jmetcalfe@delphosherald.com

St. John’s boys basketball coach Aaron Elwer has seen his team play better and better ball as the season has progressed, the hope of any coach at any level of the game.
He hopes his Blue Jays (20-5) have more improvement in them for this evening as they go for their first state berth since the Division IV championship season of 2001-02 as they take on Troy Christian (25-2) 7:30 p.m. this evening at the Kettering Fairmont Division IV Regional final.

“They just beat the top-ranked team in Division IV Tuesday and they themselves were ranked ninth; they are playing with a lot of confidence. They are perimeter-oriented, much like Jackson Center,” Elwer began. “They spread the floor offensively and do a lot of dribble-drive attack; they like to drive and either create a shot for themselves or kick to either another driver or to a spot-up 3-point shooter. Grant Zawadski, the coach’s son, makes it go for them; he averages around 17 points and six assists a game and is the Player of the Year in their conference (Metro Buckeye). He has a great basketball IQ. He is hard-nosed and that’s how they play; there were many times the other night against New Madison Tri-Village that they were clearly the tougher team, so we have to match that mindset and level of intensity.