Warren’s Evan French was the highlight of the night in a 70-43 over Chillicothe at Hatton Gym Friday.

The loss snapped the Cavaliers' four game winning streak.

The 6’3” Junior forward set a new Warriors’ school record with 44 points, on a night Warren staked their claim to an undisputed SEOAL title.

The two clubs played toe-to-toe through the first quarter, with Warren taking a 22-18 edge. Chillicothe raced out to a 9-4 lead on three buckets by Zach Johnson and Tommy Bolte tacked on a three at 5:30 in the first. The Warriors’ Patten hit three baskets to give Warren its first lead at 10-9. Adam Bixler hit a running layup to force a 17-17 tie and that’s the closest the game would be.

Both teams were sterling from the field, the Cavs hit 8-of-12 shots and Warren answered with 10-of-11.

The Warriors began to pull away out of the gates to start the second period. Patten sank a leaner, French responded with a three and connected again and suddenly the Cavs were trailing 29-18.

French and Reese Patten combined for 35 of the visitor’s 39 first half points, then French turned in a clinic in which he laced the nets on 11 straight shots. Patten scored all of his 20 points in the half.

For the game, Chillicothe shot 50% but Warren was better making 32-of-50 shots for 64% from the field.

Johnson was limited to 13 points on the night. All but two were before halftime, and 8 in the first period. Nate Rosenbuaer scored 10, Nolan Taylor added 9 and Bixler and Bolte combined for another 7.

The Cavs (7-12/5-4) will host Ironton in a non-conference battle Tuesday night.

Chillicothe broke open an 11-9 1^st quarter lead and rolled past the Washington Blue Lions Tuesday night 57-38 at Hatton Gym.

It was the fourth straight win for the Cavaliers and next, it’s SEOAL undefeated Warren Friday night.

Drew Meister’s Cavs trailed 5-0 and 7-2 early on, but used a tough-nosed defense to force 19 Washington turnovers.

Zach Johnson’s slam dunk at the 4:59 mark in the second period gave the Cavs a six point separation and by the half, Chillicothe had built a 27-15 lead. The Cavs pushed out to a 42-23 lead through three and led by 27 points with 4:33 remaining after Nolan Taylor completed a personal stretch of three consecutive baskets.

Offensively, the Cavaliers used dribble penetration to work the ball inside which resulted in 56%shooting from the field (24-of-43) while limiting the Lions to 10-of-32 for 31%.

Chillicothe’s Zach Johnson led all scorers with 18 points and the Cavs had three players in double digits, 13 for Nate Rosenbauer and 10 for Nolan Taylor. Tommy Bolte added six, Eddie Wells and Tim Beard had three apiece and Adam Bixler and D.J. Vinson 2 each.

Conner Eckles was the only double figure scorer for the Blue Lions who slip to 11-6.

Chillicothe, now 7-11, will have back-to-back home games with Warren Friday and Ironton Tuesday.

Following their 62-52 win over Portsmouth Friday, Chillicothe stands alone in second place of the SEOAL.

“We took the unconventional route to be where we’re at, but we’re happy to be here”, Cavs Coach Drew Meister in his post game chat on WBEX.

The Cavs have had their rough stretches this season, but with back-to-back league victories (and winners of three straight for the first time), Chillicothe is 5-3.

Warren earned a 63-59 overtime victory at Logan to stand atop the SEOAL at 7-0, while the Chieftains slipped to 4-4 and the Trojans are 4-3. Portsmouth and Warren were snowed out last week.

A nip-and-tuck first half turned into a 4-point Chillicothe lead at the half as Adam Bixler sank a three from the left corner to put the Cavaliers ahead 23-19 at the half.

Portsmouth regained the lead on a three by Sky Oliver for a 28-25 margin in the 3^rd quarter. The lead then changed hands three more times until Zach Johnson poured in the Cavs’ next 8 points. Chillicothe had a 33-32 lead and it’s the closest Portsmouth would get the rest of the game.

Nate Rosenbauer gave the Cavs what they needed to begin to pull away. The freshman point guard drained a three pointer to close out the third period, opened the fourth with a pair of free throws and then drilled another bulls eye for an 10-0 run for a 45-33 Cavalier lead.

“I’ve been saying the last couple of times out, we’re growing. And a large part of that growth is to this young man here Nate Rosenbuaer,” Meister said in praising the 5’9” guard who scored a career-high 12 points. “I’m just proud as can be the way he’s seeing the floor, understanding his role and picking his spots… and also knows how to guard, and that’s why he’s out there.”

Rosenbauer said it was easy to explain the momentum swing, “I think we had great ball movement which allowed our three point shooters to get open.”

The Trojans shot better than Chillicothe from the field (20-of-40) but the Cavs had four more buckets and from the line, Chillicothe was 13-of-19 to Portsmouth’s 10-of-19. The big statistical difference would be taking care of the ball. Chillicothe forced 16 Trojans turnovers and committed just six of their own.

Meister also credited the unsung heroes in the victory, “Nolan (Taylor) was the most active…” Taylor was the “paint man” for the Cavs. Meister says he’s “A guy that you can roam off of a bit, and he rotated tremendously well, and he got a couple of blocked shots “.

Johnson finished with 25 points and Rosenbauer’s 12. Bixler and Taylor had 9 each, Devin Zehner added three while Tim Beard and Tommy Bolte added two each. Jayllen Carter lead Portsmouth with 31 points and Oliver added 11.

The Cavs improved to 6-11 and prepares for a battle with Washington Court House at Hatton Gym this Tuesday.  

Chillicothe earned a 70-32 victory at Jackson Wednesday night.

The Cavs 70 points were the most scored this season as was their 38 point margin.

The Ironmen were entering the game on the heels of their first win of the season, but it was evident early the Chillicothe was going to spoil the Jackson euphoria of the previous 24 hours.

The Cavs used a variety of pressure packages to force Jackson into multiple turnovers to build a 24-2 lead through the first period, then 42-13 at the half and 56-22 through three.

Zach Johnson led Chillicothe with 14 points and Pierce Knisley added 13. Tyler Neal led Jackson with 10 points.

Chillicothe (5-11/4-3) will try to win three straight for the first time this season when they host Portsmouth Friday night.

It was a moment only Hollywood could write.

For Chillicothe's senior forward Zach Johnson a dream came true Tuesday night. Johnson entered the Cavs’ game with Dayton Jefferson needing just 23 points to become the newest member of the CHS 1000 Point Club. His landmark point could not have come in a more dramatic or thrilling situation. 

With 27 seconds remaining in a 48 - 48 tie Johnson drove into the deep left corner of  Hatton Gymnasium and launched a fade away three point attempt.

The result was pandemonium as the ball went through the net to give the Cavs a 51-48 victory over the visiting Broncos. The fans held up “1000 point” placards as the players mobbed Johnson to celebrate the hard fought victory and accomplishment.

The Cavaliers held a three point halftime lead at 29-26 and stretched the difference to a 41-33 lead entering the fourth quarter. The Broncos crept back to take the lead late in the closing moments being led by Nate Sheppard who finished with 22 points for Dayton Jefferson. Shelby Woodall had 12 second half points for visitors.  

Tommy Bolte was the only other Cavalier in double figures with 12 points after
converting three crucial free throws in the final quarter. Pierce Knisley added 5, Tim Beard 4, Nate Rosenbauer 3 while Adam Bixler and Nolan Taylor chipped in two each.

As for the game winning shot, it was just another mark for Johnson who’s had a flair for the dramatic with a handful of game winning shots, including Tuesday’s. Johnson said in the postgame interview with Pat Highland and Lou Postage "I always dreamt of scoring 1000 points." Johnson discovered some dreams do come true. However, not all in such a spectacular fashion as witnessed at the Hatt Tuesday night.

The Cavaliers (4-12) head to Jackson Wednesday to make up last Friday’s snowed out game. The Freshman game begins at 5pm, followed by the JV and Varsity contests. WBEX coverage begins about 7:45pm.

CHS Top Basketball Scorers Career (Boys):

• 1,476 – Anthony “Humpty” Hitchens 2004-08
• 1,241 – Gordon Mickey 1955-58
• 1,161 – Wayne Stevens 1952-55
• 1,157 – Steve Bayless 1983-87
• 1,061 – C.J. Banks (706 at CHS) 
• 1,049 – Gary Hall 1958-61
• 1,028 – Neil Johnston 1943-46
• 1,017 – Ray Chambers (760 at CHS) 2006-08
• 1,000 – Zach Johnson 2010-13 *** through 01-29-13
• 921 – Mark Bayless 1971-74
• 916 – Garin Veris 1978-81

Winter weather forced the postponement of the Chillicothe games at Jackson Friday.

The games will be made up on Wednesday 1/30, beginning with the Freshman game at 5pm followed by the JV and Varsity contests.

Play-by-play coverage of the Varsity game will begin around 7:45pm on WBEX (1490AM/92.7FM and on iheartradio.

Close, but not close enough for a win.

Chillicothe’s Zach Johnson hit his final basket of the night, a three-pointer, with 26 ticks left in regulation, but the Cavs came up short at Logan 62-58 in overtime.

Johnson dropped in 30 points on the night, 16 of them in the fourth quarter, to rally the Cavaliers and forced the extra period.

In OT, it was Logan getting the upper hand.  The Chieftains jumped out to a 55-51 lead, but Chillicothe came back to tie the game at 56 on a lay in by Nolan Taylor with 2 minutes remaining. Logan’s Anthony McNeal nailed the sixth of his three-pointers to create separation at 59-56. A basket by Tim Beard cut the lead to 59-58 and the Cavs would get no closer.

“We rallied a little bit in some key spots that gave us that next hope for a shot at closing this one out, I think the guys just poured it out there” said Cavs Coach Drew Meister.

“They laid it on the line… and that effort was there and that next stage is the mental aspect of the game.” Meister credited the Logan coaching staff for keeping the Cavs off balance and off rhythm. “One of the things we’re still dealing with is trying to get everybody synchronized… I know for a fact our effort was not outmatched. It was a great basketball game.”

Chillicothe was behind by five points for most of the first half as Logan hit four of its first five shots and led 11-4 three minutes into the game. The Cavs trailed 12-7 after the first quarter and caught the Chieftains to tie the game at 18 with four minutes left till the break. Johnson gave the Cavs their first lead at 24-23 with a bank shot at the 1:33 mark and had the halftime lead at 26-25.

Logan pulled ahead 41-35 through three quarters before Johnson took over in the fourth. The senior hit 6 of 11 shots from the field in the period and added a couple of free throws leading up to the 51-51 score at the end of regulation.

The Cavs improved their shooting from Tuesday, hitting 43 percent for the game. Logan shot 57 percent and won the battle at the free throw line, and area of difficulty this season. Coach John Helber said before the game his team had struggled from the stripe most of the year which led to some of their seven losses. Friday, the Chieftains managed 12-of-19 shots the Chillicothe’s 5-of-7.

“It took a lot of energy out of everybody but I know our kids laid it on the line. I’m real proud of them.”

The 30 by Johnson was a season high. Tommy Bolte added 11 points, Tim Beard scored 6, Nolan Taylor had 5, Carl Harris, Jr. scored 4 and Adam Bixler added 2. Logan was led by McNeal’s 22 and Gavin Jourdan’s 16.

Logan (4-7/4-2) and Portsmouth (4-2) are tied for second place behind SEOAL unbeaten Warren.

Chillicothe (3-12/3-3) is off until a road trip to winless Jackson Friday.

Logan Elm won the tale of two halves at Hatton Gym Tuesday night in a 42-31 victory over Chillicothe.

The Cavs held Logan Elm to just nine first half points while taking a 16-9 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The second half went the Braves way.

Poor shooting by the Cavs (21%) and Logan Elm getting its offense going in the third period gave the Braves a 23-20 advantage through the third period. The Braves kept Chillicothe at bay with a 19-11 fourth quarter.

Zach Johnson led all scorers with 17 points. Adam Bixler had six points, Tommy Bolte four and Pierce Knisley and Nolan Taylor added two each.

Logan Thompson had 14 points and Dylan Young added 13 to lead the Braves.

Chillicothe slips to 3-11 and travels to Logan Friday night.

Logan Elm improves to 8-4 and plays Teays Valley Friday in Ashville.

The Gahanna Lions set the tone early and kept the pedal down in a 69-52 win over Chillicothe Saturday.

The Cavs were down 8-0 before Tommy Bolte broke the ice at the 3:50 mark in the first quarter. Two quick baskets by Adam Bixler and a three by Zach Johnson cut the lead to 10-7 and that was the closest Chillicothe was able to get.

Gahanna used high percentage shots in the paint, combined with quick defense to lead 33-16 at the half and extended the margin to 54-31 after three periods. The Lions out-shot the Cavs 66-41 percent from the field.

Johnson led the Cavs with 23 points. The Lions held Johnson to just three points at the half. Bixler and Bolte combined for 15.

Chillicothe 3-9 returns to SEOAL action at Logan Friday and host Logan Elm this Tuesday.