3.0 steals and 3.5 rebounds. Junior guard James Burnett Jr. averages 15.6 points and 4.3 rebounds.

Aiken plays Walton-Verona on Tuesday, hosts Withrow on Tuesday and then plays at Woodward on Feb. 6.

Wins of the week

Aiken 64, East Central 61 (boys): The Falcons extended their winning streak to six games last Saturday when they hosted the Trojans. Jaiden Arnold, Tayvon Smith and James Burnett Jr. combined for 48 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds.

Cooper 65, Covington Catholic 55: The Jaguars have had quite the last 10 days. First, they knocked off Lloyd Memorial, then Boone County. They traveled to Park Hills with momentum and re-established themselves as Ninth Region contenders. Shaun Pouncy and Yamil Rondon each scored 17 points and Jaidan Combs pulled down a team-high eight rebounds.

CovCath forward Caden Miller recorded a triple-double of 13 points, 11 blocks and 10 rebounds, but fouled out in the fourth quarter.

Kings 50, West Clermont 44 (girls): Multiple teams are still in contention for the Eastern Cincinnati Conference title with two weeks left in the season. Kassie Ingram was the only Knight to score in double figures. Elise Marchal grabbed nine rebounds and Jenna Burke and Sami Drew each dished out four assists. West Clermont shot 44.7 percent from the field but was held back by 12 turnovers.

Lakota West 56, Princeton 48 (girls): The Firebirds handed the Vikings their first conference loss in over a year. All five Lakota West players that scored reached double figures. West shot 44.4 percent from three-point range while holding Princeton to just 15.4 percent in the same category.

Princeton was without leading scorer Mari Gerton, who came back to score a career-high 31 points in a win over Middletown.

All eyes now turn to the Feb. 3 matchup between Mason and Princeton as the game that could decide the GMC regular season title.

Little Miami 58, Winton Woods 49 (boys): Another big upset of a league leader happened Friday as the host Panthers handed the Warriors their first loss of the season. Winton Woods tied its lowest-scoring output of the season. Little Miami limited UC commit Tyler McKinley and the team as a whole to 36.5 percent shooting. The Panthers shot 52 percent with Jake Wittenauer, Connor Istnick and Carter Sellers all in double figures.

Winton Woods is still two games ahead of second-place Anderson in the league, 9-1 in ECC play. Little Miami is 8-5, tied for third, and 11-6 overall.

Oak Hills 35, Sycamore 32 (boys): The Highlanders pulled off a big upset, outscoring Sycamore 11-3 in the fourth quarter for a three-point win. Sycamore dropped to 12-2, 9-2 in the Greater Miami Conference, just one ahead of Lakota West and Hamilton for the league lead. Oak Hills improved to 9-7 and 5-6 in GMC play.

The Highlanders, led by longtime head coach Mike Price, had a plan that limited Purdue commit Raleigh Burgess to 1-of-5 shooting, seven rebounds and just two points. Sycamore committed 13 turnovers.

Brady Keeton came off the bench to hit 3-pointers and lead Oak Hills with 12 points.

St. Henry 46, Scott 38 (girls): The Crusaders are gaining momentum in the second half of the season thanks to a four-game winning streak. Their latest victory came on the road as Kayla Unkraut logged her second-straight 20-point performance. St. Henry led 26-10 at halftime and outrebounded the Eagles 29-27. The Crusaders can still get the No. 2 seed in the 34th District with wins over Ludlow and Lloyd next week.

Waynesville 48, Bellbrook 46 (girls): The Spartans kept their record unblemished with a last-second win over the Golden Eagles. Emme Greely, Maggie Stephensen and Tori See all scored in double figures. See's layup to beat the final buzzer is a "play of the year" candidate for the Spartans.

Waynesville closes its season with trips to Eaton on Feb. 1 and Legacy Christian on Feb. 5.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati high school basketball: Upsets, titles from Jan. 22-28