The Southeast boys basketball team celebrates after winning Friday’s game in Garrettsville.
Paisley Nader/Portage Sports

By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

As the final seconds ticked off the clock on Friday, and with the final score determined, the group of five Southeast boys basketball players all came together in a huddle near midcourt.

Standing in their alternate black jerseys that are trimmed in maroon, gold and white, the group handed the basketball back and forth to each other, shared a some conversation and smiled.

Southeast’s Cohen Richardson (back) and Devin Miller embrace in the closing moments of Friday’s 79-61 victory at Garfield. The win clinched a share of the MVAC Grey Division championship for the Pirates.
Paisley Nader/Portage Sports

The reality was sinking in that they were only moments away from something that had not been done by a Pirates team since 2012.

Once the clock finally dropped to zero, it was official, the Pirates were league champions.

Southeast captured a share of the Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference Grey Division title with a convincing 79-61 victory over the Garfield  G-Men in Garrettsivlle in the final game of the regular season.

“I am really excited for the kids,” Southeast head coach Matt Dillon said. “Tonight was the culmination of three years of hard work by all of the players and the assistant coaches.”

In some cases, it appeared that the Pirates were actually trying too hard at the start of Friday’s game.

Along with a mixture of understandable nerves, the regularly sharp-shooting Pirates missed 10 of their first 11 shots. Fortunately for Southeast, the score never got away because of its solid defense and the fact that the G-Men were also trying to settle into the game.

Once Cohen Richardson buried a 3-pointer at the 2:21 mark to give Southeast a 9-7 lead, it never trailed again.

By the end of the first quarter, Southeast (18-4, 11-3 MVAC) jumped its lead to 20-10, using another Richardson 3, along with a 3 from Joe Sharish and a layup from Caden Dillon to end the quarter on an offensive heater.

“Any time you have a game like this, and you are a young team like we are, there are going to be nerves that are part of it,” said Dillon, whose team starts one senior, one junior and three sophomores. “You have to expect that a little bit, and I think that once we settled down, we shot the ball much better.

“By the second half, Bradley (Dillon) was shooting well and Cohen played like Cohen does, and everyone else did a great job of doing their job.”

Southeast guard Bradley Dillon releases a 3-pointer over the defense of Garfield’s Oliver Walker during Friday’s second half.
Paisley Nader/Portage Sports

Richardson, a junior, was something special.

He very nearly posted a triple-douyble, finishing the game with 24 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists. He also added five steals, a blocked shot and took a charge.

In the opening minutes of the game, Richardson was the steady presence amongst a team a little bit anxious to get going. In the first quarter alone, he had six points, seven rebounds, four assists and a steal.

“Cohen played another great game for us tonight. Last year, at our team banquet, I told him that his goal should be to finish his career as a better player than coach Pollock,” said Dillon, referencing current Southeast assistant and JV head coach Zeddie Pollock, who graduated from Mogadore and was the Portage Trail Conference Player of the Year for the 2014-15 season. “Zeddie was the kind of player who could do it all on the court, not just score. He could rebound, pass, lead, everything. Cohen is on his way to fulfilling that challenge.”

Early in Friday’s second quarter, Southeast maintained its double-digit lead by using aggressive on-ball pressure, keeping the G-Men from initially finding any comfort in the half court. However, Garfield got loose to close out the quarter, with Parker Gill, Cam Chapman and Collin McGranahan all burying 3-pointers to close its gap to 35-24 by halftime.

A high-paced third quarter, which Southeast won 27-22, pushed the Pirates’ lead to 62-46 going into the fourth quarter.

Garfield (7-15, 4-10 MVAC Grey) opened the fourth quarter on a 12-5 run to turn Southeast’s lead to single-digits for the first time since the first quarter, 67-58, with just over 4 minutes to play.

That momentum for the G-Men was abruptly snapped by a 10-3 answer by the Pirates that was highlighted by a pair of 3-pointers from Bradley Dillon, along with layups from Sharish and Braedyn Walden. The burst pushed Southeast’s lead back to a comfortable 77-61 with 2:22 to play.

Pirates senior Joe Sharish scores on a second-half layup on Friday in Garrettsville.
Paisley Nader/Portage Sports

Sharish had another big game for Southeast, finishing with 17 points, seven rebounds, four steals and two blocked shots. Bradley Dillon also hit for double figures with 17 points, while Caden Dillon played a solid floor game with six points, six assists, five rebounds and two steals.

Garfield was led offensively by Devin Bates and McGranahan, who both scored 15 points, while Chapman finished with 12 points, connecting on 4-of-6 from behind the arc.

Dillon coached the Pirates from 2007-2013 and was the program’s mentor in 2012 when they won their last championship. In his third year back as head coach, Dillon has led the Pirates to three straight seasons over .500, which is the first run of its kind for the program since 2012-2015. The Pirates were 13-12 in 2023-24, 13-10 in 2024-25 and are currently 18-4 this year.