PHOENIX — Damarae Dosela scored 26 points, Michael Olivar added 16 and No. 1-seeded Fort Thomas claimed the program’s 13th championship with a 77-45 victory over St. David on Friday afternoon.

Having not won a title since 2019-2020, nearly 10,000 fans showed up in full force to cheer on their Apaches (33-5, 10-0 1A East), which trailed 2-0 in the first 13 seconds against St. David before using a 15-7 run to end the first quarter and never looked back.

Dosela was 8 for 15 from the field, including five 3-pointers and a perfect 5 for 5 from the charity stripe to claim the game’s MVP vote.

“It’s an amazing way to go out, I will say that for a fact,” Dosela said. “I don’t think I would want to do this with any other team.”

The senior had nine rebounds and six assists in his final appearance on a high school basketball floor, and said his three-straight 3-pointers to end the third quarter were more of a “heat check.”

“You get to the point where you just feel like every shot is going to go in,” Dosela said, adding that he knew coach was going to take him out with a few minutes left in the game to get applause from the crowd.

Damarae Dosela (31) from Fort Thomas waves to the crowd while receiving the 1A state basketball championship MVP award from AIA Executive Director Jim Dean on Friday, Feb. 27, 2026, in Phoenix. Dosela scored 26 points to lead his team to a 77-45 win and program's 13th state title. (Brian Bergner/AzPreps365)

“He told us at the end of the third quarter, so the first couple minutes [of the fourth] we wanted to run up the score a bit so the bench could all get in,” Dosela said.

Olivar added six rebounds to his 16 points on the afternoon, and Elijah Titla was 5 of 9 from the field for 12 points, and added four rebounds, four steals and four assists.

“This means a lot to the community. We have a small community, but it means a great deal to the fans, and they’ve supported us through the whole year,” Fort Thomas coach Matthew Dona said.

Braydon Posey had 12 points on 5 of 14 shooting for St. David (24-11, 6-3 1A South), which had 19 turnovers and shot just 36.7% from the field in the loss.

Brian M. Bergner Jr. has covered professional, collegiate and high school sports for more than 20 years. Follow him on X at @AzPreps365Brian or on Facebook at @Five2MediaWorks. Have a story idea? Email Brian at bbergner@azpreps365.com.