Boys basketball: New Albany’s Casey earns 500th career win in overtime
Friday, January 19, 2024
By Scott Gerfen
sgerfen@cbussports.com
New Albany head coach Tim Casey celebrates his 500th career victory with his team on Jan. 19 after beating Westerville Central 54-46 in overtime. Photo: Lorrie Gardner
As New Albany fans celebrated the 54-46 overtime win against visiting Westerville Central Friday night, the public address announcer asked them to remain seated.
The announcement that followed drew even more cheers as one of central Ohio’s most successful boys basketball coaches over the past 20 years received the game ball for his 500th career win.
Tim Casey, who’s in his first season at New Albany and 35th overall, achieved most of those victories (355) in 22 seasons at Upper Arlington, his alma mater. He also coached St. Paris Graham and Kettering Fairmont.
“I told our guys, when you win 500 (games), it’s really not about you, it’s about all those players you’ve coached over the course of your career,” Casey said. “That’s what you think about. I had a lot of former players in the stands … that’s what coaching’s all about. It’s about the relationships.”
New Albany’s Marco Mattucci goes up for a shot in front of Westerville Central’s Josh Henderson during the Eagles’ home overtime victory Jan. 19. Photo: Lorrie Gardner
While at UA, Casey won nine OCC championships and five district titles, and the Golden Bears reached the Division I state final in 2014 when Casey was the state Coach of the Year.
The win against Central was an achievement of sorts — New Albany’s seventh consecutive victory — as it improved to 10-4 overall and 3-2 in the OCC-Ohio Division.
Marco Mattucci hit a 3-pointer to open the overtime period, then Miles Jackson stole the inbounds pass and added two free throws to put New Albany up 46-41 with 2 minutes, 29 seconds left.
“That (3-pointer) by Marco and that steal by Miles really gave us some breathing room, and we could control tempo a little more,” Casey said.
New Albany’s Seyram Agbitor (right) drives against Westerville Central’s Dallas Tucker during their game at New Albany on Jan. 19. Photo: Lorrie Gardner
Braylon Nash led the way with 12 points for the Eagles, while Jackson finished with 11 and senior Seyram Agbitor added 10.
“I think we played our best defense of the year tonight,” Nash said. “We had a lot of momentum coming into this game. … We’ve stuck together, and we just gel as a team.”
Agbitor hit a shot that made it 41-41 with 54 seconds left in regulation. That’s when Central decided to play for the last shot, a jumper near the top of the key that didn’t go in as time ran out.
“We had the ball in our hands at the end of regulation, and we didn’t make the right decision in that case,” said Central coach Kevin Martin, whose team dropped to 10-5 overall and 3-2 in the OCC-Ohio. “We shot a long jump shot instead of trying to get to the paint.”
Josh Henderson led three Warhawks scorers in double figures with 12 points. His 3-pointer gave Central its biggest lead, 15-7, near the end of the first quarter.
Isiah Brown and Devin Martin each scored 11 for the Warhawks.
Westerville Central’s Devin Martin (left) works against New Albany’s Darius Olayiwola during the Warhawks’ game at New Albany on Jan. 19. Photo: Lorrie Gardner