A piece of the Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference Grey Tier title will go to Palymra Township this year after the Garfield G-Men boys’ basketball team was upended by league and Portage County rival Southeast 79-61, who earned a share of the league banner, in their regular season finale last Friday evening at the JAG Fieldhouse in Garrettsville.
“I think we dug ourselves some holes,” noted Coach Matt Hill. “Credit to our kids, we kept battling back. We have grown a lot as a team, it does not necessarily show in our record, but we fought in a lot of games but have had some games down the stretch where we have not executed.”
Garfield (7-15, 4-10) will end its season having lost its last three regular season contests but will attempt to wipe the slate clean for the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division V playoffs.
If the G-Men defeat Portage County rival Crestwood in the OHSAA Division V Northeast 2 sectional championship on Wednesday night, they will advance to face Chagrin Falls in the district semifinal at the Ralph L. Quesenberry Gymnasium on Saturday at 1 p.m.
“We have been playing better,” said the first-year coach of the G-Men’s chances in their postseason duel against Crestwood. “We are excited to get an opportunity against a neighboring rival and we expect it to be a fun environment. It is a Portage County match-up that should be fun.”
On Friday, it was a game of runs and the Pirates had several more runs in them to claim their first MVAC Grey Tier title since moving to the league two years ago.
Southeast threatened to take a big lead in the second quarter as the G-Men fell into the foul penalty bonus less than halfway into the second period as Southeast mounted a 23-13 advantage.
Garfield responded with a 6-1 run, fueled by its outside shooting as junior guard Collin McGranahan and senior guard Cam Chapman each buried a 3-point shot, trimming the Pirates’ lead to 24-19 near the end of the period.
According to McGranahan, it was simply a matter of making up for lost time after missing the first half of the season due to injury.
“I go out there and if I have a little bit of space or an open shot, I take it,” said the 5-foot-10 junior who scored 15 points, including knocking down four 3-point baskets, grabbed three rebounds, and dished out four assists. “Sometimes it is not the best shot, but you just have to do what you have to do out there.”
The Pirates countered by engineering an 11-5 run to take a 35-24 lead into the half and continued applying pressure against Garfield’s defense in the second half, opening the third period on a 14-8 run, increasing their lead to 17 points.
Southeast’s offense was fueled by long distance shooting and ability to speed up the game.
Hill acknowledged that the G-Men also enjoy playing at a faster tempo but they allowed their small mistakes to compound their struggles throughout the game, including committing 19 turnovers.
“They just shot the lights out,” he added. “They are a good team and play with pace. We like to play with pace too but there were some costly turnovers. Sometimes we have lulls where it feels our miscues will come in waves.”
The G-Men did not wither away despite facing a 17-point defense, staging a 26-18 scoring spree to cut Southeast’s advantage to nine points in the fourth period.
“Once we just get hot and get on a roll, our momentum kicks in and it is hard to stop us,” said McGranhan. “When we lose that momentum, it all falls apart from there. We have to keep that momentum up.”
Although Garfield matched the Pirates outside shooting nicely by recording 48 points from beyond the arc compared to Southeast’s 52 points from long distance, Southeast was a more well-balanced team on offense, and a 7-3 run helped it put the game away.
Although the Pirates emerged as the league champions for the 2025-26 season, the rivalry is just beginning, as after a final season in the MVAC Grey Tier in the 2026-27 campaign, the teams will continue the rivalry as they are both slated to depart the MVAC Grey Tier and join the new Greater Portage County Conference prior to the 2027-28 season.
“This game is not going to be forgotten,” said McGranahan. “It is going to carry into next year. We and Southeast, every sport we play is a big rivalry. I just hope we go into the playoffs without a big head and play well.”
