Holiday Hoopla: 2025 Standouts

Basketball was brought back to the Greater Columbus Convention Center with a three day event as Holiday Hoopla brought out a 18 game schedule for fans across central Ohio. In this article we'll break down the 2025 standouts from the event.    One of the winningest point guards in recent Ohio history, Roddy has been the leader of the Harvest Prep program for a few seasons now. After a slow start, Harvest Prep got their first signature victory of the season with a two point win over Toledo St John's. Roddy had some nice crossover moves to get past the primary defender off the dribble to get to the bucket and score. I was impressed with Roddy's finishing ability with both hands in this game, using his left hand at the rim. In this game Roddy went over the 1,000 point mark for his career, an impressive achievement for a point guard who impacts the game in so many ways besides scoring the basketball.     I've been intrigued with Jones flashes and athleticism for a while now and it seems like it's all starting to click for him as a senior. Jones has taken a big leap as a shooter, taking and making way more 3-pointers this season than I've ever seen from him in the past. A strong athlete, Jones had some tough rebounds where he was physical and got up over taller players in the paint. A breakaway slam dunk was an impressive highlight play for a complete performance that showed me Jones is on the right path to becoming an impact college player.     It's been a rough season for Holy Name with an 0-8 record against a very tough schedule. Despite this record, I was impressed with Styers as an individual on Sunday as he's still producing at an extremely high level this season. Styers loves using his left hand at the rim with layups and floaters despite being a right-handed jump-shooter. I thought Styers played the game the right way, taking shots when he was open and finding the open teammate when the defense collapsed onto him. Also a capable shooter from the outside, Styers knocked down a couple 3-pointers as well. Styers looks like a quality small college target and could potentially follow a similar path as his older brother did as an impact player at Wooster.     In a battle between stud 2027 point guards, it was some under the radar names really standing out in this game. Will has a quickness and burst on the ball that was tough for Hilliard Bradley to stop as he started the game with a corner 3-pointer and then a few possessions later knocked one down from the wing. As a dribble driver, Will made a couple nice skip passes to teammates. Fellow senior Jared Klucenic also stood out for Ursuline, making big time plays to help them get a quality neutral court victory.     I'm not sure if any senior has made as big of a jump from July to December as Vanderwalker has. A dominant performance against Brunswick, that was the best game I've seen him play in his career. Vanderwalker did a little bit of everything with some impressive skip passes to shooters, he jumped passing lanes and finished with slam dunks in transition, he blocked a couple shots and rebounded the ball at a high level. Vanderwalker also shot the ball from the outside with the most confidence I've ever seen from him on Sunday. He hit multiple 3-pointers and some tough mid-range shots. Even a couple of his misses looked like they were going in and were shot in rhythm.     Knupp had a strong performance for an Olentangy Orange squad that rotated much more than usual and got quality minutes from their bench. That allowed starters like Knupp to remain fresh and provide energy on the court. Knupp did a nice job jumping passing lanes and turning defense into offense with easy outlet passes to teammates down the court. Also scoring from the dunker spot, Knupp has soft hands and quick explosiveness to throw it down at the rim when given the space to rise up at the rim. Just a solid complimentary piece who will really help a team win high school basketball games despite being committed to play baseball at the Division I level.     Appiah had a nice game just playing his role and knocking down shots when they came to him. His first bucket was a putback layup off a second chance opportunity and then Appiah attacked a closeout and made a nice kickout pass to a shooter. Appiah then attacked a closeout and finished with a reverse layup and had a couple transition layups to cap off an efficient scoring night where the ball was swung to him and he took advantage of the looks provided by his teammates. A winning basketball player who will do what is necessary to find the floor at the high school and college level.

Basketball was brought back to the Greater Columbus Convention Center with a three day event as Holiday Hoopla brought out a 18 game schedule for fans across central Ohio. In this article we'll break down the 2025 standouts from the event.