Two-time.

After winning a state title as a freshman playing for a loaded St. Vincent-St. Mary squad with guys like current Ohio point guard Lunden McDay and 2021 West Virginia signee Seth Wilson, 2021 Ohio State signee Malaki Branham did it again on Saturday night when he dropped 37 points to lead the Irish to a 72-50 win over DeSales and their state record ninth state championship.

While winning two state titles in a career is quite the feat, it is likely Branham would have won three if last season's state tournament were not cut short due to the outbreak of COVID-19.

With St. Vincent-St. Mary coming into the game as the heavy favorite, lots of people in the gym were caught by surprise when DeSales, led by Davidson signee Des Watson, who Ohio State was in contact with at one point, led 33-28 at halftime.

I'm not sure what was said in the St. Vincent-St. Mary locker room at halftime, but the team everyone expected to see to start the day came out in the second half and took complete control of the game as DeSales had absolutely no answer for the full court pressure applied by the Irish.

Dominating for the final sixteen minutes, Branham went for 24 second half points and finished the day an extremely efficient and impressive 15-21 from the field.

Having the chance to capture some footage of Branham during both state tournament games this weekend, I am going to use the rest of this article to highlight what he brings to Ohio State with film to back it up.