The 1954 Portsmouth Trojans district championship team was the school's 4th in 5 years. Despite going 9-9 in the regular season, the Trojans still had some commendable wins along the way. PHS crushed Cincinnati Roger Bacon, Cincinnati Elder, and Cincinnati Walnut Hills. The Trojans beat Ironton twice, beat Columbus East, nipped Springfield 71-70, and handled Lima easily 78-60. Portsmouth then pulled off a big upset to end the regular season, as state ranked Dayton Stivers fell to the Trojans 81-52. Leroy Carr was the leading scorer on this team, and had games of 35, 33, and 32 points. He averaged 23.6 PPG for the season.
The .500 regular season mark would prove to be deceiving for the tournament opponents of the Trojans. PHS would advance all the way to the regional finals, where the Hamilton Big Blue awaited the Trojans for a 3rd time this season. Just like the previous two encounters, they topped PHS to end the Trojans' season at 14-10. The Big Blue would go on to win the Class AA state championship.