5 C's Classic: Out of Area Standouts

The 5 C's Classic hosted at Capital University brought a bunch of top central Ohio teams to compete. In this article however we are going to break down the standouts we caught on teams from outside the Columbus area.    Archbishop Hoban has had a tremendous start to their season with some signature wins already. Their floor general Scott has been productive for their team, helping set the table for his teammates. One of the flashiest passers in Ohio, Scott makes as many no look passes as any point guard in Ohio. While it's impressive the flair that Scott plays with as a passer, his passing is very effective as he's able to hit teammates that the defense doesn't know he's monitoring where they are cutting off the ball. As a driver, Scott is also slippery and has nice touch on floater type shots. One of the top point guards in the Akron/Canton area, Scott separates himself with his playmaking for others.     A new name for myself, I was impressed with Ensley as he won game MVP honors. Ensley takes up a lot of space in the paint next to [player_tooltip player_id='1773220' first='Sam' last='Greer'] and both players have strong hands to make catches in traffic for passes and rebounds. Ensley also wasted no time once he caught the ball by going up quickly and scoring before the defense could contest his shots. We already mentioned [player_tooltip player_id='1506017' first='Kenny' last='Scott']'s passing ability and he's capable of hitting Ensley on the roll for easy looks. Combine that with a corner 3-pointer and Ensley showed some skills that would make him an intriguing small college target.     Bertke played the best game I've ever seen from him as Lima Shawnee got a signature victory over Bishop Hartley. After falling down double-figures in the first four minutes of the game, Lima Shawnee controlled the rest of the game with [player_tooltip player_id='1950584' first='Beckett' last='Bertke'] leading the way. Always been a capable shooter from the perimeter, Bertke was making shots running off screens and against hard closeouts that I've never seen him make before. I also love how Bertke can just score with his motor and ability to move without the basketball. He seems to get a couple buckets a game just being in the right place at the right time either on cuts, offensive rebounds or transition opportunities. When Lima Shawnee got comfortable breaking the Bishop Hartley full-court pressure, Bertke was usually at the receiving end of scoring opportunities on the other end.     The younger Bertke brother also stood out as his upside is obvious the moment you start to watch him. [player_tooltip player_id='2434352' first='Trevick' last='Bertke'] runs the point guard position for his high school team as a Sophomore, something extremely rare for a player of his height. Defensively, Bertke used his length to get a couple blocks at the rim. I was also impressed with how he calmed himself down after rushing himself early in the game to play really high level basketball in the final three quarters of the game. Lima Shawnee also does as good a job as any team in the state at hitting leak out players for layups and dunks and Bertke got a couple breakaway dunks and layups by timing a Lima Shawnee steal or rebound to get down the court before the defense.     Louisville had a tough battle with Westerville North and suffered their first loss of the season. The experienced Leopards stayed competitive for almost the entirety of the game before the Warriors pulled away in the final two minutes. I was impressed with Siegfried's offensive scoring ability on a night where shots simply weren't falling for the Leopards. Siegfried did a nice job making the open shots he found within the flow of the offense and was able to attack the rim with a couple two foot finishes through contact. Still a state title contender, we'll be hearing more about the Leopards as the year progresses.     Indy Cathedral got a massive victory over one of Ohio's best teams on a neutral court environment that would've been much more packed if the Buckeyes weren't playing in the CFP at the same time. Despite the lack of a packed house, the intensity in the gym was off the charts with both teams playing high level basketball. Smith impressed me with his poise and ability to make winning plays. He was under control with the ball in his hands, knocked down a couple spot-up jumpers and showed his athleticism with rebounds and defensive impact plays. A guard who checks a lot of boxes and helps you win, there can't be many more valuable guards in Indiana's 2026 class at the high school level.

The 5 C's Classic hosted at Capital University brought a bunch of top central Ohio teams to compete. In this article however we are going to break down the standouts we caught on teams from outside the Columbus area.