Boys Basketball: Jeremiah Russell sparks Delaware Hayes in win over Buckeye Valley
Friday, December 1, 2023
By Michael Rich
mrich@cbussports.com
Jeremiah Russell of Delaware Hayes guards Buckeye Valley’s Zane Melvin during the Pacers’ 69-48 win Dec. 1 in Delaware. Photo: Lorrie Gardner
Jesse Burris, Jake Lowman, and Landon Vanderwarker are certainly talented players. But Jeremiah Russell stole the show, leading the host Delaware Hayes boys basketball team to a 69-48 win over Buckeye Valley.
The sophomore guard scored a game-best 23 points and added three rebounds, three steals and a pair of assists.
Russell had four points and an assist in a 6-0 run to open the game and the Pacers never trailed.
“It does feel really good,” he said. “(The early run) got us going – playing full court defense and getting steals. Hopefully, I can keep that going.”
Burris went for 12 points, eight rebounds, three steals and a pair of assists and Lowman added eight points, six assists and two steals for Delaware (1-0).
Delaware Hayes sophomore Cobe Holmes drives to the basket during the Pacers’ win over Buckeye Valley Dec. 1 in Delaware. Photo: Lorrie Gardner
Lowman scored five points in a 7-0 run at the end of the first half to give the Pacers a 32-14 lead at the break.
“Want to be balanced and (tonight) we had a lot of guys scoring,” said Vincenzo, whose team led by as much as 23 on a couple of occasions in the second half. “Anytime you add a new piece to puzzle, there are some things to work through. But everyone is bought in. It might be a different guy every night, but we’ve got a lot of depth and I thought we gelled very well.”
Vanderwarker, a junior, is the new piece to the puzzle for the Pacers after transferring from Northside Christian just before the season started. He was held to two points in the first half, but finished with 16 points, eight rebounds and a pair of blocks.
But he really started feeling comfortable in his new surroundings a couple of weekends ago at the Lima Senior Mega Scrimmage.
“We all have a good chemistry so far,” Vanderwarker said. “We went down to Lima for a scrimmage. We blew out Lima and played well against some other good teams. I feel like we’re going to keep getting stronger and stronger together.”
Delaware’s Chase Griggs calls timeout before Buckeye Valley’s Hayden Mays can tie him up Dec. 1 in Delaware. Photo: Lorrie Gardner
Delaware won its ninth of 11 meetings since the two began playing again in the 2013-14 season. But the Pacers and the Barons have been separated by just one point in the previous four meetings, which the teams split.
The Barons, who finished 6-17 last season, got a boost from a pair of Marion Harding transfers. Sophomore Markus Hemphill had 21 points and nine rebounds and Le’Den Jones added 12 points and three boards for the Barons (0-1), who got as close as 13 in the third quarter.
“(Buckeye Valley) is going to win a lot of games, too,” Vincenzo said. “(Hemphill) is good is good and I like him a lot. He played well and he’s a load. You just never know what you’re going to get in a game like this. We’ve been preaching every day, ‘Start fast, play fast, finish fast.’ Sometimes in these games, the emotions get you out of sorts early on.”