James McCarthy's last-second shot lifts Hoban to OHSAA boys basketball district title

ELYRIA – Junior James McCarthy delivered in the final second Saturday afternoon to give Archbishop Hoban a 49-47 win over Brecksville in a Division I, Northeast 5 boys basketball district championship at the Elyria Catholic Coliseum.

Hoban senior Jonas Nichols took an off-balance jumper near the baseline off of an inbounds pass from senior Joey Hardman and missed. McCarthy grabbed the rebound near the baseline on the other side of the rim, and swished an off-balance jumper from between the paint and the 3-point line as time expired to set off a massive celebration on the court.

"I just saw the ball go up and I saw it was going to go off the backside rim," McCarthy said. "I just ran over there, got the rebound and shot it and it went in. ... I never really practice that shot to be honest."

Hoban, the reigning Division I state champion, advanced to meet Garfield Heights in a regional semifinal at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the University of Akron's Rhodes Arena.

Garfield Heights topped St. Vincent-St. Mary 57-45 in the Division I, Northeast 6 district final at Lakewood.

"Honestly, the bigger play that James made was when we were down [one in the third quarter] and he drove to the rim and made a 4-footer," Hoban coach T.K. Griffith said. "If McCarthy doesn't make that 4-footer, we are done. Once you go down four in this game, four is like 100. That had to be scored right then. I thought about calling a timeout because our motion and everything we were doing wasn't working. We just let it play out."

McCarthy, who is 6-foot-1, added another layup moments later to give Hoban a 38-35 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Nichols led Hoban (18-7) with 19 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and two steals.

"In the final sequence, coach called it up for me to get the ball on the wing," Nichols said. "I turned around and I tried to get it up quick because you never know what happens when there is three seconds. You get it up quick, it goes in or somebody can get a rebound. I tried to get it up there quick. James happen to be on the other side of that rim. A good seal by [sophomore] Sam [Greer] left for an easy putback for the win."

Said Greer, who is 6-foot-8 and 300 pounds: "I didn't know it was James at first. I just saw someone go get the ball. James picked it up and made the shot nothing but net."

Nichols, a 6-3 Kent State recruit, said McCarthy's shot-making Saturday made him think back to Feb. 6 when McCarthy scored a team-high 15 points in a 64-45 win over host Green.

"We try to keep our bench involved," Nichols said. "James has become a main part of our team. He is keeping us alive."

Greer scored 11 points against Brecksville. McCarthy finished with eight points and six rebounds. Freshman John Johnson had five points and four rebounds and junior Kenny Scott added four points, five assists and three steals.

"James is just a quiet, peaceful kid, but he has this inner belief in himself," Griffith said. "All year long he has been doing that. He is not a guy who is great in set plays. He is great at attacking the rim. I think he can be a college player. He has to work on his 3.

"JJ is falling into his role. I thought he took the right shots tonight and he had a couple of key rebounds. ... [Junior Andrew] Karhoff and [senior] Josh [Greer] off the bench, Karhoff won the Walsh [Jesuit] game for us [on Jan. 23] when Sam was sick. Karhoff is a huge piece and Sam is starting to play well. Sam, he seems motivated to want to command the post. He seems motivated to want to take on the other team's big. When he plays with that sense of intensity, that makes us a ton better."

Nichols scored eight points in the first quarter and Sam Greer added six points as Hoban led 22-17 entering the second quarter. Nichols scored seven points in the second quarter and the Knights led 32-27 at halftime.

Reigning state champion Hoban enjoying another playoff run

Nichols said the Knights relaxed and had fun doing a tip-in game at the rim Friday night, a day after a 55-54 win over Strongsville in a district semifinal at the Elyria Catholic Coliseum.

"It is really just a fun game to end practice with when everyone is tired," Nichols said.

Griffith said the lighter moment came after a serious practice to prepare for Brecksville.

"[Hoban assistant coaches] Tony [Threadgill] and Norm [Jesser] love these kids," Griffith said. "Tony and Norm are like kids themselves, so they always stay after practice and play games with the kids. I sat there and watched them. The Hardmans brought up a bunch of pizza and rigatoni. They play that game after practice everyday. It is called tip-in. I played it when I was growing up at Hoban with coach [Vince] Gross. We used to do that the day before a game at a walk-through. It is 2-on-2 and it is a tip-in game. ... They did it for at least an hour. We all hung out. It was pretty fun. It almost felt like it was going to be the last meal, you know the last practice. I am glad it wasn't."

Nichols credited Griffith for putting together a tough schedule, and mentioned games against St. Vincent-St. Mary, Centerville and Hilliard Bradley.

"We can come together and keep going in those tough moments because we had those tough games in the regular season," Nichols said.

Nichols scored 24 points in Hoban's 60-56 win over Centerville on Dec. 30, the Knights lost to STVM 71-62 on Jan. 5 and then beat Hilliard Bradley 48-47 on Jan. 14 with a game-winning shot by Kenny Scott.

"Our team has a lot of resilience, we never give up and we got the win in both games [at Elyria Catholic]," McCarthy said. "It doesn't even seem real to be honest, these last two games."

Luke Skaljac guides Brecksville to OHSAA boys basketball district final

Senior Luke Skaljac led Brecksville (20-5) with 27 points, seven rebounds, six assists, two blocks and two steals.

"Luke is one heck of a player," Nichols said of Skaljac, a 6-2 Miami of Ohio recruit.

"He got me a lot of times off of ball screens. I give him all his props. He is a really good guard and I really look forward to playing him in the future."

Skaljac made his first four shots from the field in the first quarter with a layup, two 3-pointers and a layup. He scored 15 of Brecksville's 17 points in the first quarter.

"I think he is the best player in Ohio," Brecksville coach Steve Mehalik said of Skaljac. "He is special. We are going to miss him. A lot of tears shed in that locker room because all five of our seniors are special kids."

Bees senior Kyle Keener scored six points and junior Brady Ganley had five points and five rebounds. Sophomore Steven Skaljac made a 3-pointer and grabbed four rebounds and sophomore Ben Mehendale totaled two points, six rebounds and four blocks.

Brecksville, the Suburban League National Conference champion in each of the past four seasons, lost to Cleveland Heights 57-49 in a district final at Copley in 2022 and to Cleveland St. Ignatius 52-50 in overtime in a district final at Elyria Catholic in 2023.

"Some days your the dog, some days your the hydrant," Mehalik said. "Tonight, we were the bad one. Kid made a play. Kid made a play. We forced Jonas into a tough shot. Yeah, it hurts. Hats off to them. They made one more play than we did. We try to tell our kids we didn't lose, we just ran out of time.

"I am proud of my players. They represented our brotherhood. Phenomenal being in three straight district finals. ... I am proud of them. It is so hard to do. This hurts and it should hurt. It is going to hurt for awhile, but they had a heck of a year. We lost to a really good team."

Michael Beaven can be reached at mbeaven@thebeaconjournal and is on Twitter at @MBeavenABJ.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Jonas Nichols, James McCarthy lead Hoban to basketball district title