Boys basketball teams begin ‘process’ of striving for March
Saturday, December 2, 2023
By Jarrod Ulrey
julrey@cbussports.com
Pickerington Central’s Juwan Turner moves with the ball while Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary’s Jayson Walker defends Dec. 2 Reynoldsburg. Photo: John Hulkenberg
Because of the season’s length, the march to get to late March might seem like a distant pursuit for the dozens of central Ohio boys basketball teams that opened their respective schedules Dec. 1 and 2.
It’s a journey that begins with a three-week feeling-out period, followed by navigating the interruptions that come from the holiday break, and then features a six-week sprint to open 2024 that will lead into the postseason.
Another word used to describe the situation according to both Pickerington Central coach Eric Krueger and Delaware Hayes coach Adam Vincenzo – whose programs have experienced much different degrees of success – is “process.”
While the Pacers haven’t won a Division I district championship since 1986, the Tigers have captured nine district titles in 12 seasons and were big-school state champions in 2022 and state runners-up last season.
“Basketball’s a long season, and I’m excited that we’ve gotten through the preseason,” Krueger said. “That first game is kind of an extension of the preseason. You can do as many scrimmages, have a foundation game, and a preview, but it’s not quite the same. I told them I don’t care if we win (our first game) by 1, 10 or 100, I just want to find a way to win. It’s a process, and we just want to get better.”
With talents coming through such as Devin Royal, who was last year’s Mr. Basketball honoree and is now playing for Ohio State, the Tigers have been central Ohio’s elite program for more than a decade. They’ve made five state tournament appearances, with four coming in 10 seasons under Krueger.
The Tigers have back just one returning starter in senior guard Juwan Turner but feature a 6-foot-7 talent to build with in senior forward Braylin Wells.
Wells, who attended Central as a freshman and Akron Buchtel as a sophomore, returned to Central last season and was only eligible for the season’s first half because of the OHSAA transfer rule.
Pickerington Central’s Braylin Wells blocks a shot against Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary on Dec. 2 at Reynoldsburg. Photo: John Hulkenberg
On Dec. 2 in the All Ohio Hoops Showcase at Reynoldsburg, the Tigers led by double digits in the third quarter against Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary before having its lead cut to two during the game’s final two minutes.
With 1:01 to go, Wells took a pass on a fast break, jump-stopped and scored on a layup to seal what would become a 57-52 victory.
Wells, who has two small-college offers in both basketball and football, finished with 15 points.
“If you watch the state final (last March), you’ll see me at the end of the bench,” said Wells, whose team beat Centerville 55-48 for the 2022 state title before losing to Akron Hoban 53-47 in last year’s state final. “Here at Pickerington Central, it’s like a brotherhood. Devin Royal, (2023 graduate) Gavin Headings, they’re like my big brothers and (they) made me better as a player. What they taught me made us all better at the same time.
“It’s fun. It’s different. Usually everybody has Pickerington Central on top, and now we’re the underdogs, so we’ve got a new chip on our shoulders. It’s a lot, but we love it. We go into every day at practice at 100 percent.”
Central won 57-53 in last year’s regional final over Olentangy Orange, which lost six key players to graduation.
While the Tigers were the top seed and the Pioneers were the third seed for last year’s district tournament, the unpredictability that sometimes can take place in the postseason also was on display as the other district champions last winter were ninth-seeded Westerville South and 11th-seeded Newark.
Teams like Delaware and Reynoldsburg, which were seeded 10th and 20th, respectively, last season, are hoping to be the next programs to burst through this winter.
The Raiders have one of the area’s top returning juniors in wing player Jordan Fisher, who produced a game-winning three-point play with 3.9 seconds left during a 55-53 win over Richmond Heights in the finale of the All Ohio Hoops Showcase.
“You know you’ve got good players, but our players have worked hard to get to that point, and it’s fun to be in that situation when people feel a certain way about you,” Raiders coach Andy Moore said. “Delaware’s really good. Hilliard Bradley will be really good. Westerville North, Newark … I think there’s a lot of really good teams.”
Buckeye Valley’s Markus Hemphill and Delaware’s Jesse Burris fight for the rebound during the Pacers’ home win Dec. 1. Photo: Lorrie Gardner
Delaware has returned a veteran lineup featuring 6-5 senior wing player Jesse Burris, senior guard Jake Lowman and sophomore guard Jeremiah Russell after losing to Orange 54-39 in a district final last season,
Then in October, the Pacers added 6-7 junior forward Landon Vanderwarker via transfer. Vanderwarker led Northside Christian to a Division IV regional runner-up finish but is a Delaware resident and will be eligible the entire season.
While Burris is an Ohio University signee, Vanderwarker has interest from a list of college programs that includes Ohio State, Indiana and Wisconsin.
“It’s just been an exciting offseason,” Vincenzo said. “We brought a lot back from last year, and going into this year, we knew expectations would be high. Obviously we added Landon Vanderwarker a couple weeks before the season, and that’s added to the anticipation even more.”
Delaware, which opened with a 69-48 win Dec. 1 over Buckeye Valley, was 20-5 last season and is in its fifth season under Vincenzo.
With the addition of Vanderwarker, Vincenzo expects his team to look much different by the time the postseason rolls around.
“(The season is) a grind, but it’s a fun grind,” Vincenzo said. “Our guys love basketball and eat up the process. We want to be our best in March. We obviously want to start fast, be jelled and be who we are. We’re fine-tuning as the season progresses. We want to be a good version of ourselves, maybe not our best, but we want to be competitive from the jump. With our coaching staff, we’ll talk after practice, and it’s like we’re already looking like we’re in January and February. I think we’re ahead of the game, but when you’re adding a piece like Landon, it’s good because we’re still re-teaching them and re-hashing things on both sides of the ball.
“Every year, and I say it all the time, that you could make a case for 10 teams you could see winning the district, maybe even more. A team like Pickerington Central loses a lot but is still going to be really good. There will also be sme different names that haven’t been discussed recently, and I feel like we fall into that category. We’ve been under the radar from the outside perspective even though we’ve been to two district finals in four years.”