Wyandot Sports Hall of Fame

There are championship teams, and there is the 2004-05 Upper Sandusky boys basketball team. The Division II state championship Rams, who went a perfect 27-0, played before sold-out gyms everywhere they went.

Expectations were through the roof from the moment Keith Diebler was hired to move from Fostoria as coach and brought with him his sons, Jake and Jon. Upper Sandusky lived up to the hype, starting by winning the school’s first boys basketball Northern Ohio League championship since 1964.

The Rams had never before advanced past district tournament play. They did it with full-court trapping and a fast-paced offense that produced what was at the time the third-most points of any team in Ohio history. Averaging just shy of 90 points, the Rams, ranked No. 1 throughout the season, had a season-high of 111 points against Fostoria.

They won every game by double-digits until the state tournament. In Columbus, many expected the championship to come down to the semifinal matchup against Dayton Dunbar, which featured future NBA players Daequan Cook and Norris Cole. The Rams made a state-tournament record 16 3-pointers and held off Dunbar, 95-90.

That put Upper Sandusky into the state championship game against Wooster Triway, and early on, it seemed the Titans were no match for the Rams. Upper Sandusky led 53-31 at halftime and by as many as 24 points, but Triway got as close as 86-82 with 1:28 remaining. Upper Sandusky made free throws down the stretch to wrap up the title 94-86.

A sophomore, Jon Diebler led all scorers with 32 in the final, while senior Greg Micheli tallied 21 points after having scored 26 against Dunbar.

Jake Diebler, now the Ohio State University men’s basketball coach, added 14 points, five steals and nine assists, pushing him to the top of the state record book for assists in a season (294) and in a career (835), records that still stand. He also moved to the top of the record book with 155 steals on the season, though that number has been surpassed. However, his career steal total of 578 is still 187 more than any other player has achieved. Jake, who finished with averages of 18.4 points, 10.9 assists, 7.5 rebounds, 5.9 steals and 2.4 blocks per game, shared Division II state co-player of the year honors with Cook.

Jon Diebler was named an All-Ohio second-team selection, averaging 24.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.7 steals per game, and Micheli was given All-Ohio honorable mention with averages of 15.6 points, 5.9 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.2 steals per game. Keith Diebler was named Division II coach of the year.

Upper Sandusky’s starting lineup also featured senior forward Miles Weaver and senior defensive leader Brock England. All five starters went on to athletic success in college — Jon at Ohio State, Jake at Valparaiso and Weaver at Capital as basketball players, and Micheli at Mount Union and England at Ohio Northern in football.

The bench included junior guard Aaron Wetherell and junior forward Curtis Sebenoler, senior guards Greg Kimmel, Trevor Bowman and Marcus Amendola, junior forward Ian Mason and sophomore guard Jarryd Nelson. Lou Levy, Brent Fahle and John Massara were assistant coaches.