But the Wildcats turned the ball over way too often early, which led to easy transition points for the Fighting Irish, who ran to a dominating 76-37 victory.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if they were cutting the nets down at state next week,” Struthers coach Michael Wernicki said. “Their quickness got us out of rhythm with our passing game and they close so fast on our shooters, plus they have length we haven’t seen all season.

“We scrimmaged them earlier, so we weren’t surprised by their athleticism. But everything they threw up on the offensive end was going in. They got on a roll and we had no way to slow them.”

Ohio State-signee Malaki Branham scored 24 points and grabbed seven rebounds and junior running mate Sencire Harris netted 21 points.

Staff photo / Brad Emerine Struthers’ Brandon Washington drives against SVSM.

Struthers turned the ball over on four of its first five possessions and fell behind 9-0 before Aidan Slocum got the Wildcats on the board with a drive to the basket. But SVSM closed the quarter on a stunning 15-2 run to assume a 28-6 lead.

The Fighting Irish (23-2) pushed the margin to 50-13 by halftime to ensure a running clock to begin the second half. Struthers was unable to get the margin back to under 30 points after intermission, as the running clock continued the remainder of the contest.

“We obviously did not play a very good game, but that has a lot to do with our opponent,” Wernicki said. “Regardless, what we’ll remember as a program are all the positives that came out of this season. We started working last June and we busted our tails until the very end, through all the obstacles of this season.

“We won 25 games without a loss, won a league championship and won an incredible game to be district champions. Along the way, our kids grew and worked together and did everything in their power to have this successful season. As a coach, I may remember the way they persevered, their spirit and work ethic on a daily basis and all of the intangibles that brought this together.

Slocum scored 12 points to pace Struthers, which will lose seven seniors, including starters Brandon Washington, Trey Metzka, Luke Barker and Slocum.