9 early season storylines in Greater Columbus high school boys, girls basketball
High school basketball season isn't even a month old — the girls started Nov. 22 and the boys began Dec. 1 — but plenty of interesting developments have occurred in central Ohio.
Here are nine early season storylines:
1. Delaware Hayes boys respond to early adversity
Playing without a key contributor for the third consecutive game, the Pacers won a nail-biter 59-58 at Westerville North on Friday to improve to 5-0 overall and 2-0 in the OCC-Capital.
Senior and Ohio University signee Jesse Burris led Delaware with 19 points, including the tying and winning free throws with 1.1 seconds remaining.
“We’ve battled a lot of adversity through the first five games,” coach Adam Vincenzo said. “Our veteran group has responded really well.”
Delaware played those three games without 6-foot-7 junior forward Landon Vanderwarker, who has missed time with a sprained wrist and an illness. Vincenzo hopes Vanderwarker, a transfer from Northside Christian who was first-team all-state in Division IV last season, returns this week.
The Pacers host Worthington Kilbourne on Tuesday in league play.
“(Vanderwarker) has to see a doctor Tuesday morning to get the final clearance with the wrist,” Vincenzo said. “We’re day by day with him, but we’re battling and doing enough for our other guys to step up and keep us rolling.”
Along with Burris, Vincenzo singled out contributions from Jeremiah Russell, Jake Lowman and Carter Piatt-Brown.
2. Pickerington Central boys regroup with youth
Early season struggles have been few and far between for the perennially powerful Tigers, last year’s Division I state runners-up and the champion two seasons ago.
The big difference this season is Central (2-3) has only three players who saw significant varsity minutes last winter, and one of them has been injured the past two weeks.
Senior guard Juwan Turner and junior guard Amare Spiva are providing veteran leadership as the rest of the lineup adjusts to varsity play. The other varsity returnee, 6-7 senior forward Braylin Wells, has been out of the lineup since early December.
On Sunday, the Tigers lost 76-59 to two-time defending Division IV state champion Richmond Heights in the Capital City Coaches for a Cure Classic at Capital University.
“We just have to continue to work and get better, continue to push these guys,” coach Eric Krueger said. “It’s been a gauntlet of a schedule. It’s a grind, but we will continue to turn a corner. We’ve shared the ball, played unselfish and played with a lot of energy. It’s a good group. But I thought that (Sunday), we were just completely overmatched.”
Sophomore guard Aaven Snyder, who missed three weeks because of illness, led Central with 15 points Sunday. Spiva added 14 and Turner scored 11.
3. Olentangy Orange boys remain perfect
Coming off a Division I regional final appearance, Orange is 5-0 after beating Dublin Jerome 51-27 on Friday and Whetstone 67-47 on Saturday.
Senior guard Dylan Joy led the Pioneers with 23 points against Jerome and 20 against Whetstone.
“We’re long and we play hard,” Orange coach Anthony Calo said. “We have talent, but we also have been doing a fairly solid job in being disciplined. We have a lot to improve, but our kids are realistic about it. They’re critical of themselves in a good way.”
The Pioneers finished 21-4 last season, falling to Pickerington Central 57-53 in a regional final.
“We have respect for our past, but we’re not trying to live on last year,” Calo said. “We’re trying to create our own story.”
4. Versatility powering Walnut Ridge boys
Coach Chuck Jefferson stopped short of saying this could be his best team in six seasons leading his alma mater, but he believes the Scots' depth and versatility should help them contend for their second City League championship in five seasons.
Senior guard and Duquesne signee Dominique Aekins leads a starting lineup that features one more senior, two sophomores and freshman guard Deon Johnson.
“We’ve been getting better and better each game, top to bottom,” Jefferson said. “To see some guys step up in different ways, collectively … it’s tough to say with that 2020 group winning the city and district (in Division I), but top to bottom, this is a special group and one of the deeper teams we’ve had as far as versatility and what we can do. Everybody has stepped up in different ways.”
Senior guard Lethaniel Foster Jr. and sophomore forwards De’Yaire Adams and Marquise Lucas, the latter a dependable 3-point shooter, round out the starting lineup. Sophomore Diondre Reed earned a few early starts.
A 63-49 win at Africentric last Tuesday provided the Scots (3-2, 2-0 City-South) a strong start as they hope to win only their second league championship since 1971.
5. Africentric girls dominate Reynoldsburg
Defending Division III state champion Africentric (6-1) made an early season statement by beating Division I Reynoldsburg 79-35 in the Battle in the 614 on Saturday at Ohio Dominican.
“Our non-conference schedule is designed to get us ready for March, to get us ready to make our run, so this is a big win,” coach Janicia Anderson said. “Reynoldsburg is a good program, so this is big for us.”
Senior guard Kamryn Grant led a balanced attack for the Nubians with 23 points. Grant, a Dayton signee, missed most of last season after suffering a right ACL injury in late November.
“I’ve been feeling better,” Grant said. “Coming into the season, I was a little nervous about the injury, but after playing a couple of games and getting used to my team again, I’m definitely excited to be out here and imposing my will.”
6. Reynoldsburg girls coach believes team will bounce back
Raiders coach Marshae Dotson is confident her team will rebound from the loss to Africentric, but she wasn't happy with the performance.
“There was no heart (and) we didn’t play with effort,” Dotson said. “I don’t care that we had three games in a week. The effort was horrible. We have to push harder in practice. Maybe (our) rotations will be changed. People have to step up. People have to be tough. We were not tough tonight.”
Aubree Price led the Raiders (6-3) with 14 points.
A former assistant coach in the program, Dotson was named interim coach when Jack Purtell stepped down last month for family reasons. Purtell remains the school’s athletic director.
7. Wellington girls continue early surge
An acute focus on defense and overall intensity already have led to the Jaguars’ best season in six years.
With three-year starter and junior forward Elodie Ware as an anchor, Wellington (7-1, 3-1 MSL-Cardinal) has exceeded its six wins from each of the past two years and has its most victories since 2017-18 (15-10). The Jaguars’ perfect start ended Saturday with a 57-42 loss to Harvest Prep.
“It’s just relentlessness and (having) a chip on their shoulder,” coach Jordan Johnson said. “When you’ve been the underdog for so long, when you get a chance to put it all together, you need to show what you’re capable of. And we get after it on defense. I wanted it to be 94 feet of pressure.”
Senior forward/center Rowyn Hubbard helps lead a guard-heavy starting lineup that also consists of senior Samika Varma, sophomore Jeanie DeSantis and freshman Dea Singh.
8. Dublin Jerome boys off to strong start
Despite losing seven players to graduation and two other key contributors, the Celtics won their first three games before a 51-27 loss at Orange on Friday.
Along with losing the 2023 graduates from last year’s Division I district runner-up team, senior point guard Zach Thomas is out for the season with a torn labrum suffered in football and senior guard Kyle White has opted to focus on lacrosse, which he will play at the University of Tampa.
Sophomore Cooper Craig and junior Charlie Kolp have split time at point guard.
“We have a bunch of good athletes,” seventh-year coach Richie Beard said. “We just have to be a little bit better offensively scoring the ball. Our kids compete their butts off and that’s how we won three games. ... I like this group a lot.”
9. Former Worthington Christian coach Weakley back on bench
Former Worthington Christian boys coach Kevin Weakley is serving as a volunteer assistant for the DeSales boys.
Weakley’s son, Grant, is a freshman guard on the junior varsity.
“I’m just going to spend time with my son and be around the game a little bit and see what happens,” Weakley said. “It’s a new culture for me being in a program in the CCL. I’m learning a lot. It’s good for me to be in a place where I can be around a lot of people that know about the game and learn some new things even though I’ve been in it for a while.”
Weakley stepped down as coach at Worthington Christian in September 2022 after going 383-161 in 22 seasons. He also resigned as athletic director.
He was named boys coach at Northside Christian in April but resigned in October for family reasons.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: 9 early season storylines in central Ohio high school basketball
