Boys Basketball: Lawson sparks Pickerington North to double-OT win over Grove City
Friday, January 5, 2024
By Jarrod Ulrey
julrey@cbussports.com
Pickerington North’s Arness Lawson goes to the basket against Grove City at North on Jan. 5. Photo: John Hulkenberg
Pickerington North junior guard Arness Lawson played with the kind of emotion that coach Jason Bates described as a mix of passion and anger.
With the host Pickerington North boys basketball team needing a boost to overcome a poor night from the free-throw line and Grove City’s size advantage, Lawson found another gear at the most important stretch of a tight OCC-Ohio Division matchup Friday night.
Lawson grabbed two steals and scored six of his game-high 26 points during the second overtime to lead the Panthers to a 52-49 win.
The victory improves North to 7-2 overall and dropped the Greyhounds to 8-2, with both teams becoming a part of a four-way tie for first in the league at 2-1 with Gahanna and Westerville Central.
“They had all the momentum and were holding the ball, trying to get the last shot, so we needed to get those steals and get it down our way,” Lawson said. “That was a division game, so it feels amazing. I feel like we’re going to keep coming together. When we combine more and talk and encourage each other, we’re going to succeed.”
North, which has won four in a row, lost to Grove City in double overtime in a home league game and split with the Greyhounds a year ago.
In the first matchup this season between the programs, Grove City – which starts five seniors – trailed nearly all of the first half and was behind 23-20 heading into third quarter.
The Greyhounds tied it at 27 with 3 minutes, 57 seconds to go in the third period when junior backup guard Demetri Adado got a steal and hit the second of two foul shots.
Pickerington North’s Mykell Murphy eyes the basket while Grove City’s Kraig Gilbert defends Jan. 5 at North. Photo: John Hulkenberg
North, however, closed the third period on a 9-3 run that included one 3-pointer apiece from senior backup guard Antonio Washington and junior starting forward Favor McFadden.
The Panthers took a 42-40 lead with 38.2 seconds left in the fourth quarter on a pair of free throws by Lawson, but Grove City forced overtime on a basket by Keegan Holmstrom with 25 seconds left following a steal by Adado.
McFadden missed what would have been a game-winning 3-pointer at the end of the first overtime, when both teams scored just two points.
Grove City went up 46-45 in the second overtime on a basket by Adado, but Lawson turned a steal into a layup with 1:16 remaining and then hit three of four free throws to seal it.
“Arness got mad,” North coach Jason Bates said. “We had a turnover and he just wanted to win so bad. I had to calm him back down, tell him that we’re still in good shape. They had more foul trouble than us and I liked how we were defending them and how we embraced the scouting report. We knew what we did wrong, so I felt good going into overtime. In the overtimes, I thought we defended well and just had to score some points.”
North went just 10-for-20 from the free-throw line, but Lawson made seven of his nine attempts.
Grove City’s Jack Reber (right) and Pickerington North’s Favor McFadden compete Jan. 5 at North. Photo: John Hulkenberg
While Lawson was second-team all-district and special mention all-state last season and has received three Division I scholarship offers, senior guard Jaiden Vital is the only starting senior. Vital finished with 11 points.
“Whenever we lose, in practice we always stick together,” Lawson said. “We always talk positively and we practice everything we need to focus on to make us succeed and win.”
Grove City, which hadn’t lost since its opener, got 17 points from Holmstrom and 12 from senior post player Kraig Gilbert.
The 6-7 Gilbert has signed with Concord.
“We’re right about where I thought we’d be, with good post play, good guards and a lot of experience,” sixth-year Greyhounds coach Eric Saxton said. “We’ve been building on this for three years. Three of our starters have been on varsity for tree years, and it’s not shocking that we’re doing well.
“I think (North’s) kids were a little bit hungrier than ours. They practiced better than we did this week. We probably lost this game three days ago, and we even talked about it at that time. We didn’t have a very good day after taking a couple days off for the new year, and we came in and had a really bad Tuesday. We made up for it Wednesday, but you can’t take a day off in this league.”
While Grove City next plays host to Gahanna on Jan. 9, North plays Eastmoor Academy on Saturday in The Challenge at Africentric and returns to league play Jan. 9 at home against New Albany.
“(Grove City is) tough,” Bates said. “They present so many different gaps that you have to fill. They’ve got a big, they’ve got shooters, they’ve got athletes, and they’ve got coaching.
“(My) team is definitely young, so this is a huge win for them. This team will be much better in February. This moves us down the line to where we want to go.”
Pickerington North coach Jason Bates talks to his team during its home win over Grove City on Jan. 5. Photo: John Hulkenberg