Aiden Hambel drives into the lane for a bucket to put Darby up by 3 going into halftime. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Logan Gapen)
It’s not even Christmas yet, but 4-0 Hillard Darby already equaled its win total for all of last season and has set its sights on capturing its first OCC title since 2008.
Hilliard, OH – By Division I and Ohio Capital Conference standards, the Hilliard Darby boys basketball team is on the small side and won’t dazzle anyone with its athleticism.
But there’s plenty to like about this veteran team that is off to a 4-0 start after going 4-19 in an often painful 2023-24 season.
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“We’ve got six seniors who have grown up together and they’re dead set and determined on leaving this program better than it was when they came here,” 11th-year Panthers coach Chris Maul said.
Veteran central Ohio columnist Steve Blackledge writes the OCC and sports at large for Press Pros.
The bar to achieve that goal isn’t exceedingly high. Darby has posted just one winning season (14-9 in 22) since 2013 when Brett Norris departed for Hilliard Bradley. But the Panther seniors have a juicier fruit in sight.
“Our goal is to win the OCC,” said senior Ty Maul, the coach’s son. “It hasn’t been done here in 16 years, and that has driven us every day in practice.”
While Chris Maul insisted that nothing has been said in the locker room about winning the OCC Cardinal Division, senior Alex Perie smiled and said, “The players think about it and talk about it all the time amongst ourselves. It’s a legacy we want to leave here with.”
Ulysses Ponder advances the ball into the frontcourt during a battle with Hilliard Darby.
Darby made a bold early-season statement by beating defending co-champion Olentangy 69-61 Friday in an entertaining up-tempo contest. Like Darby, Olentangy didn’t graduate a single senior from a year ago and was considered the favorite to repeat.
“We think it’s going to come down to us and Olentangy for the title so, obviously, this was a big one for us,” Ty Maul said. “It’s early and there’s a lot of work to be done yet, but we expected what’s happening right now all along.”
This tussle featured nine lead changes and seven ties and was up for grabs until the final minute.
Trailing by three points, Darby outscored Olentangy 14-3 over the final six minutes to come away with the win.
Olentangy (4-2, 2-1) brought a lot of pressure in the form or full-court and half-court traps that yielded some steals and turnovers and at times took Darby out of rhythm. But down the stretch, the poised Panthers made the Braves pay for their gambling nature by making the extra pass and knocking down open shots.
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Back-to-back three-pointers by Cooper Gilkerson and Maul gave Darby the lead for good at 61-58 with 4:49 left.
Olentangy lost its composure and began taking rushed and contested three-pointers.
Ty Maul brawled in the lane all night, dropping in 17 points for the Panthers.
With the lead, Darby wisely pulled the ball out and extended the floor.
Exploiting double-teams on the ball, Perie got himself free for a nice left-handed drive down the lane at the 3:04 mark and splashed a back-breaking three-pointer from the corner at 1:57.
“We basically play five guards with an open post, and while our lack of size can sometimes give us troubles defensively and on the offensive boards, we have good ball-handlers who can create space and find open shooters,” Chris Maul said. “Once we got the game tied, I told the players during a timeout, ‘You’re ready to take this game over,’ and they responded like a veteran team does.”
Olentangy was the first team to top 50 points against Darby (4-0, 3-0) this season but managed just nine in the decisive fourth quarter.
“I think our team defense and chemistry are the two things we hang our hats on,” Ty Maul said. “Our six seniors have played together since third grade, and everyone knows what everybody else is doing out there.”
It was a closely fought game until Darby rallied in the 4th quarter, stretching the final margin to 8 points.
Maul scored 17 points, Perie 16 and Kade Romine 10 to lead Darby.
Jackson Mangham and Jay Agrawal scored 12 each for balanced Olentangy, which got to the free throw line just six times.
Expectations remain high for the Braves, who captured a share of their first OCC title in history last February, and their first league title period since 1992 when they played in the Buckeye Athletic Conference.
“We started chucking up threes late in the game and they weren’t going in,” Olentangy ninth-year coach John Feasel said. “We’re going to do what we do and that’s press and trap and play up-tempo basketball, but Darby showed us what happens when you don’t sit down and play defense in a tight game. We were not mentally tough tonight and Darby was. Hats off to them. They played a great game. I just hope we keep things tight and the championship is still up for grabs when they come to our place (Feb. 7).”
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