Boys Basketball: Northside Christian pulls away for 2nd straight district title
Fisher Catholic edges Shekinah Christian
Friday, March 8, 2024
By Jarrod Ulrey
julrey@cbussports.com
Northside Christian’s Davontrel Jackson works the offense against Northmor during the Lions’ district final win March 8 at Ohio Dominican. Photo: John Hulkenberg
Winners of the MOCAL and the district’s No. 1 seed, the Northside Christian boys basketball team entered the Division IV tournament with a reputation for having one of central Ohio’s deepest and most athletic teams.
One area first-year coach Tim Kusan believes the Lions have been overlooked in is regarding how well they play defense.
During the nightcap of Friday’s pair of district championships in the small-school division at Ohio Dominican, Northside Christian gave up just 22 points through the first three quarters and cruised to a 62-46 victory over third-seeded Galion Northmor.
“The one thing people don’t know about is how good our defense is,” Kusan said. “We’ve held 10 teams under 40 points and five teams under 30. I write on our white board every game that it’s about defense and rebounding. You can’t control your shooting, but you can control your effort and rebounding. They had 20-some points at the end of the third quarter, and I don’t think they’re used to being held like that.”
The Lions, who improved to 20-5, won the first district title in program history a year ago and went on to lose to Berlin Hiland 52-50 in a regional final.
Northside Christian will get a rematch with the Hawks at 6:00 p.m. March 12 in a regional semifinal at Ohio University.
Kusan, who didn’t take over as coach until mid-October, has the Lions on a nine-game winning streak.
During their victory over Northmor, which also was a district runner-up last winter but has yet to win a district title, Northside Christian took its first lead at 6-5 with 3 minutes, 3 seconds to go in the opening quarter on a 3-pointer by one of its two seniors, Carter Jury.
Northside Christian’s Jury Carter (left) and Northmor’s Drew Hammond jump for the opening tip March 8 during their regional final game at Ohio Dominican. Photo: John Hulkenberg
The Lions never trailed again, outscoring the Golden Knights 18-8 during the second quarter when junior guard Josh Cook made a pair of 3-pointers.
Northmor senior Grant Bentley, who was the district’s Player of the Year, was held to three first-half points and went on to finish with 10.
“We’ve been working hard, we had this on our minds, and it’s just been amazing,” Lions junior guard Davontrel Jackson said. “Shout out to Northmor because they’re a really tough team, but from the beginning, coach Kusan said to not underestimate them and keep fighting hard.”
Jackson, who finished with eight points, has two younger siblings on the team and an older brother in Diamauntae Jackson who was a senior on the team last winter.
Cook made two 3s in the third quarter as Northside Christian built a 44-22 lead. He finished with 23 points, including making five 3-pointers overall.
“Paul (Kuteyi) and (Davontrel Jackson) were guarding Bentley, who’s their best player,” Cook said. “We played good defense and we rebounded, and we shut down their best player. That was one of my best shooting nights, but my teammates got me the open looks.”
Senior Jaxon Wenger finished with 16 points to lead Northmor, which is losing a six-member senior class after going 18-7.
“They’re a great team in general, super well-coached and super fundamental,” Knights coach Blade Tackett said. “When the ball doesn’t go through, it makes it tougher for us on the defensive end. We’re a man defensive team, and I think early on, we did a great job defensively. We got great looks from 3 and around the basket, but we picked a bad night not to put it in the basket.
“It’s been a special season. When these seniors were freshmen, they didn’t play a lot of varsity, but we had 18 losses. Here we are four years later with 18 wins.”
Fisher Catholic’s Hyde O’Rielley goes to the basket against Shekinah Christian on Mar. 8 at Ohio Dominican. Photo: John Hulkenberg
Fisher Catholic 51, Shekinah Christian 46
For the first time since 2002 and just the second time in program history, Fisher Catholic is headed to regional competition.
With a victory over the second-seeded Flames on Friday at Ohio Dominican in the other district final, the sixth-seeded Irish are 16-9 and will play Russia or Cincinnati College Prep Academy at 5:30 p.m. March 12 at Kettering Fairmont in a regional semifinal.
A trio of 3-pointers by senior Peyton Owens early in the third quarter helped keep the momentum in Fisher Catholic’s favor after it led 24-20 at the half.
“Every game, we go in pretty prepared,” junior Hyde O’Reilley said. “We didn’t play our best in the first half, but we were up by four at halftime, and Peyton comes out and hits a couple 3s, and that gets us going. We’ve been working for 71 practices, and this is all we’ve been working to do.”
O’Reilley, a first-team all-district honoree, finished with 19 points while Owens had 15 to lead the Irish.
Shekinah Christian, which came in on a 19-game winning streak and finished 21-4, won just five games in 2021-22 and nine a year ago.
Under ninth-year coach Keith Lambert, the Flames reached a district final for just the second time in program history – with the other coming in 2012.
Junior Alex Bauermeister, the Flames’ first-team all-district honoree, finished with 19 points.
“All year, we’ve been able to make plays when we needed to,” said Lambert, who was the district’s Coach of the Year. “We only had one senior in the rotation, so we thought maybe next year we could compete because we’d have a lot returning. These guys work so hard, and I feel like we maximized our potential this year, which is always good.
“All year, we’ve been able to make plays when we needed to. You don’t win 19 games in a row if you’re not able to make plays down the stretch, and unfortunately, tonight, we just didn’t get the bounced we needed. They made more plays than we did.”
Fisher Catholic coach Alex James and players celebrate following the Irish’s regional final win over Shekinah Christian on Mar. 8 at Ohio Dominican. Photo: John Hulkenberg