It was an aggressive 4 quarters by Westerville Central, anchored by a tenacious defense that seemed to stifle and frustrate the Wildcats, including this play where Westerville South’s Kruz McClure (22) is swarmed by Central’s Josh Henderson (2) and Devin Martin (12). (Press Pros Feature Photos by Brian Bayless)
Dallas Tucker scored 21 points and Josh Henderson 20 as Westerville Central parlayed a 14-0 run over a 4:30 span of the fourth quarter to put away Westerville South. In the girls game, South won 51-42 in a tune-up for the district tournament, which begins next week.
Westerville, OH – Coach Kevin Martin gave his Westerville Central boys basketball team the spiel before Tuesday night’s nonleague game at Westerville South about it being “just another game, albeit a tough one.”
Yeah, right. Martin was one of the all-time greats at Westerville North, where he helped the Warriors to a Division I state championship in 1994. He was never going to sell his fired-up Warhawk players that bill of goods.
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“It’s definitely a pride thing competing for your school against either of the other two Westerville teams,” Central junior Josh Henderson said “We’re always going to fight extra hard in those games.”
With a scintillating 14-0 run over a span of four minutes and 30 seconds in the fourth quarter, Central bounced South 65-57 at Ed Calo Court in a wildly streaky affair between teams that have been up and down all season. In the girls game, South’s girls led virtually coast to coast for a 51-42 triumph over Central.
“I know I told the guys that beforehand to keep them level-headed, but there’s more involved in these intra-district matchups than people know,” Martin said. “Now that it’s over, I can say it definitely was nice to get this one on their floor with the (district) tournament right around the corner. I hope we can build on this performance.”
Westerville Central’s Dallas Tucker (3) gets nothing but net to extend the Warhawks lead down the stretch against Westerville South. Tucker dropped in 21 on the way to a 65-57 win over rival Westerville South.
Driving to the basket successfully and hitting mid-range jumpers galore, Central raced to a 14-point lead in the first half.
Early in the third quarter, South took back-to-back charges – long a staple of Ed Calo’s program – and that emotional sequence led to a big shift in momentum.
“We knew they’d make a run and get back in the ball game,” Martin said. “The key was going to be how we responded to it.”
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Kruz McClure hit a three-point shot in transition off a nifty feed from Amari Hodges to give the Wildcats a 49-47 lead at the 6:20 mark.
Then came the Warhawks’ decisive answer. Dallas Tucker hit a baseline jumper. Following an inbounds violation by South (its second of the night), Tucker scored again from 13 feet.
Smelling blood in the water, Martin called for a 1-2-2 zone trap and it reaped major dividends. Tucker turned a steal into a three-point play. Devin Martin – Kevin’s senior son – scored on back-to-back transition drives, the latter producing a three-point play. Henderson forced a steal under South’s basket, then raced downcourt for the putback.
“We had been working on that trap all week in practice and coach pulled it out of the bag at just the right time,” Tucker said. “I think the difference was we locked down on defense, hit the boards and got in transition.”
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Tucker scored 21 points and Henderson 20 to pace Central (13-7), which still trails the series 23-8. Henderson put the nail in the coffin with a deep three-pointer while the Warhawks were supposedly bleeding the clock in the final 90 seconds.
“Ten years ago, had Josh taken a shot like that it would have driven me crazy, but now I can only smile and say give him credit for being so confident,” Martin said. “Dallas and Josh really carried us tonight. Dallas is a very talented offensive player and it’s hard for defenders to get into him. He’s a high-level finisher when he gets in the paint.”
McClure, central Ohio’s leading scorer at 24 points per game, topped South (12-7) by hitting his average, leaving the 6-foot-6 junior guard one shy of 1,000 for his career. Draz Smith added 16 points.
Calo and has coaching staff seemed especially downcast after the defeat. South, district champion last season, also lost twice to crosstown rival North. A high point was an upset of state-ranked Delaware (20-1) in which McClure scored a career-high 40 points.
South’s Deziah Dupree (2) drops in two of her 9 points on the night over Central defender Avery Vukmanic (10)
“Our inconsistency showed up again tonight,” said Calo, who is 562-282 in his illustrious 37-year run at South that included a state championship in 2016. “We made a lot of mistakes … bad turnovers, defensive breakdowns. I kind of felt like we gave it away, but that’s not to take anything away from Central. I give them credit. They made big plays when they had to. This is just one game, though. All we lost tonight was a little pride.”
Central is seeded No. 13 and South No. 16 entering the tournament.
South’s girls, meanwhile, gained a jolt of momentum heading to the tournament with an impressive win over Central. Damia Dupree and Zoe Guice scored 13 points each, Cir’Rye White added 10 and Deziah Dupree nine for the Wildcats (16-6).
Despite the bitter loss to the Wildcats, Westerville Central had something to celebrate after Kate Yaussy (5) dropped in her 1,000th career point with this shot from range on February 13, 2024.
The defending district champions are seeded 12th, three spots back of Central (17-5), which was celebrating its first Ohio Capital Conference Ohio Division championship after five consecutive losing seasons.
“It’s definitely nice to win a rivalry game like this, especially heading into the tournament,” South coach Jermaine Guice said. “With a win over a real good team, it shows us that we belong in the upper echelon of the bracket. Like any team, we have lapses. But at times, we play very, very well.”
The Wildcats used their ball skills and athleticism to get in prime scoring spots against Central. They led by as many as 18 before the Warhawks made a spirited charge toward the end.
Six-foot sophomore Ella Martin – daughter of Kevin – had 24 points to lead Central. Senior Kate Yaussy celebrated her 1,000th career point in the defeat.
“Once we got it five-on-five in the halfcourt with them we were fine,” Central second-year coach Justin Patrick said. “We played really, really hard but their girls are difficult to stop when they get in transition.”
It marked the eighth straight win in the series for South dating to 2016 and hiked the gap to 23-5.
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