On Friday, March 13, the Bison basketball squad took on nationally-ranked opponent Villa Angela-Saint Joseph (VASJ) in the OHSAA Division 3 District Final at Warrensville Heights High School.

In the end, powerhouse VASJ outmatched the Bison for a final score of 58-39.

Beachwood finished 18-6 on the year, undefeated in the CVC.

Friday’s game was a valiant effort from the Bison, competing against a team that earlier this season nearly defeated the No. 1 team in the nation, Oak Hill Academy from Mouth of Wilson, VA.

The Bison began the game extremely well, and only trailed the Vikings at halftime 30-23 in a hotly contested game. However, VASJ took over in the second half.

The Vikings were led by Kansas commit Carlton Bragg, who put on a fantastic display of his wide variety of skills.

CVC MVP Maishe Dailey pushed the Bison offense and kept the game as close as possible with his 3-point shooting ability.

Beachwood now looks ahead to next season with one goal in mind: a state championship trophy.

“That’s a big goal and a lot of teams have that goal,” Head Coach Matt Miller said, “…but I think we have the pieces in place to make a serious run.”

Miller is not the only one who thinks so.

David Cassilo, writing for cleveland.com, predicts that Beachwood will be the #1 seed going into next year’s playoffs.

“Beachwood will be a dangerous team in 2015-16,” Cassilo wrote.

“Next season our team has one goal in mind, and that it to not only make it to states, but to win it all,” Captain Jalen Davis said.

Miller and Davis agree this Bison team has an incredible chemistry due to the majority of the players playing together since middle school.

“Our strength is the chemistry we have due to the years we have played with each other,” Davis said.

This Bison team is comprised mostly of sophomores and juniors who will return even stronger next year.

While the goal of being state champions is an attainable one, Coach Miller understands a busy off-season is necessary, as there are facets of his team’s game that must be improved.

“We have to be a better ball handling team… our outside shooting needs to improve, we need to improve a lot of the fundamentals and get stronger in the weight room…there’s a lot of work to do this off-season.”

The Bison are hungry to take the next step.

“They seem to want it right now,” Miller said. “I’m hoping that hunger doesn’t go away. I hope that hunger keeps driving us this offseason.”

Davis also believes this team is ready to put in the work to reach the level of state champions.

“I believe everyone on our team is willing to do whatever it takes to make a huge run down to Columbus,” he said.

Be on the lookout for this team’s state run next year.