Ellis Appiah goes hard to the glass against Tony Nwokolo, scoring two of his team high 20 points as Orange captures the D1 title. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Brian Bayless)
Olentangy Orange opened the second half on an 8-0 run and never looked back in routing Reynoldsburg in the first big-school state final featuring two Columbus-area teams.
Dayton, OH – During the second quarter of an abysmal Division I state championship game Saturday night, Olentangy Orange coach Anthony Calo looked over his shoulder at a large scoreboard with the statistics. One can only imagine what went through his mind.
“I was looking at the field goal percentages and how poorly both teams were shooting,” Calo said.
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But while the Pioneers couldn’t shoot the ball in the ocean in taking a 17-14 lead to halftime, one thing stood out: Orange’s rock-solid defense was holding high-scoring Reynoldsburg at bay. Once the offense got in gear, it would be hard to beat.
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Orange came out of the locker room with an 8-0 run in the first 67 seconds, kick-starting a magnificent 30-point quarter that paved the way to a dominating 56-41 victory over the Raiders for the program’s first state title.
Pioneers senior guard Ellis Appiah said Calo didn’t exactly deliver a Knute Rockne-like pep talk at halftime.
“Coach said, ‘are we going to go out and leave it all on the floor or have regrets five years after the game?,’’ Appiah said.
Adding that his team was a bit tentative, Calo insisted that only a few tweaks were made schematically, but whatever they were worked like a charm.
Levi Davis added to the second half slam-fest that saw several Pioneers going to the iron with authority.
With Orange picking up the tempo, Appiah and Treyton Schoeder knocked down 3-pointers and Devin Brown – who was just 1 for 10 in the first half – drove hard for another basket in the surge.
The deluge never let up in the 30-12 quarter that put the outcome on ice.
“We weren’t able to recover from that run,” Reynoldsburg coach Andy Moore said. “I called timeout to reset, and I had all of the confidence in the world we would get back in it. It was just hard for us to get out and go with it and our jump shots weren’t falling. Their transition defense obviously was very good. That’s a connected group on the defensive end. They kept everything in front of them.”
While he may have had an off night from the field, (1 of 10 to start) Devin Brown’s defensive prowess and leadership played a key role in the Orange surge in the 3rd quarter.
On a court chock-full of Division I college-bound athletes, the shining star on this night was Appiah, a Denison University signee averaging 8.5 points per game, scored a career-high 20 on 8-of-10 field goal shooting (3 for 4 on threes).
“I was hot out there tonight and the guys were getting me the ball,” Appiah said.
Schroeder, an All-Ohio defensive back in football, hit four threes and scored 12 points and Levi Davis added 10. Brown, the Davidson University-bound Central District player of the year, contributed six points, six rebounds and six assists despite his shooting woes. He was a key contributor in the surge.
“Coach told me I was shooting too many threes, and said I should make them respect my drive and try to focus on getting downhill,” Brown said. “Passing has always been a big part of my game.”
Reynoldsburg’s Jordan Fisher pops from the top of the key. Fisher, like Appiah, also contributed a team high 20 total points on the night.
Orange (26-2) not only held Reynoldsburg (26-2) to its lowest point total of the year – the Raiders came in scoring 75.6 points per game – but built a 25-4 advantage in fast break points and a 24-3 bulge at the 3-point arc. The Pioneers also outrebounded the Raiders 32-24 and held them to 38.3 percent shooting.
This marked the first big-school championship game ever between two Central District teams, and many expected it to be a free-wheeling affair.
“We just wanted to make them take a bunch of contested twos and threes,” Calo said.
Ohio University-bound Jordan Fisher capped his career with a team-high 20 points for Reynoldsburg, which had never previously won a regional game.
“I’m just glad to be here, and to experience the whole thing,” Fisher said. “To only lose two games is pretty impressive.”
Orange capped a three-year stretch in which it went 76-8 with two regional runner-ups and a much-desired state crown. Calo also evened the score with his first ballot Hall of Fame father, Ed, who won a Division I state championship with Westerville South in 2016.
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Not to be outdone, Terryn Thomas takes an alley-oop from Ellis Appiah and slams it home as Orange increases its double-digit lead in the 3rd quarter.
The Pioneers’ only defeats this season came to out-of-state opponents. They knocked off defending Division I champion Cleveland St. Ignatius (twice( and runner-up Centerville, plus Division II state champion Westerville North along the way.
“We built this thing through organization,” Calo said. “These kids started coming to our camps in third grade and formed an unbreakable bond. With everything we’ve been able to achieve the past three seasons, it was great to get the payoff with the state championship. Just to hear the words “state champs” is overwhelming.”
The smile says it all. Anthony Calo follows in his father’s footsteps and brings home a state title for Orange.
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