Louisville Withstands Aiken Comeback 63-61 to Win DIII State Championship – Boys Basketball

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#2 Louisville 63, #1 Cincinnati Aiken 61

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The Louisville Leopards Boys Basketball Team defeated the top ranked Cincinnati Aiken Falcons 63-61 in the DIII State Championship Friday Afternoon at University of Dayton Arena. Louisville closes the season winning eleven straight to take the ultimate crown, finishing with a record of 24-5.

View Game Recap | View Box Score

Audio Broadcasts: Q92 | Sammy B & Lee | The Letter Podcast | WHBC Broadcast

Additional Video: 270 Hoops | OH Report | On Impact Game Video | Postgame Press Conference | WHBC Final Chapter

Aljancic Sets the Tone, Scores Team-High 17

Tate Aljancic scored 10 of his team-high 17 points in the opening quarter to lead the Leopards. He also recorded a game-high 3 assists and 3 rebounds.

Cincinnati Aiken took the first lead of the game when James Burnett Jr. retrieved the opening tip and scored on a layup just three seconds into the contest. Three possessions later, Aljancic banged home a three-pointer from the left wing to put Louisville in front 3-2.

The Falcons answered right back when Antonio Hutcherson Jr.’s three-pointer from the left corner rolled around the rim and in, to put Aiken ahead once more at 5-3. 

That would be the last time the Falcons held a lead as a pick by Brayden Gross freed Aljancic to bury a second three-pointer from the right wing to put Louisville ahead 6-5. That second triple sparked a 13-0 run that gave the Leopards a lead they would never relinquish.

Q92 Audio Broadcast

Siegfried Breaks Single Season Three-Point Record

My Fit Life Personal Trainer Side AdAfter Aljancic set the tone, Beau Siegfried followed. He canned a pair of three-pointers from beyond the collegiate three-point line as part of Louisville’s early run that put them ahead 16-5. Siegfried reacted with a massive fist and chest pump as he crossed half court. 

The shot also put him alone in the record books for the most three-pointers in a season with 71. He later added a second-half three-pointer to push the record to 72 treys on the year. Current Assistant Coach Owen Gramoy previously held the season high mark of 70 set in the 2010-11 season. 

Courtside with Sammy B & Lee Audio Broadcast

Andrejcik and Siegfried Finish with 14 Each

The Falcons chipped away and cut the deficit to 16-10, but the Leopards closed the first quarter on a 7-2 run to go ahead by double digits. Gross’ steal and dunk punctuated the burst. Gross would then kick out to Andrejcik who drained a three-pointer to make it 23-12 with six seconds left in the opening quarter, making Louisville a perfect 5-for-5 from beyond the arc in the period.

Andrejcik went on to bury two more three-pointers in the final minutes of the second quarter to give the Leopards their largest lead of the game at 38-17. 

Both Andrejcik and Siegfried sank 3 three-pointers apiece and finished with 14 points each. Siegfried also had a game-high 3 assists and Andrejcik recorded a game-best 2 blocks. Devin Bailey also notched 2 steals in Louisville’s dominant opening hal.

The Letter Podcast Audio Broadcast

Aiken Storms Out Of Locker Room on 15-0 Run

Romeo's Pizza Louisville, Ohio AdThe Leopards were 16 minutes away from a state championship and it seemed they would cruise to a state title leading 38-19 at halftime. However, Cincinnati Aiken stormed out of the break on a 15-0 blitz to make it a game again at 38-34. 

After being held scoreless in the first half, Falcons leading scorer Jaiden Arnold buried a three-pointer on the first possession of the second half. Louisville turned the ball over on three consecutive possessions and Hutcherson made them pay with a pair of three-pointers, to cut the deficit to ten. A fast-break score by Hutcherson shrunk the Leopard lead to single digits. A minute later, two more Leopard turnovers resulted in Aiken field goals, cutting the Louisville lead to 38-34 with 3:37 left in the second.

Head Coach Tom Siegfried took his second timeout in less than two minutes of game time to slow the Falcon momentum. It was effective, as the Leopards zig-zagged four passes that touched all five players and freed Aljancic to convert an easy lay-in to extend the Louisville advantage to six points.

WHBC Audio Broadcast

Marshall’s Effort Creates Key Buzzer-Beater

The two teams continued to trade baskets, which included a Leopards three-pointer by Siegfried to make it 43-37. Arnold answered with a putback and then hit a three-pointer of his own with eight seconds left in the quarter to trim the Louisville lead down to a single point. 

The Leopards came back quick the other way and a deep two missed its mark in the final seconds. Ashton Marshall secured the offensive board and threw it back up before the third quarter horn sounded. The ball hit its mark to put the Leopards up 45-42 heading into the final quarter. Marshall’s effort and buzzer-beater would prove to be the difference in the final outcome.

Marshall would finish with a stat line of 9 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, and a steal.

WHBC Final Chapter: Louisville’s First State Title

Leopards Don’t Surrender Lead

The top two ranked teams in the state continued to exchange blows at the start of the fourth quarter. A steal by Siegfried led to a Marshall layup to put Louisville ahead 47-42. Then Hutcherson hit a jumper to make it a one possession game once more. Aljancic matched that with a layup and then Arnold cut the deficit back down to three by hitting a pair of free throws after that. Then Siegfried and Deandre Carr-Short exchanged field goals. Following that, Aljancic and Arnold each split a pair of free throws to set the score at 52-49 with 3:44 left in regulation.

270 Hoops Highlights

Louisville Pulls In Front 58-49

The Leopards followed that with a 6-0 run to put them in the driver’s seat with 1:23 remaining. Siegfried found a path through the center of the lane and scored to increase the Louisville advantage to 54-49. 

Siegfried again found an open runway through the paint a second time to up the Louisville advantage to 54-49. Then Andrejcik and Gross each scored second-chance baskets to extend the Leopard lead to 58-49.

Gross would finish with 9 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, which included 4 on the offensive end. He also dished out a game-high 3 assists and registered a block. 

OH Report Highlights

Aiken Refuses to Quit

Cincinnati Aiken showed their explosiveness once more in the final 76 seconds of the game. Burnett Jr. answered Gross’ score with an immediate three on the other end. Marshall countered with his second layup of the quarter to make it 60-52 Louisville with a minute to play.

Burnett Jr. charged back the other way and scored on a layup before Falcons’ Head Coach Derrell Black called a timeout. Aiken pressed and Antwan Hinton tipped and intercepted the inbound pass. He then quickly passed the ball to Arnold under the hoop for a quick score to make it 60-56. 

Andrejcik split a pair of free throws on the other end to increase the margin to five. The Falcon’s missed a three-pointer on their next possession, but Hinton hauled in the offensive rebound and scored on a putback. He was also fouled on the play and converted the bonus free throw from the line to cut the Aiken deficit to 61-59 with 26 ticks left.

The same sequence played out allowing the Falcons’ to trim the deficit to the narrowest of margins. Siegfried split a pair of free throws, Aiken attempted a game-tying three-pointer, Hinton pulled down the offensive board, scored on the putback to make it 62-61, and was fouled again with 8 seconds remaining. Timeout Leopards.

On Impact Recruiting Game Video

Leopards Finish Off Falcons to Win State

Hinton’s free throw rattled off every part of the rim before falling out. In the ensuing scramble, Marshall knocked the ball loose, and Gross secured it just before hitting the floor. A jump ball was called and Louisville retained possession with 4.1 seconds to play.

After an Aiken timeout, Aljancic inbounded the ball to Marshall who was immediately fouled with 3.3 seconds left. He hit the front end of two shots from the line, but missed the second leaving the score at 63-61. Gross forced a jump ball on the rebound attempt, but this time the ball went back to the Falcons with 1.9 remaining.

Cincinnati Aiken burned its final timeout to talk it over. Out of the break, Hutcherson bounced an inbound pass to his right to Burnett. Burnett dribbled down the right sideline and threw up a prayer. The ball hit off the top of the backboard missing its mark.

Leopard Nation erupted as the Louisville players mobbed each other at midcourt in celebration. 7 of 7: The Leopards had completed their mission.

Postgame Press Conference

Courtesy of YSN Live

Burnett Jr. Scores Game-High 23 to Lead Falcons

Burnett Jr. scored 13 of Cincinnati Aiken’s 19 first half points and finished with a game-high 23. Burnett Jr. also hauled in 6 rebounds, recorded 3 steals, and dished out 2 assists.

Arnold scored all 15 of his points in the second half in leading the Falcon’s resurgence. He also posted 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and a steal. Hutcherson Jr. was 3 of 8 from beyond the arch and finished with 13 points. Hinton also scored 7 and Carr-Short added 3 to round out the Aiken scoring.

Trayvon Smith led the Falcons on the glass with 8 rebounds to go along with a block.

Cincinnati Aiken had a perfect regular season spoiled at Trotwood-Madison 78-76 on February 13, but responded with six straight tournament victories to advance to the first state finals in team history. The Falcons finish the season 27-2 and take how the DIII State Runner-Up trophy.

Senior Class Finishes 15-3 in Postseason

The Leopards have now won 11 of their last 12 tournament games overall. The 2025 senior class finishes 15-3 (.833) in the postseason with 2 district titles, 2 regional final appearances, and a state championship. To put it in perspective, the 15 tournament victories matches the total number of postseason wins of the previous 22 seasons prior to this four year stint.

Louisville is now 72-91 (.442) all-time in tournament play since 1932. The Leopards are now 24-17 (.585) under Head Coach Tom Siegfried in eighteen seasons. 

100th Official Season Ends at the Top

Louisville High School has been playing basketball for longer than 100 years, but the Winter Sports Program starts keeping official history during the 1925-26 season. That makes 2024-2025 the 100th season of Louisville basketball.

Louisville started its first 23 seasons as the Blue Raiders before the high school elected to change the team mascot to the “Leopards” during the 1947-48 school year making the 1948-49 season the first full season of Louisville Leopards Basketball. So in the Leopards’ 77th season, they won 7 tournament games to win their first state championship. 

Maybe it was written in the starts all along, or perhaps this is all a coincidence. Either way, the dream has become reality…the 100th official season of “The Program” has ended with the Leopards as State Champions!!! 

Social Media Cover Photo By Rick Everhart Photography

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Louisville Vs. Cincinnati Aikden Boys Basketball Statistics

LEOPARDS 63, FALCONS 61

Team 1-2-3-4–TOTAL

Aiken 12-7-23-19–61

Louisville 23-15-7-18–63

Louisville Leopards Basketball Box Score

# Player PTS FG 3FG FT OR DR REB A PF TO BL ST MIN +/-
0*
Beau Siegfried
 14 5-10 3-5 1-2 1 2 3 3 2 3 1 1 31 3
2*
Brayden Gross
 9 4-8 0-0 1-4 4 8 12 3 4 2 1 1 32 2
10*
Tate Aljancic
 17 5-6 2-2 5-6 2 1 3 3 0 2 0 0 32 2
13*
Ashton Marshall
 9 4-6 0-0 1-2 3 5 8 2 2 2 0 1 30 -1
25*
Devin Bailey
 0 0-3 0-3 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 15 4
30
Avery Andrejcik
 14 5-9 3-6 1-2 0 2 2 1 2 0 2 0 19 0
32
Kolton Loy
 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 0
TM
TEAM
   – – – 0 0 0   0 0        
TOTALS 63 23-42 8-16 9-16 10 19 29 12 11 9 4 5    

Cincinnati Aiken Basketball Box Score

# Player PTS FG 3FG FT OR DR REB A PF TO BL ST MIN +/-
0*
Antonio Hutcherson Jr.
 13 5-10 3-8 0-0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 25 5
1*
James Burnett Jr.
 23 10-18 1-5 2-2 2 4 6 2 0 2 0 3 32 -2
4*
Antwan Hinton
 7 3-6 0-1 1-2 3 0 3 1 4 1 0 1 26 3
5*
Tayvon Smith
 0 0-7 0-1 0-2 5 3 8 1 2 0 1 1 27 -2
11*
Jaiden Arnold
 15 5-10 2-3 3-4 2 3 5 2 4 3 0 1 32 -2
2
Daeshawn Richardson
 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 -1
3
Justin Hawkins
 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 4 -4
13
Deandre Carr-Short
 3 1-1 0-0 1-2 0 2 2 0 4 0 0 0 8 -6
24
Mamadou Kante
 0 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 -1
30
Caron Metz
 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
TM
TEAM
   – – – 1 0 1   0 0        
TOTALS 61 24-53 6-18 7-12 14 13 27 7 15 6 1 7    

Records: Louisville 24-5, Cincinnati Aiken 27-2

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