Alex Smith made his presence known, repeatedly going hard to the glass against Hilliard Bradley. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Logan Gapen)
Behind their tall and talented junior centers and stingy defensive efforts, Upper Arlington boys and girls recorded a decisive sweep of Hilliard Bradley in OCC Central Division play.
Hilliard, OH – When asked how it felt to own a six-inch height advantage over players trying to guard him, 6-foot-9 Upper Arlington junior standout Alex Smith offered a wry smile and deadpanned, “I don’t mind it at all.” Captain Obvious couldn’t have fed Smith a fatter pitch to knock out of the park.
While the Ohio State commit shined in UA’s 54-40 Ohio Capital Conference Central Division win at Hilliard Bradley Friday with game-high totals of 21 points, 12 rebounds, four blocked shots and four assists, it was just as much about what his supporting cast provided.
The Golden Bears (9-4, 4-3) won with smothering defense, timely shooting, crisp ball movement and a notable edge in physicality over a rebuilding/reloading Bradley team starting two freshman and a sophomore.
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“This was one of our best performances all season long … one of the most complete games in a place where we haven’t won in a long time if at all,” UA coach Joe Bills said. “We exhibited championship focus and confidence, our defense was incredible and we hit shots. We were in total command.”
Veteran central Ohio columnist Steve Blackledge writes the OCC and sports at large for Press Pros.
Upper Arlington shot out to a 13-0 lead four minutes into the game, then added another 8-0 run in the third quarter to run away and hide from perennial power Bradley. It wasn’t until play loosened up in the final quarter that the Jaguars finally begin taking and knocking down shots with some confidence.
“We really set the tone defensively,” UA junior guard Hayden Henry said. “We wanted to run them off the (three-point) line and be physical with them. All things considered, I think this was our best game of the year.”
Luke Mitchell gets intense as he sizes up Bradley’s Ben Mirgon.
Henry, who added 11 points, hit three three-pointers to help take the pressure off Smith, who draws the lion’s share of attention from opponents even when he’s bringing the ball up the court, roving the perimeter or feeding open teammates. Luke Mitchell also contributed nine points and defended the perimeter superbly.
“It’s no secret that we like to play inside-out and when we’re sharing the ball and knocking down shots, it opens up so much for space for Alex to do his thing,” Bills said.
Smith, Hayden and Bills went out of their way to applaud the defensive effort of senior Cal Casey, who overtook Kevin Vannatta (the star of UA’s state runner-up team in 2014) to become the program’s career leader in charges taken with 47.
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Smith, who made a name for himself with a fine sophomore season in which he averaged 14.5 points and 8.3 rebounds, is continuing to improve by leaps and bound, prompting the early offer by OSU. Bills suggested that he believes Smith can develop into a legitimate Mr. Basketball candidate next season, following in the footsteps of Dane Goodwin, won the honor in 2018 before starring at Notre Dame.
“Obviously, there’s some pressure that comes with that, but that’s just a part of it you have to deal with,” Smith said. “I’ve been able to block all the noise out. My goal is just to improve one percent every day. The top priority is to add some muscle to my frame.”
Bradley’s Kypton Norris gets denied by UA’s Ciarnan Moloney.
Kypton Norris scored 11 points and Jayden Reed-Davis added 10 (both are freshmen) for Bradley (5-9, 2-4), which has predictably been up and down this season given their inexperience and lack of size. The Jaguars have beaten the likes of Dublin Coffman and Springboro while losing competitive games against some of the area’s top programs. But this wasn’t one of those.
“We just got totally dominated on both ends of the floor tonight,” 11th-year coach Brett Norris said. “They were so much more physical and ready to play than we were. Frankly, that was embarrassing.
“You can rationalize things about being young, but we’ve played 14 games already and there’s no excuse for the kind of effort we saw out there tonight. Part of the problem is we don’t have a leader, regardless of age, who sets an example every day in practice with his effort.”
GIRLS
Upper Arlington 39, Hilliard Bradley 28
It was by no means an impressive showing by Upper Arlington (17-1, 7-0) – third-ranked in the state by MaxPreps – but coach John Wanke tried to put things in a proper perspective.
Lainey Dennison lofts a pass to a teammate over the outstretched hands of UA’s Lucy Martin.
“When I first got here, any win would have been nice but now that we’re having some success, things are dissected a lot more,” he said. “We were not as crisp as usual tonight, but when you play good defense, sometimes that’s enough to get you through nights when you’re a step slow.”
Elizabeth Hunt scored 17 points and Ella Hanky contributed nine off the bench to pace the Golden Bears, who jumped to a 9-0 lead and never looked back. Both are six-footers.
Lexi Fabb had 14 points for Bradley (9-7, 4-3), which put forth a nice effort but had a difficult time penetrating a UA defense allowing just 32 points per game.
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