East_Tech_basketball.jpg

This week’s cover story — “The Program: Meet the East Tech Scarabs, a Cleveland Team Actually Worth Rooting For” — is an in-depth profile of the city’s best public school basketball program in a generation.

Led by coach Brett Moore, star sophomore guard Markell Johnson (#5 jersey), seniors Anthony Carmon (#2/#32) and Kory Cullum (#4/#23), and new transfer Keith Griffin (#24), the Scarabs are looking to make it back to the state final four in Columbus for consecutive years. Before the team made it there last year, no Cleveland public school had a better season in 29 years.

We’ve received a bunch of messages from Scene readers wanting to know the East Tech schedule and how they can see the high-flying dunks and swarming defense in person. So here’s how you can check out the remaining regular season games (home games bolded, Senate League games with an asterisks), including tonight’s home game against Lincoln West High School:

— Friday, Jan. 23, 5:30 p.m. against Lincoln West*. Location: East Tech (2439 East 55th St., Cleveland, OH 44104).

— Saturday, Jan. 24, 4 p.m. at Findlay. Location: Findlay (1200 Broad Ave., Findlay, OH 45840).

— Tuesday, Jan. 27, 5:30 p.m. at Whitney Young*. Location: Young (17900 Harvard Ave., Cleveland, OH 44128).

— Friday, Jan. 30, 5:30 p.m. at Collinwood*. Location: Collinwood (15210 Saint Clair Ave., Cleveland, OH 44110)

— Wednesday, Feb. 4, time TBA, city championships*. Location East High School (1349 East 79th St., Cleveland, OH 44103).

— Friday, Feb. 6, time TBA, city championships*. Location East High School (1349 East 79th St., Cleveland, OH 44103).

— Wednesday, Feb. 11, 6 p.m. against Warrensville Heights. Location: East Tech (2439 East 55th St., Cleveland, OH 44104).

— Saturday, Feb. 14, 6 p.m. at Barberton. Location: Barberton (555 Barber Rd., Barberton, OH 44203).

It costs $5 to get in, and the games are always high-intensity and entertaining. And make sure to get there before tipoff (why not check out the JV game beforehand?), as the Scarabs have a tendency to pull away early: in their last two games — a 121-55 win over John Marshall and a 109-28 win over Max Hayes — they’ve combined to outscore their opponents 81-17 in the first quarter.

Check out East Tech’s full results, roster, and stats here, and check out Scene’s slideshow of East Tech in action here.

Doug Brown is a staff writer at Scene with a passion for public records laws and investigative reporting. A native of Ann Arbor, Mich., he has an M.A. in journalism from the Kent State University School of Journalism and Mass Communication and a B.A. in political science from Hiram College. Prior to joining Scene, Doug was a contributing writer for Deadspin.com, reporting behind-the-scenes stories about college sports through public records and developing sources. Doug's work as an enterprise reporter for the Daily Kent Stater was recognized by the Cleveland Press Club (2013 Ohio Excellence in Journalism Awards), Society of Professional Journalists (regional and national Mark of Excellence Awards), and the Associated Collegiate Press. He spent the summer of 2012 working for the Metro desk of the Cleveland Plain Dealer and spent previous summers working for Outside Bozeman Magazine and Crain's Detroit Business. His website is dougbrown8.com.