A high-flying Jason Singleton sneaks in from the baseline for a thunderous dunk that ignited the Academy faithful. Singleton scored a game-high 26 points to send Academy to the Division V state final against Lutheran East. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Brian Bayless)
There will be plenty of motivation for the Vikings in Saturday’s championship game: A rematch against three-time defending champion Lutheran East and the last chance to secure a ring for retiring 58-year assistant coach John Exline top the list.
Dayton, OH – The first time Columbus Academy played for a state boys basketball championship in 1981, Jack MacMullan was the head coach and John Exline was his trusted 13th-year assistant.
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The Vikings fell short on that day, losing the Division III title game 58-44 to Kalida and late legendary coach Dick Kortokrax, who captured his only championship en route to winning an Ohio record 890 games.
Exline, who is retiring after an illustrious 58-year career at Academy (four of which were spent as head coach) will get his final chance to win that elusive championship ring on Saturday.
Current 14th-year coach Jeff Warstler, assistant Mike Moran (in his 50th year of coaching), the Vikings players and fans would love nothing more than to send an Academy institution out in style.
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A workmanlike 59-44 victory over West Muskingum Friday in as Division V state semifinal at University of Dayton Arena kept the dream alive.
Fulfilling it will be a massive challenge as fourth-ranked Academy (24-4) will face top-ranked, three-time defending champion Cleveland Heights Lutheran East (24-2) in the title game at 1 p.m. on the same floor. Lutheran East ousted the Vikings 53-49 for the 2025 championship.
The Falcons, who have seven players between 6-feet-3 and 6-7, beat Cincinnati Summit Country Day 38-27 in the other semifinal.
“John’s been giving us little reminders all week, like a few days ago he said, ‘my last weight room workout’ and one more day will finally come Saturday,” Warstler said. “You won’t find a better human being than John. I’m just happy we’ve been able to be a small part of his journey.”
Small … 58 years?
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As expected, Academy took care of business against an overmatched but gritty West Muskingum team that was happy just to make its first state tournament with a first-year head coach.
Mitch Zumberge rejects the shot of Tavin Bennett during a Division V state semifinal.
The Vikings took command with a 10-0 second-quarter win and gradually stretched the lead to as much as 20.
Central District player of the year Jason Singleton, a Mr. Basketball finalist who spurned numerous Power 5 offers to sign with Harvard of the Ivy League, was front and center as usual for Academy racking up game-high totals of 26 points, 10 rebounds and three steals, shooting 9 of 15 from the field and 7 of 10 at the free throw line. Just as important, the 6-4 guard drew 10 personal fouls.
“I realized I had a smaller guy guarding me and, obviously, I tried to take advantage of that, either by passing over him or driving him to the basket,” he said. “Basically, I was just trying to run the offense effectively.”
Six-foot West Muskingum senior Cade Porter drew the envious assignment of trying to guard him.
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“He’s a great player, but coach (Cole) Smith trusted me with guarding him and I trust coach Smith,” Porter said. “I threw everything I had at him. Looking back at it, I’m thankful to get the opportunity to guard a player of his caliber on a stage like this. It’s something I’ll always remember.”
Charles Rubey gets sandwiched by Tornadoes defenders Cade Porter and Noah Morrison moments before he was assessed a technical foul for pushing a defender to the floor.
Smith said Singleton was the focal point of his defensive approach.
“He’s one of if not the best player we played against all year,” he said. “With his size and skill, he’s difficult to shut down and he makes his teammates better. I know our guys played their hardest. At this moment, I haven’t had a chance to think about what happened for the last 32 minutes.”
Singleton did the heavy lifting but his teammates did plenty of dirty work to support him.
Charles Rubey scored 10 points and was a demon defensively. Coveted four-star junior football recruit Reinaldo Perez contributed nine points, five rebounds and a big-body presence. Six-eight sophomore center Mitch Zumberge had eight points, four rebounds, four assists and three blocked shots, menacing West Muskingum would-be drivers.
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Regardless of the outcome of the title game, advancing this far again has been an incredible achievement for Academy, which graduated four starters from 2025’s 29-1 squad. Winners of 20 straight games, the Vikings weathered a meat grinder f a postseason run, beating Harvest Prep 55-48 in a district final, edging Africentric 52-49 in overtime in a regional semifinal and outlasting Castalia Margaretta 52-49 in double overtime to reach the final four. They had to rally from fourth quarter deficits in each nail-biter.
Will Bundy leans into and scores over West Muskingum’s Carter Smith, but the basket was waived off with a player control foul.
“It was definitely nice to get one that wasn’t quite as close,” Warstler said. “We thought this might be just as close. I’m super proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish. West Muskingum is super disciplined. They spread you out and hurt you. Our man-to-man defense was exceptional today. We were able to get out on them on the perimeter and wear on them.”
Added Rubey, “It always comes down to defense for us, and today was no different.”
Tavin Bennett scored 17 points to pace the Tornadoes (23-6), who shot just 17.4 percent (4 of 23) from 3-point range. Noah Morrison, who averaged 14.3 points and once topped 40 points in a game this season, was held to two.
“On any given night, anybody can shoot bad, Smith said. “I think more of it was rushing and not exactly focusing and them being so tall than being in a different environment.”
West Muskingum came in having won 18 of 19 after tying for third in the Muskingum Valley League. The Tornadoes also survived tough challenges in regional play, winning by two and three points.
“Every journey’s got to end sometime,” Smith said. “We’re overjoyed about what these guys have accomplished. They’ve set the bar pretty high for the next group to come through here.”
Jason Singleton makes a move to the basket against West Muskingum’s Carter Smith.
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