SCIOTO COUNTY — For Green’s Levi Sampson, the third time was ultimately the charm.

For Minford’s Myles Montgomery, he’s staring three times a first-teamer right square in the face.

That’s because the senior Sampson in Division IV and the sophomore Montgomery in Division III made first-team all-Ohio boys basketball for this past season —as announced on Wednesday of this past week by the Ohio Prep Sports Writers Association.

Sampson, the six-foot and four-inch Bobcat standout who averaged almost 23 (22.8) points per game, ended his Green career as a three-time all-Ohioan —after first making Special Mention as a sophomore and then second team as a junior.

Although Sampson averaged 26.4 points per game and 14 rebounds per game as a double-double machine junior, the Bobcats didn’t enjoy team success —unlike this past season where Green celebrated like a Bobcat blast from the past.

Sampson shared Southeast District Division IV Player of the Year honors with Federal Hocking’s Tariq Cottrill — as the Bobcats went 20-6, captured their first Southern Ohio Conference Division I championship since 2011, and won their first district title since 1997.

The five-foot and 10-inch Montgomery, meanwhile, shared the Southeast District Division III POY with South Point’s Caleb Lovely —and repeated to the all-Ohio unit, after earning Special Mention a year ago.

Montgomery muscled for 20.3 points per game as a freshman, and only improved his scoring average this winter —to 23.1 points per.

The annual all-Ohio boys basketball teams, as this is officially the sixth season for such, are selected by an Ohio Prep Sports Writers Association panel — with the Associated Press no longer affiliated with ANY all-district and/or all-Ohio teams.

All players which make first team all-district automatically earn — AT LEAST — Special Mention all-Ohio, while all second team all-district selections automatically make Honorable Mention all-state.

Traditionally, the all-Ohio teams were announced during the week of the respective gender’s state tournament — but with the coronavirus situation still somewhat hanging over Ohio high school basketball, the OPSWA panel has elected to release the lists at later dates.

The top-30 point-gatherers are named all-Ohio for each division, as 10 are voted upon by the OPSWA panel to first team, 10 more to the second team and finally another 10 to the third team. — —

Another tall, talented, highly-touted and versatile Division IV standout — six-foot and seven-inch South Webster sophomore Eli Roberts —repeated as all-Ohio, making Special Mention this year after last year as Honorable Mention.

Roberts registered 18 points per game for the Jeeps.

Joining Montgomery in the Division III mix were two Special Mention selections —junior Jace Copley of Valley and junior Connor Lintz of Northwest.

Both the 6-3 Copley and 6-2 Lintz repeated to all-Ohio and averaged exactly 21 points per game, and moved up from Honorable Mention as sophomores, as Valley was in Division IV in 2022 —while Northwest remained Division III.

There were five Scioto Countians landing Division III Honorable Mention — Portsmouth junior Deandre Berry, Minford sophomore Bennett Kayser, Valley senior Colt Buckle, and Wheelersburg seniors Jackson Schwamburger and Nolan Wright.

All five were all-Ohio first-timers.

So too were the four Division IV Honorable Mention honorees —Green junior Abe McBee, New Boston senior Myles Beasley, Notre Dame junior Cody Metzler and Notre Dame senior Dominic Sparks.

The aforementioned junior Cottrill, in Division IV, was voted to the second team —despite the push for first team with Sampson.

Dax Estep, a senior for Paint Valley, made the Division IV third team.

Lovely joined Montgomery on the Division III first-team squad, while Lovely’s head coach —South Point’s Travis Wise —was voted the Division III state Coach of the Year.

Wise guided the Pointers to their first Ohio Valley Conference championship in a decade-and-a-half, their first district title in 33 years, and this year’s Region 11 runner-up.

Zane Trace senior Xzander Ream was second team for Division III, while North Adams junior Bransyn Copas claimed third-team honors.

The Division II quartet which made higher than Special Mention included Southeast District POY and senior Kyler D’Augustino of Alexander (first team), senior Isaac Clary of Gallia Academy (second team), junior Caleb Schmelzer of Fairfield Union (third team), and senior Tanner Lemaster of Washington Court House (third team).

For a complete list of the 2022-23 boys basketball all-Ohio honorees, please see www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com.

Reach Paul Boggs at (740) 353-3101 ext. 1926, by email at [email protected], or on Twitter @paulboggssports © 2023 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved