If a state championship is the goal, it seems best to lose the city championship. The Libbey Cowboys experienced the negative "power of three" last night at Savage Hall, absorbing a 75-70 loss to St. John's Jesuit in the Division I boys district championship game.

This marked the third straight year that a CL champion lost in the district final to a league rival it had beaten twice earlier in the season. Scott beat St. John's in 2005, and St. John's paid the Bulldogs back last year.

Also, Libbey became the fourth area team ranked No. 3 in the final state poll to be eliminated in the district level of the tournament.

On this night, the (21-2) Cowboys had trouble with St. John's trio of senior guards: Joe Jakubowski and Sean Patterson, and sophomore Michael Taylor.

They combined for 52 points and collectively were responsible for drawing most of the 26 fouls called on the Cowboys, which led to St. John's pivotal 27-of-37 output from the foul line.

Jakubowski topped the Titans (17-7) with 24 points, including a 10-of-11 effort from the line, Patterson had 15 points (5 of 7 free throws), and Taylor added 13 (5 of 6).

"Everybody was saying how hard it is to beat a team three times, no matter who it is," Patterson said. "Maybe that [thought] gave us a little edge this week in practice. We weren't going to let it happen for a third time."

The trio's work offset the usual superb performance from Libbey's 6-5 junior star William Buford, who had 31 points, nine rebounds and four assists.

"This is not where we wanted to end up," Buford said. "We wanted to end up in Columbus, but sometimes it happens like this and we've got next year. We just don't want to feel this [disappoitment] again. We're going to try to take it all the way next year."

Libbey also got 16 points and eight boards from junior Julius Wells, and 10 and five rebounds from junior Brad Sandridge.

It was the 11th district championship for 28th-year St. John's head coach Ed Heintschel, who is now two wins shy of 500 for his career.

"I didn't know what to expect," Heintschel said. "We've played better [recently], but we haven't closed out a team the way we need to to play at a championship level. Tonight we did.

"It's all a credit to the kids - guys like Joe and Sean and Michael Taylor who just stayed with it. We rolled that rough third quarter through. This team has come so far it's amazing."

The Titans will play Findlay (19-3) in a D-I regional semifinal at Savage Hall Wednesday at 7.

After a well-played first quarter closed in a 19-19 tie, St. John's picked up the pace in transition late in the half to grab a seven-point lead.

Ahead 31-28 after Libbey's Sandridge hit a 15-footer from the left wing 2:24 before halftime, the Titans closed the half with a 6-2 run, getting the final points on a Tim Kynard layup two seconds before the break.

Down 37-30 entering the third quarter, Libbey turned up the intensity at both ends. The Cowboys used a 15-4 run over a span of 4:41 in the third quarter to go ahead 48-45 on two Buford free throws with 2:18 left in the period.

"We had to fight through adversity," Jakubowski said of Libbey's run.

"We knew our guards were our strong point, and Mike [Taylor] stepped up, and he kept his head when things went wrong for him. And, Sean did a great job of being aggressive and taking it to the rack. He showed his senior leadership tonight, and it paid off for us."

Libbey took a 50-49 edge to the fourth quarter, which began with a Buford bucket 17 seconds in for a three-point lead. But St. John's regrouped and responded with an 11-4 surge to take a 60-56 edge on a Jarrell Terrell free throw with 4:52 remaining.

The Cowboys fought back for a tie on back-to-back buckets from Buford, the second at 4:07, but would never again lead.

"We just didn't get it done," Libbey coach Leroy Bates said. "It was a tough situation for the kids tonight. They had to play strong. At some points we did, and at some we didn't."