Sun staff
Three days before the Amelia boys basketball team opened up sectional tournament play, the Barons claimed their third consecutive Southern Buckeye Conference Tournament title.
The three-peat was one of two for head coach Craig Mazzaro’s crew as the blue and white also won the regular season American Division crown for the third season in a row. An 81-56 drubbing of Georgetown was just the latest of three match ups between the two schools in the interdivisional, year-end tournament.
The American won five of the six match ups on Tuesday, Feb. 24 at Western Brown High School with the National’s lone victory coming in the form of a Bethel-Tate victory over Goshen, 63-51, in the third-place game.
In the second-place game, New Richmond beat the Williamsburg Wildcats 55-47.
Norwood and Blanchester squared off in the fourth-place game with the Indians coming out on top, 69-55.
Batavia and Clermont Northeastern battled it out for the second time this season and the Bulldogs came away with a season sweep, winning the tournament match up 58-47.
The host Broncos took down Felicity-Franklin in the first game of the day, 65-34.
Next on the slate for area teams are a few days of practice followed by the opening rounds of their respective sectional tournaments.
The champion Barons will play a familiar first-round opponent in the Division I sectional held at Lakota West: Turpin.
Amelia and Turpin faced off in the first round of last year’s sectional with the Spartans edging the Barons, 52-49. The two teams also met earlier this season, a Jan. 27 contest that Turpin won 64-60.
The latest battle is slated for an 8:30 p.m. Friday night, Feb. 27 tip.
Also competing in Division I are the co-Eastern Cincinnati Conference champion Milford Eagles. The Eagles have dropped three of their last four games, but are favored to win against Lakota West on Saturday, Feb. 28.
Lastly, Glen Este will play Hamilton on Saturday, Feb. 28 at 8:30 p.m. at Fairfield High School.
The Division II Mason upper sectional is features three Clermont County teams. Batavia and New Richmond kick things off on Friday, Feb. 27 with a 6:30 p.m. tip scheduled. Goshen, the No. 7 awaits on the other side of the bracket. The Warriors will play the winner of Western Brown and McNicholas on March 3.
In Division III, Clermont Northeastern plays top-seeded Shroder at Loveland on Feb. 27 with tip-off scheduled for 6 p.m.
Bethel-Tate won’t play until Tuesday, March 3 in a de facto sectional semifinal against Clark Montessori.
Williamsburg and Felicity-Franklin round out the sectional docket playing in the DIII Western Brown 2 sectional. The Wildcats face Badin at 6:30 p.m. with Felicity and Purcell Marian following at 7:30 p.m.
Complete brackets are available at swdab.org.