Trailing 24-20 at the start of the fourth quarter, Springfield’s Bob Crist hit a foul shot with 20 seconds remaining to tie the game, according to the March 22, 1925 edition of the Dayton Daily News.
Neither team scored in the first overtime. The Gold and Blue cagers — as they were called in the Springfield Daily News, the city’s afternoon newspaper — took the lead for good on a basket by Crist with about a minute remaining.
Springfield captain Joe Keyser scored 11 points and David Carter added seven in the title game. Both were named to the All-Tournament Team.
In the quarterfinals, Springfield beat Portsmouth 34-21 to advanced to the state semifinals, where they beat Columbus North 24-15.
In the southwest regional final, the Gold and Blue Cagers beat defending state champion Dayton Stivers, the team that had knocked them out of the postseason the previous three seasons.
Springfield team members were: Keyser, Carter, Crist, David Phenegar, Joseph Mahar, LeRoy Maxton, Arthur Bauer and Jerome Remsberg. The team was coached by Oliver S. Matheny, who “put Springfield on the basketball map,” wrote Jack Reid in the March 23, 1925 edition of the Springfield Daily News.
The team, Reid wrote, “went upon the floor imbued with the idea that a team, which will not be defeated, can not be defeated, and it carried them to victory more than once.”
The team was honored with a parade, which included a 20-minute speech from then Principal E.W. Tiffany.
“We not only have the best basketball team in the state, as proved in the recent tournaments, but we have a team which is made up of gentlemen,” Tiffany said. “They won the state title, and the won it on the square, fighting fairly to win the biggest crown that was possible. Every honor is theirs.”
The Gold and Blue cagers advanced to play in the 1925 National Interscholastic Basketball Tournament, which was held annually at the University of Chicago from 1917 to 1930.
Springfield lost to Kansas City Westport 50-35 in the first round and were eliminated from the winner’s bracket. In the consolation tournament, Springfield beat Hume Fogg of Nashville, Tenn. 42-41 in overtime before falling to Portland, Ore. 28-27 in the second consolation game.
Springfield High School would not win another state championship in any sport for 13 years. It won the state cross country championship in 1938.
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