Boys Basketball: Orange clinches OCC title in battle with Bradley
Friday, February 9, 2024
By Scott Gerfen
sgerfen@cbussports.com
Olentangy Orange’s Devin Brown drives against Hilliard Bradley’s Cade Norris during the Pioneers’ win at Bradley Feb. 9. Photo: Kevin Lam
Olentangy Orange boys basketball coach Anthony Calo knew the time was right.
In his 13 years of coaching, Calo’s teams had never played a 1-3-1 zone defense, he said. But with the Pioneers trailing by eight points in the third quarter on the road in a tough environment at rival Hilliard Bradley, they needed a different approach against Jaguars coach Brett Norris.
“It was a giant risk, and, obviously, there were a lot of holes in it, but we knew that Bradley is extremely well-prepared,” Calo said. “They work very hard, and (Norris) is a great tactician. We knew we had to try something different to throw them out of rhythm.”
It worked.
Olentangy Orange’s Levi Davis attempts to split a Hilliard Bradley double-team during the Pioneers game at Bradley Feb. 9. Photo: Kevin Lam
Orange closed the third quarter with an 11-2 run and held on for a 51-47 victory to clinch an outright OCC-Central Division championship, improving to 19-1 overall and 9-0 in the league.
Devin Brown’s dunk and a 3-pointer helped make up a 7-0 run in the fourth quarter that widened Orange’s lead to 44-36 with just under 3 minutes to play.
The junior finished with 20 points.
“I feel like Bradley has always taken the championship from us, so we made it personal this year,” Brown said. “We knew we were going to need to have resilience because they’re a really good basketball team. They were going to throw punches, and we were going to throw punches. We knew we had to out-tough them to come out on top.”
Orange won the first meeting with Bradley 52-50 on Jan. 9.
HIlliard Bradley’s Cade Norris heads to the basket against Olentangy Orange during the Jaguars’ home game Feb. 9. Photo: Kevin Lam
“From that run in the third quarter, they won the game in that 5-foot circle in front of the rim,” Norris said. “It was physical, and you can’t lose your aggression. I just thought at that point, we played sideways, and they got back to downhill. Brown was really good down the stretch.”
Cade Norris also finished with 20 points to lead Bradley, which dropped to 14-5 and 7-2.
The win was even more meaningful for Calo, who lost seven seniors from last year’s team that was a Division I regional runner-up.
“You lose all those guys, and nobody expects you to be good,” he said. “Before the season, prognosticators had us as low as 15th in the area, and here we are. … The people in the room are believing in each other.”
Olentangy Orange head coach Anthony Calo on the sidelines during the Pioneers’ OCC title-clinching game at Hilliard Bradley Feb. 9. Photo: Kevin Lam