After being tied 38-38 in the second half, the Pioneers finally found their groove with a 19-2 run which included this Ellis Appiah dunk. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Brian Bayless)
Propelled by a 19-2 run, the Pioneers remained undefeated against teams from Ohio and moved another step closer to winning the Ohio Capital Conference Central Division.
Upper Arlington, OH – It’s proven an insurmountable challenge for central Ohio opponents to produce a kryptonite strong enough to slow down Olentangy Orange this winter.
The Pioneers, who returned seven of their top nine players and are coming off back-to-back Division I regional runner-up finishes, have flown away from nearly every foe they’ve faced with a balanced, fast-paced, and turnover-inducing attack.
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“We talked about it at the beginning of last year that our super power needs to be our ball pressure because we have a lot of multi-sport athletes who are very good athletes, who are very good laterally and play hard,” coach Anthony Calo said. “They’re extremely coachable and apply game plans well. When you’ve got good athletes who apply game plans well, it helps.”
The latest evidence of Orange’s ability to find a new gear at the most important moment was on display Friday at pesky Upper Arlington, which hung with the state’s top-ranked team, according to MartinRPI.com, for three quarters.
Veteran central Ohio columnist Jarrod Ulrey writes the OCC and sports at large for Press Pros
Orange, which remains on course to likely be the district’s No. 1 seed for the second consecutive year heading into Sunday’s tournament drawing, pulled away for a 55-40 victory that featured six steals during one crucial five-minute stretch of the second half.
With the win, the Pioneers moved to 17-2 overall and 8-0 in the Ohio Capital Conference Central Division heading into a non-league game Saturday at Pickerington Central.
“With a lot of us being multi-sport athletes, we come through with so many different walks of athletes that it all translates together,” said junior guard Levi Davis, who also was the quarterback for the football team last fall and likely has a college future in that sport. “Especially with the guys we have, we all jell together on and off the court as you can see. If we can trust somebody getting through a screen, we can trust somebody guarding their own guy, which makes it easier for us.
Upper Arlington’s Alex Smith ignites the crowd and his teammates with a monster dunk in the first quarter of the game against Olentangy Orange.
“I feel like we have a switch that goes off. We’re really good at self-correcting what we have to do better. Having that competitor in us just comes naturally to us, and we know what we have to do to get it done.”
Upper Arlington, which dropped to 11-6 overall and 3-5 in the league but entered having won five of six, took a 36-34 lead with 1 minute, 31 seconds left in the third quarter on a basket by senior forward Weston Gregg.
Orange senior wing player Keegan Knupp tied it at 36 with 1:12 to go in the third, and Knupp stole the ball in the closing seconds of the third quarter to set up a layup by junior guard Treyton Schroeder with 2.8 seconds to go.
That quick burst at the end of the third period was the beginning of what would become a 19-2 run.
“I feel like we’re super dangerous all around the court,” Orange senior forward Devin Brown said. “A lot of our guys can shoot the ball, we can stretch the court out and attack, and we make super open lanes to kick. Also, with our handling of the ball, anyone can bring the ball up, so it makes us super versatile.
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“We’re definitely excited. We have a chip on our shoulder from last year, and actually the last two years because we lost two years in a row (in the regional). This year we’ll hopefully get over the hump, win the league again, and keep it going in the tournament.”
Cal Casey gets a courtside view as Treyton Schroeder and the Pioneers run away with one in the 4th quarter.
During the fourth quarter, Schroeder grabbed two steals and made a three-pointer and senior guard Ellis Appiah also made a three and added a critical three-point play with 5:33 remaining along with three steals.
Davis finished with 19 points and Brown 18 to lead the Pioneers, who hold a one-game lead over Olentangy Liberty in the league standings with two games to play.
Both of Orange’s losses have come to out-of-state opponents.
“The first thing I told our kids is that was championship grit by us,” Calo said. “I thought we faced a ton of adversity tonight because we were in foul trouble and we shot it poorly. In the tournament, you’ve got to find ways to win in adverse situations and I thought we handled adversity very well, in the fourth quarter especially. We were 26-2 last year and we’ve got seven of our top nine back, so we’d better make a run. Games like tonight are great for us. … I believe in this group for sure.”
Terryn Thomas and Zach Corna jockey for position during a free throw attempt.
With the OHSAA’s expansion to seven divisions, there will be six Division I district champions from the Central District – two of which will travel to Wittenberg to face teams from the Southwest.
Because of central Ohio’s depth, it will leave the area’s top seeds with difficult decisions at the drawing.
The Golden Bears, who got 15 points from junior post player and Ohio State-commit Alex Smith and 11 from senior guard Cal Casey, figure to be a tough area out for the coming postseason.
According to Calo, UA was “excellent” despite enduring a week in which several of its players battled sickness.
The Pioneers also beat the Bears 46-36 on Dec. 20.
Levi Davis hustles up the court during a 19-2, second-half Pioneer run to seal the win over the Bears.
“We actually did very fairly well against Olentangy Orange last year and this year, but when they’re able to cause turnovers and get out in transition, then a close game can become a blowout very quickly,” UA coach Joe Bills said. “We were with them into the fourth quarter, but then we didn’t do a great job of taking care of the ball against their pressure, which is totally a credit to their guys. You could tell they came in with a mindset that they were really going to pressure the basketball and not let us take time off the clock on offense, and they did a really good job of that.
“We were battling a lot of illness this week, and even myself, I missed practice twice this week. Not that that’s an excuse, but I was really proud of the way our guys believed.”
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