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Alex Trebek on the set of Jeopardy! with Shaker Heights native Pranjal Vachaspati, a six-time champion.

(Jeopardy Productions, Inc.)

It's been more than a week since Pranjal Vachaspati wrapped up his run on Jeopardy! with $139,088 and six wins. If only the taping hadn't been so long ago, he might be still going.

Unfortunately, the shows were recorded in April, long before the Cavaliers shook the Cleveland curse with a final-game victory in June over Golden State to win the NBA Championship.

"I remembered enough about Cleveland sports to know that as soon as I said I was from Cleveland, there was no way I was going to win a Game 7," said Vachaspati, 24, a Ph.D. candidate in computer science at the University of Illinois.

He's actually from Shaker Heights, the product of Onaway Elementary, Shaker Heights Middle School and one year of Shaker Heights High School.

His father, Tanmay Vachaspati, was a professor of physics at Case Western Reserve University. His mom, Punam Ohri-Vachaspati, is professor of nutrition and worked with the Ohio State University Extension. They left when he was 14 for Princeton, New Jersey.

He listed Shaker Heights on the show because, "That's home."

Immediately after taping, he splurged on a car: A 1991 red Mazda Miata convertible, for $1,500.

"I was not allowed to tell anyone I won, and people were thinking, 'Oh, he must have won one of the games.' When they finally saw how many I won, and how much, everyone just asked me, 'Why didn't you buy a nicer car?'"

Vachaspati employed some of the same techniques as the Cleveland area's most famous Jeopardy! champ, Arthur Chu, who won 11 times. He studied up on wagering strategies and employed the "Forrest Bounce" (named for Jeopardy! contestant Chuck Forrest) when choosing questions, meaning he hopped around to different categories and dollar values rather than staying with one subject. It worked. He snagged about three-fourths of the Daily Double questions that way.

Vachaspati lost on a Final Jeopardy! question about "20th Century English Nobility." Though he had been in the lead, he had to bet enough to win should his closest competitor answer correctly. She got it wrong, too, but bet less, so he lost.

It wasn't that incorrect answer that had friends needling him, though. He got one wrong in an earlier episode that they just can't understand.

"I said Harry Potter 7 instead of the 'Deathly Hallows.' I'm getting a lot of ribbing for that one," said Vachaspati. In his defense, though, that is the seventh Potter book. The other two contestants guessed incorrect titles.

He also misidentified New York Yankees great Joe DiMaggio during Game 7, calling him "Babe Ruth" even while looking at a photograph of Joltin' Joe

"I just kind of blanked. I knew it wasn't Babe Ruth, but I had to say say something," he said.

You're killing me, Smalls!

Still, it's the Potter question, not the DiMaggio one, that has caused him the most grief: "Plenty of people on Jeopardy! don't know sports, but not to know Harry Potter?"

Vachaspati is eligible for this season's Tournament of Champions.

To prepare, he ought to consult the Baseball Almanac, re-read the Potter books and replay Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals over and over again, the one where Babe Ruth hits a three over Steph Curry to seal the victory for Cleveland.