The 1999 state championship won by the Worthington Christian High School boys basketball team was part of a seven-year run for the program that included two other dramatic Division IV state tournament games.

The Warriors were on the verge of their first title in 1994 but couldn't hold a 14-point lead in a 56-54 loss to McGuffey Upper Scioto Valley.

USV trailed 45-31 with 6 minutes, 36 seconds remaining before going on a 13-0 run. It took a 54-51 lead with 1:17 left.

Kevin Weakley, who is now Worthington Christian's athletics director and boys basketball coach, made a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 30.5 seconds left to tie it at 54.

The Rams' Jason Kearns made two free throws with 5.9 seconds left, but Weakley missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

In 2000, Worthington Christian came up short of defending its title when it lost to St. Henry 54-53 in a semifinal.

The Warriors, who trailed 31-18 at halftime, closed to 54-53 with 15.6 seconds left on a 3-pointer by Scott Hadley.

St. Henry's Andy Wourms missed the front end of a one-and-one and Sam Smith rebounded. Mike Hill missed a 3-pointer and Jason Weakley, who is Kevin Weakley's brother, attempted a putback that glanced off the rim.

"At one point we were 72-1 in our league (the Mid-Buckeye Conference), so we had some good years," said Ray Slagle, who coached the Warriors to a 194-50 record in 10 seasons before leaving for Cedarville University in 2000. "We never had many big kids, but we always had good guard play. For a private school like ours where you didn't have any geographic closeness, basketball kind of helped to bring a community together."

-- Jarrod Ulrey