wbex.com is doing a two part series previewing the Boys Division II District

Semi-Final match ups, scheduled for Friday night at Ohio University.
Click here to see the Warren-Waverly report.

Friday's first game of the Boys Division II District Semi-Final in the Convo pits, in the words of Logan Elm's Doug Stiverson, "another classic matchup with Chillicothe."

This will be the fifth consecutive year the Braves and Cavaliers have met, the third time in the Convo. The Braves hold a 3-1 edge, 1-1 at the District level.

For Logan Elm (16-6), the path is well traveled from the Pickaway County panhandle to Athens. Ohio University has been the site of seven straight post

seasons for the Braves. Stiverson acknowledges "We've had a good run here of late and have played a lot of games in the Convo." Sixteen total games to be exact, with four Regional appearances, one leading to Ohio Stat’s Value City Arena (2009) for the Final Four.

Chillicothe has also enjoyed their Convo conquests, with a 9-2 mark. The 2008 trip led to the biggest piece of hardware a team can gather… their Division’s state championship.

Cavs coach Gary Kellough hopes fans understand the value of their District tourney ticket, "I don't think people in Southern Ohio realize the level of competition that we've got in the Division 2 bracket out of those four schools (Chillicothe, Logan Elm, Warren and Waverly)... it's been a  tradition the last 4 or 5 years of those schools dominating."

Getting back to Athens had a bit of a rocky road for both teams. Logan Elm had an uncharacteristic close to the regular season, dropping three of its last four games. Chillicothe was on the brink of elimination by 8th seeded Circleville (5-16) in the Sectional Semi-Final at Southeastern High School.

"We went through a patch at the end of the year," explained Stiverson. "We've been doing some things a little bit different offensively to try to get some easy baskets and our kids have responded to that."

The Braves had won their first eight games and were ranked in the Associated Press top five, right behind Chillicothe who debuted as the number-2 team after a 7-0 start of their own.

Stiverson says it was a learning experience he hopes pays off in the long run. "We talked to them going through that tough stretch of learning some lessons and taking those to the tournament."

What makes Logan Elm so effective is their team defense and the number of players who step up at any given time in a game on the offensive side.

Stiverson says "We've had different people every game and even within a game.  Like last week, we had two guys really step up and score a lot of points for us in the first quarter, and then from there, it was a couple different people and that's made it difficult for people to concentrate on just one individual on our team and I think that's been part of our success this year."

The Braves are led offensively by Nathan Elswick. The 6'5" Ohio Christian University signee is averaging 13.3 points per game and is an outside threat. His sixty 3-point shots have tied him with Evan Blake and Kyle Jones for the 5th best on the Braves’ single season performance from beyond the arc. Elswick draws the attention of coach Kellough. "They've plugged him in to some of those past shooting player's roles of running a lot of stuff through him. And he's responded and done a real nice job."

Guard Jake Thomas was Logan Elm’s only starter coming back “and Nathan Elswick was one of our guys who came off the bench last year, and the rest of the guys played JV ball” added Stiverson. “ They've played unselfish basketball. We've really relied on our defense this year." Logan Elm has been yielding around 40 points per game defensively. Stiverson said "When you do that, you're going to win some games."

Kellough adds, the Braves are worthy of the respect they command. "Both of them (Thomas and Dylan Gabriel) are solid ball handlers, good defenders... and of course their front line players have done a real good job for them this year. They've got a good complimentary group that plays well together."

Chillicothe (19-3) is by no means a one-trick-pony, but it all starts with 6'6" guard

Jalen Ragland. The SEOAL Player of the Year and UTEP signee is scoring 20.5 points per game. He came out of the blocks with a 34 point game in the season

opener at Xenia. "He's lived up to his billing" chimed Coach Kellough. "He's

become more of a distributor, too and setting some other kids up to make their

games a lot better..." Like Elswick, Ragland makes the most of his game from

the outside, but he can take it inside, too.

The paint is where most opponents have had to make their biggest adjustments. The presence of 6'9" shot blocker Malik London alters hand-to-hand combat (averaging 5.1 blocks per game). In one defensive stance of the Cavs' SEOAL-clinching win at Warren, London swatted away three straight shots, finally gained the rebound and made it down the floor in time to make a basket on the other end.

After meeting four straight seasons, Stiverson says the Logan Elm scouting report on the Cavaliers isn't too complex. "The first thing, you gotta be able to handle their pressure... and when we do get to the basket, Malik's a great shot blocker and we're going to have to finish when we get down in there."

The cast around Ragland and London include the quickness of Tyler Manion, Zach Johnson, Isaac Beverly and Max Corcoran. When the Cavs want to go "big", they'll bring in 6'6" foreign exchange student Miloje Djacic.

One missing link for the Cavaliers is assistant coach Craig Hitchens who passed

away last April. Chillicothe has carried the former Cavalier guard's initials with the on the right sleeve of their uniform this season. Before his passing, Hitchens was instrumental in the development of point guard Tyler Manion. "You might have asked (two years ago), 'How could this kid be an All-League player?' He (Manion) still has a long way to go... We've had some good production from our coaches and some of the kids have developed into their roles we were looking for."

Trying to slow the Cavaliers down may be key for Logan Elm. Chillicothe is scoring 59.5 points per game, but the Cavs are 2-3 when they've scored less than 50 points. Chillicothe has surrendered 49.5 points per game defensively this season. However, during their current seven game winning streak, the Cavs have held opponents to 39 points per game.

Broadcast coverage of the Cavs-Braves game begins at 5:50pm Friday night on

WBEX (1490 AM) and WKKJ (94.3 FM).

Chillicothe's Jalen Ragland has been selected SEOAL Player of the Year by league coaches. The Cavs' Gary Kellough shares Coach of the Year honors with Portsmouth's Eugene Collins.

Ragland averaged 20.5 ppg during the regular season and is a pre-season signee of UTEP.

Coach Kellough led the Cavaliers to their third SEOAL title since 2006.

Also selected All-SEOAL, Malik London (Jr.) and Tyler Manion (Sr.). Zach Johnson (So.) is an Honorable Mention. Manion averaged 9.3 ppg and 4 assists per game. London averaged 10.3 points, 9 rebounds and 5.1 blocks per game. Johnson averaged 8.8 ppg.

On the Girls All-SEOAL team, only Alyssa Oates was named Honorable Mention. Oates is a junior.

Jalen Ragland                  Malik London                  Tyler Manion

Gary Kellough                                    Eugene Collins
 
Alyssa Oates                    Photos by Dana Cousins/wbex.com

2010-2011 ALL-SEOAL BOYS BASKETBALL
Malik London, Chillicothe* 6-8 11 C
Tyler Manion, Chillicothe 5-9 12 G
Jalen Ragland, Chillicothe 6-6 12 G
Ethan Moore, Gallipolis 6-1 12 G
Colt Chapman, Jackson 6-3 11 F
Kenneth Buckler, Logan 5-11 12 G-F
Tim Grosel, Marietta 5-10 11 G
Andrew Bendolph, Portsmouth* 5-11 12 G
Wayne Evans, Portsmouth 6-2 11 G
Dion McKinley, Portsmouth 6-6 11 F-C
Austin Cunningham, Warren 6-1 12 G
Grant Venham, Warren* 6-3 12 F

Honorable mention: Zach Johnson, Chillicothe; Jared Rutter, Logan; Wes Riley, Marietta; Tre Underwood, Portsmouth.

Player of the Year: Jalen Ragland, Chillicothe.

Co-coaches of the Year: Gary Kellough, Chillicothe; Eugene Collins, Portsmouth.

2010-2011 ALL-SEOAL GIRLS BASKETBALL
Samantha Barnes, Gallipolis 5-4 12 G
Nicole Chapman, Jackson 5-10 9 G
Madison Ridout, Jackson 5-9 9 G
Loryn Cassady, Logan* 5-6 12 G
Abbie Linton, Logan 5-10 12 F
Bailey Topf, Logan** 5-7 12 G
Erica Dawson, Marietta 5-9 10 G
Maegan Grosel, Marietta* 5-9 12 G
Ri-Chiele McGraw, Portsmouth 5-10 11 F
Jordanna Rauch, Warren 5-6 10 G

Honorable mention: Alyssa Oates, Chillicothe; Morgan Daniels, Gallipolis; Kari Jenkins, Jackson; Stephanie Murphy, Logan; Amanda Brown, Marietta; Hannah Foster*, Portsmouth; Grace Proctor, Warren.

Player of the Year: Erica Dawson, Marietta.

Coach of the Year: Pat Walsh, Logan.

*—indicates repeat member of All-SEOAL team. Cassady was named to the team as a sophomore in 2008-09.

Teams are selected via a vote of league coaches. Each team was accorded one automatic honorable mention selection.

Saturday's Boy's Division II Sectional Final at Southeastern High School is a cross-town shootout between two schools not even five miles apart geographically.

Their district border one another. Some teachers and administrators live in one district but work in the other. It's a neighborhood rivalry far different from what Chillicothe has in the SEOAL or Unioto has in the SVC.

While for some, the game will mean bragging rights, what's on the line is a trip to Athens in next weekend's District tournament.

In the old days, the former Division I Chillicothe was seen as the "Goliath" to the Shermans' much smaller Division III "David". The two wouldn't be found on the same schedule due in part to the size difference. However, with enrollment changes over the last 10 years, the two have become more alike.

The schools entered into a regular season schedule in the early stages of the decade when Jeff Hobbs was coaching the Cavs and Ron Lovely was still directing the purple and gold, but the last two meetings have taken place on the floor of Larry Jordan Gymnasium at Southeastern. The Cavs have won both of those games, 74-56 in 2006 and 60-23 last year. 

Wednesday night, #1 seeded Chillicothe (18-3) and SEOAL champion found themselves on the ropes, but managed to hang on for a 48-45 win in the first round over Circleville.

Meanwhile, the #5 seeded Shermans (14-7) went on an 18-7 run to pull away from Washington C.H. to set up the dance with Chillicothe.

Two years ago, Unioto was 1-20, but have turned the corner to earn respect with their second place finish in the SVC.

While Matt Hoops was pleased to come away with a first round win Wednesday night, he said he's "afraid a sleeping giant (the Cavaliers) was awakened" with a close outcome in the night's first game.

Hoops said if he had to compare Chillicothe to another team Unioto has faced, it would be SVC Gold Ball Champion Piketon. "

The comparison starts with team quickness "I think you have to be careful when you try to get into a track met type of game... we have to go when we can and be smart when you have to."

But it doesn't stop there. 6'6" guard Jalen Ragland presents a tough matchup on the perimeter "He's dangerous, a very good basketball player, the reason he's got a Division 1 scholarship... he's a great player." Wednesday,

Chillicothe's Malik London was off the court with a good bit of foul trouble, and the Cavs didn't have their 6'8" junior shot blocker for the final 4:30 of the game. Hoops notes London's presence in the paint "Malik's an outstanding defensive player, he allows them to do a lot of different things when he's on the floor."

The Cavaliers had a few things to adjust following their game with Circleville Wednesday night. Coach Gary Kellough felt his team lacked some focus at the free throw line. The Cavs missed eight straight shots from the line in the third quarter which allowed the Tigers to stay in the game. "And that was one of the things we focused on in practice Thursday." said Kellough.

The experience factor came in to play for the Cavs when Circleville made a run to take the lead. Chillicothe tied the game at 45 and scored the game's final points off of defensive stops. Late in the season we had two or three close calls that makes you mentally tough... we shouldn't have been in that situation (Wednesday) but when you are you have to step up and make plays and with the smaller lineup our kids made the,"

Coverage on 1490 WBEX begins at 6:40pm Saturday. WKKJ (94.3 FM) will join the broadcast following the Piketon-Westfall game.

Chillicothe offering presale tickets Friday in the CHS Main Office from 1p-3p and from 3:30p-6p in the CHS Ticket Booth at Hatton Gym. Tickets are $5 cash only.

Cavalier fans are also being encouraged to wear white to the game.