St. Vincent-St. Mary routs Massillon in OHSAA boys basketball district semifinal

LAKEWOOD — The Massillon Tigers had some fun.

It was fun when, coming off a state football championship, they started the boys basketball season 6-0.

It was fun much later when, pivoting to the tournament, they won a 99-93 scorcher over GlenOak.

Thursday was not fun. The season ended with an 87-52 loss to Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary in the Division I boys basketball district semifinals.

"We took some big lumps tonight," head coach Josh Hose said.

St. Vincent-St. Mary has a lump on its shoulder. The previous season ended with the Fighting Irish's first loss in the district semifinals — 42-37 to Brush — since 1997.

"We got taken out earlier than we expected," senior point guard Jayson Walker said. "We're coming back for revenge this year."

Walker got playing time as a sophomore on a team that crushed Gilmour Academy 63-35 in the 2022 Division II state championship game.

"We had three Division I players," Walker said. "I learned a lot from those guys. I try to take what they taught me and put it in these guys every day."

The 2022 team was led by Sencire Harris (now at Illinois), Ramar Pryor (Cleveland State) and LA Hayes (Kent State).

The current team sorted itself out amid a bunch of early, close losses but has won six of its last seven.

"Eight of those losses were in the last minute or two," head coach Dru Joyce said. "We turned the corner. I told our guys, 'There was nothing Massillon can bring to you you haven't seen. Same thing with Garfield Heights."

Heights (23-1) might seem to be the favorite against St. V-M (13-12) in Saturday's 2 p.m. district final.

It's a sure bet, though, that Heights noticed this is starting to look like one of Joyce's typically loaded Irish crews.

"All five of their starters are really dangerous," Hose said. "And they have a 6-8 guy in the middle who presented a problem for us."

Six-foot-4 sophomore Rayshawn Hamilton scored 17 points, and 6-3 sophomore DeCarlo Prince scored 14.

The big man is junior John Whorton, who scored 14 points in a first half that left Massillon (15-9) with no chance in the second half.

"He's kind of growing into his feet," Joyce said. "He's going to be a very, very good player, playing at the next level."

The game was played at Lakewood High School, which has one of the stranger gyms you will see, with nine rows of bleachers along one side of the court, seven rows on the other side, and 20 rows behind each of the baskets.

St. V-M ran the floor full throttle and played defense with hands that seemed to be everywhere. The Irish's height advantage seemed unfair when Whorton swished two 3-pointers within a few quick moments of the second quarter.

Whorton introduced himself with three blocked shots in the first quarter.

"Massillon was kind of young," Joyce said of a Tigers team playing without key senior Dre-Shawn Jackson, who quit the team over the weekend (Hose declined to elaborate). "They didn't have a whole lot of size.

"They had really good guard play. They were going to drive the ball down our throats. That's who they are."

St. V-M led 34-14 midway through the second quarter, by which time the writing was on the gymnasium's purple walls.

But the show went on. A quick bounce pass for a would-be layup on the Massillon end was intercepted and turned into a dunk by 6-6 senior Daniel Ajose on the other end.

The Tigers didn't quit. Freshman Gio Jackson worked free for two straight layups. Jaylen Slaughter hit a 3 from the top of the circle. Still, St. V-M led 48-28 at halftime.

The Fighting Irish, with five players 6-5 or taller, didn't shrink.

They kept pedal to metal in the third quarter. Ajose's wiggling slam dunk made it 59-30.

St. V created a running clock by pushing its lead to 35 midway through the fourth quarter.

Hose wrapped up his sixth season with a starting lineup that didn't include a senior.

"Our young kids competed really well this season," he said. "We saw some great things out of them at times and saw some rookie things at times.

"It's a stepping stone for us. They can draw on this experience."

This article originally appeared on The Repository: St. Vincent-St. Mary gives coach Dru Joyce OHSAA win over Massillon