On the same night Ohio State's NCAA Tournament hopes officially ended, Marcus Johnson's season came to a close as well.
After Garfield Heights’ Division III state semifinal loss Sunday night in a sold-out Canton Memorial Field House, the 2026 four-star point guard and Ohio State commit didn't hold back when it came to praising Ohio State's coaching staff, a group he is extremely close with.
"I just got off the phone with (Jake) Diebler today. He's a really good coach, a really good guy," Johnson said. "Definitely locked in with Ohio State."
While he is fully committed to the Buckeyes, Johnson has yet to decide whether or not he will reclassify to the 2025 class, though he said it is an option.
"It's an option right now, but I don't know yet. It's a decision for sure," Johnson said.
In his final game of Garfield Heights' season and potentially the last game of his high school career, Johnson played well but his team came up just short as the Bulldogs fell to Louisville in the Ohio Division III state semifinals, 49-48.
Coached by his dad, Sonny Johnson, it was a special season for the pair that ended one game earlier than they wanted it to. Sonny knows how important Marcus has been to his team all season. But before Sonny could talk to reporters about Garfield Heights' season and his son, Louisville head coach Tom Siegfried came over to Sonny, gave him a handshake and praised the Bulldogs, especially Marcus.
While Lousiville has gone against plenty of talented teams and players, including a trip to California this past December, Siegfried told Sonny Johnson that Marcus is "the best ever" among players he has coached against.
"He's the type of guy we wanted to get the ball back to his hands as well. You really can't check him," Sonny said. "(Louisville) did a great job of getting it out of his hands, but Marcus is Marcus and he showed that tonight."
In a back-and-forth affair, Johnson finished with 25 points (10 of 15 shooting), including 14 in the third quarter, in which Garfield Heights outscored Louisville, 17-6, to take a 46-37 lead into the fourth quarter before ultimately losing 49-48.
Garfield Heights starts the second half on a 12-3 run to take a 41-34 lead. Marcus Johnson already has nine points in the third quarter (20 for the game). pic.twitter.com/bOxJaQivpD
— Josh Poloha (@JorshP) March 16, 2025
The frontrunner to win Ohio Mr. Basketball, Johnson knew the type of defense he was going to face Sunday night in Canton, even if Lousiville was more aggressive than most of his opponents this season.
"Just staying in the game. We knew they were going to try and trap me and double-team me, but my mindset was to stay in the game and just go out and play," Marcus said. "Be me no matter what they're trying to do, no matter who gets in the way or is guarding me, just be me."
Even though Johnson faced double and even triple teams all night when he had the ball and one or two defenders face-guarding him all game even when he didn't, Johnson was still able to contribute offensively. Early on, he was distributing the ball to open teammates. In the second half, though, Sonny knew that Marcus had to contribute in the scoring column for the Bulldogs to have a chance to advance.
"Stay aggressive. Keep going downhill," Sonny said of Marcus' halftime adjustments. "I think he started to do that in the second half and that opened up the run that we had. A couple other guys made some shots because he got it going but that fourth quarter pretty much killed us."
But then, after scoring the first two points of the quarter to extend their run to 19-6, Garfield Heights didn't score in the final six-plus minutes of the game as Lousiville ended the game on a 12-0 run to advance to their first state championship in school history.
Marcus Johnson had a clean but quite long look on what would have been the game-winner. pic.twitter.com/x0LNrCmW6x
— Josh Poloha (@JorshP) March 16, 2025
While Garfield Heights collapsed down the stretch, Johnson proved yet again that he was good enough for a bigger stage, one where he won't be double- and even triple-teamed all game – and one that he could join as soon as next season in Columbus.
