Shane’s Districts Top Players – Central Ohio
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This past two nights in Columbus I saw two double headers of games. Wednesday night I went to D1 District Semifinals games at Central Crossing as Hilliard Bradley beat Olentangy Liberty 57-37 and Olentangy Orange beat Columbus South 67-53. On…
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Continue ReadingThis past two nights in Columbus I saw two double headers of games. Wednesday night I went to D1 District Semifinals games at Central Crossing as Hilliard Bradley beat Olentangy Liberty 57-37 and Olentangy Orange beat Columbus South 67-53. On Thursday night I went to D3 District Final games at Ohio Dominican as Worthington Christain beat Columbus Academy 60-47 and an instant classic as Harvest Prep got the win 62-61 over Africentric. This article will cover the top players from these games.
Johnson put this team on his back and was incredible. He was a great playmaker in the first half. He was the vocal point of the offense and when the defense collapsed he consistently found the open teammate. Then when this game plan had to stop he started to eat. He got a ton of points off of second-chance baskets. He finished with a game-high 30 points and had at least 10 rebounds. He was a man amongst boys in the paint. He was really physical and just wanted it more the entire game. He showed good leadership as he was always talking to his teammates. He is the senior leader of this team and he just leads them to regionals. Can’t emphasize it enough, he was outstanding.
Senior year, Tournament run, with a really good team around him. Sounds like Norris will show up for every big game, right? Well, he did. He dropped 19 points for the Jaguars on Wednesday night. He took the lid off the rim for Bradley and it settled his team in. He was hitting toughly contested shots consistently. He hit a couple threes but knew he would be more effective when putting his head down. That is exactly what he did. He was getting to the rim and using his body to get points with his back to the basket. The team leans on him and looks to him and he is hungry. I love what this Bradley squad showed me Wednesday night.
Brown is the straw that stirs the drink for Olentangy Orange and is having a breakout junior season this year. Picking up some D1 offers this year and leading Orange to a 24-1 record in Central Ohio. He played against a tough, physical, and fast-paced South team and excelled and showed he could play against those types of teams. He handled the ball well against shorter guards and immense pressure. He always found the open teammate. He was getting all of his points from below the arch. His mid-range jumper was automatic. He attacked the pressure and turned the corner multiple times. Got to the rim and finished. Brown has been a breakout player this and expects it to really shine through the farther this team goes in the tournament.
Roddy was sensational on Thursday night’s game against Africentric. He ran the show for the Warriors all game long. He has an incredibly tight handle on the ball and knows how to attack pressure and turn it into his advantage. He put on a passing clinic all game long. He consistently found the open man all game long, and it showed through on the game-winning bucket the Warriors had. He had a lot of flashy no-look passes that got the crowd into it. He always made the correct plays. He forced a 5-second call defensively. His coaches and teammates trusted him late. I can see why and there are not many point guards I’ve seen this year that I would trust more than him.