Boys Basketball
Orange earns share of league championship
Ryan Shaffer of Olentangy scores on a layup despite the efforts of Orange’s Nick Deitsch on Jan. 31. The Braves play Delaware in their Division I tournament opener Friday, Feb. 25, at Jonathan Alder. Buy This Photo
It wasn’t an ideal situation for the Olentangy Orange High School boys basketball team, but it was the corner into which the Pioneers had painted themselves.
Orange trailed OCC-Capital Division-leading Mount Vernon by one game entering its league finale Feb. 17. That meant to win a share of their third OCC-Capital title in the program’s four seasons, the Pioneers would need to defeat Delaware and hope that the Yellow Jackets would lose at New Albany.
The stars fell into place as Orange won 63-46 and New Albany earned a 47-43 victory.
“We heard rumors at halftime that New Albany had won, but we couldn’t pay attention to that,” senior guard Matt Kurelic said. “We knew we had to come out focused and put away Delaware. That’s the only thing we could control.”
After taking a 19-9 lead after the first quarter, Orange led 36-29 at halftime. Senior post player Andy Bosley scored nine of his 25 points in the third quarter to help the Pioneers seize control of the game.
“We came into the game very focused with the goal we had in mind,” said Bosley, who had four dunks against the Pacers. “We knew we had to win this game to have any chance of winning the (league) title.”
Orange and Mount Vernon tied for first at 11-3, followed by New Albany (10-4), Big Walnut (7-7), Delaware (7-7), Hilliard Bradley (6-8), Franklin Heights (3-11) and Watkins Memorial (1-13).
“This is the first group we have had here for four years and now they have a banner to go with the other two,” coach John Betz said. “These guys really deserved this. They are a good group of guys, and even though we have had some bumps in the road, we knew this would happen if we stuck together.”
One of the bumps in the road made the trip to the title more difficult. On Feb. 10, the Pioneers lost to Bradley 67-62 in overtime, putting them one game behind Mount Vernon.
“That (loss to Bradley) had been eating at me all week. I wasn’t a fun guy to be around,” Betz said. “I thought we had let something go — something that was a life memory. Now they can come back 30 years from now, look at their numbers up there and know they were a part of something great.”
Junior guard Nick Deitsch had 20 points with four 3-pointers and Kurelic added 11 points against Delaware.
“We got out in front and were able to spread our offense out,” Betz said. “We knew we had to get off to a good start because we didn’t start well in any of our losses.
“We played pretty good help defense. Brady Harris doesn’t always get a lot of credit offensively, but he played great defensively.”
The postseason begins Thursday, Feb. 23, for the Pioneers, who open at 7:45 p.m. against Canal Winchester in the first round of the Division I district tournament at Marysville.
“This has been a special group from day one and now we hope to make a district run,” said Betz, whose team is the ninth seed.
The teams have not played this season. The Indians enter the game at 10-10.
“(Winning a share of the league title) will definitely help with momentum,” Bosley said. “Now we just have to put our mind toward the tournament. We have reached one goal, now we have to work on another.”
The winner plays Reynoldsburg in the second round at 6 p.m. March 1 at Marysville. The Raiders had a first-round bye and finished the regular season at 11-9.
“It has been very, very intense.” senior guard Blake Hoskins said. “We knew since May of last year that we had a chance to do this. We reached our first goal, which is winning the league. The second is winning a district title. I can’t wait to get started working on that.”
•Olentangy opens the Division I district tournament against Delaware at 6 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25, at Jonathan Alder.
The Braves finished the regular season 10-10 after losing to Westerville North 68-61 on Feb. 17 in an OCC-Cardinal game.
Liberty won the league title at 12-2, with North and Westerville South tied for second (11-3). Westerville Central (7-7) was fourth, followed by Dublin Scioto (6-8), Olentangy (6-8), Dublin Jerome (2-12) and Marysville (1-13).
During the regular season, the Braves defeated host Delaware 64-54 on Dec. 30 in the Larry Eberst Classic. Stephen Walczak scored 18 points, Ryan Shaffer had 16, Jordan Gingery had 14 and Seth Clark had 10.
Michael Wells scored 24 points to lead Delaware in the first meeting. Wells is averaging 25.2 points per game.
The winner plays sixth-seeded Newark or Marysville in the second round at 7:45 p.m. March 2 at Jonathan Alder.
