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Boys Basketball State Tournament

Braeden Stauffer Scores 28; Buckeye Tops Clearview, 75-60

The Buckeye Bucks defeated the Clearview Clippers, 75-60, in a Division II sectional final on March 3, avenging a regular season loss from earlier in the season in Lorain by defending home court in the postseason.

Buckeye was led by a game-high 28 points from senior guard Braeden Stauffer, who knocked down six 3-pointers in the win.

His first triple of the night made it 11-2 in favor of Buckeye, less than four minutes into the game.

Clearview began to chip away at the deficit and Jaylin Paschel intercepted a pass, driving coast-to-coast, and finished off a beautiful layup to make it a seven-point game.

Buckeye led by nine after one quarter of play and the threes continued to fall in the second quarter, as the Bucks drained four shots from deep (three of which were courtesy of Stauffer).

Clearview senior guard Deuce Martin kept his team in the game, heading into halftime, sinking a nice mid-range pull up shot to trim the deficit to ten before halftime.

Clearview opened the second half on a 4-0 run, but Buckeye quickly answered back.

The Clippers wouldn’t go away, as Clearview mounted a comeback and DeAri Todd finished off a fastbreak layup to make it a three-point game with two minutes left in the third.

Martin brought Clearview within one point on the Clippers’ next possession, scoring a transition layup.

Michael Novick opened up the fourth quarter with a big three-pointer to build Buckeye’s lead up to four.

Stauffer followed it up with another huge three.

Clearview continued to scrap and fight its way back into the game, as Todd battled for an offensive rebound and cut the deficit to five with just over six minutes remaining.

Buckeye started to create some distance again getting the lead up to 10, and Justin Canedy came through with a big layup with five minutes to play.

Joey Bartinelli, who was relatively quiet for most of the night, stepped up in the fourth quarter, converting this dazzling layup.

Stauffer continued his impressive night, taking it to the rack to keep Buckeye in front by double digits with under three minutes to go.

With the score 66-56 in favor of Buckeye, Bartinelli drained what felt like a dagger with 1:30 to play.

Buckeye closed out the 75-60 victory and stays alive in the tournament.

Bartinelli finished with 7 points on the night, five of which came in the fourth quarter.

Novick scored 22 for Buckeye, knocking down four shots from long-range.

Martin scored 23 in his final high school game, capping off an impressive high school career. Fellow seniors DeAri Todd and Jamel Billings each scored 12 points in the loss.

Clearview’s season comes to an end with 18 wins, five losses, and a Patriot Athletic Conference Title.

Buckeye (19-4) advances to face Bay (16-8) in the Division II North Ridgeville district semifinals at North Ridgeville High School on Thursday, March 9.

Matt Medley is co-editor at NEO Sports Insiders, covers the Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Indians and high school sports in Northeast Ohio. Follow @MedleyHoops on Twitter for live updates from games.

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