SPORTS BRIEFLY
Man of the year
St. Xavier High School graduate Walt Gibler was recently named the Horizon Leagues sixth Man of the Year, wrapping up his sophomore year in fine fashion on the Loyola University Chicago basketball team. The 6-foot, 7-inch forward tallied 21 points, one shy of matching a career high, and tied a personal best with 10 rebounds for his first career double-double in Loyola’s 8066 loss at Cleveland State in the first round of the Horizon League Championship, March 2. Gibler came off the pine in all but one of the Ramblers’ 30 games this season and scored in double digits on 19 occasions. In the final four outings of the year, Gibler contributed 15.5 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1 assist. In two career games in the Horizon League Championship, he was at his best averaging 17.5 ppg and 8.5 rpg. Loyola finished the year 14-16 and 5-13 in league play.
Flamm aids in win
La Salle High School graduate Matt Flamm added two hits including a triple and two RBI, to help secure a 6-2 win for the College of Mount St. Joseph baseball team March 9 against Juniata College. The Mount went on that day to fall to Wooster College 5-4.
St. X man in Jr. Olympics
USSA Region 4 of the Central Division, which includes alpine ski racers from Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky, will be represented at the Junior Olympics by A.J. Pucci from Mt. Washington. Pucci advances to the winter games after qualifying at Marquette, Mich., the week of Feb. 15. Skiing since 4 years old and racing since 6, A.J. will compete for the second time at the Junior Olympics – last year as a J4 and this year in the J3 division. Pucci is a freshman at Saint Xavier High School. Pucci said he plays soccer and tennis when not on the slopes. Pucci says his favorite parts are, “The speed; I love to go fast. There is also a challenge, not just against other competitors, but with yourself.” When asked what he’d like to be doing in eight years, Pucci said, “Eight years from now I’ll probably be in grad school, and hopefully still racing.” Pucci, who trains with Stampede Racing at Perfect North in Lawrenceburg, Ind., competes at the J3 Junior Olympics in Vail, Colorado from March 5-11. This competition program is the feeder system for future Olympians. This event features the highest level of racing in the United States for the J3 age class (racers born in 1995 and 1996, ages 13-15) including the fastest racers from 18 states covering the Central and Southern Rockies and the Midwest. Results can be found at: http://www.skiclubvail.org/JO /results.asp.
Press on Facebook
Follow the Community Press and Recorder newspapers on Facebook! Search “Pages” for Community Press/ Recorder Sports and become a fan. On the page, viewers will find photos, story links and discussions.
twitter.com/ cpohiosports
Hilltop Press
March 17, 2010
| YOUTH | Editor Melanie Laughman | mlaughman@communitypress.com | 248-7573 HIGH
SCHOOL
RECREATIONAL
A5
Your Community Press newspaper serving College Hill, Finneytown, Forest Park, Greenhills, Mount Airy, Mount Healthy, North College Hill, Seven Hills, Springfield Township
communitypress.com
Spartans down Graham, surge into Sweet 16 By Tony Meale tmeale@communitypress.com
For the first time since 2003, the Roger Bacon High School boys’ basketball team has advanced to regionals. “We got to districts each of the last two years, and this year we finally got over the hump,” Spartans head coach Brian Neal said. “We’ve been building brickby-brick to get to this point.” Roger Bacon got to this point by defeated Graham 47-34 in the Division II district final at UD Arena March 10. It was a defensive struggle from the start, as Roger Bacon led 6-5 after the first quarter. “As a GCL school, we take pride in our defense, and Graham was very physical and solid in what they were trying to do,” Neal said. “We weren’t doing the things we needed to be doing offensively.” That all changed just before halftime. With his team trailing 18-15 with time winding down in the second quarter, Roger Bacon junior guard Paul Byrd drilled a three to tie the game. The Spartans opened the third quarter on a 9-0 run. “We didn’t feel like we played very well, so it felt good to be tied at halftime,” Neal said. “After that, we had all the momentum.” Roger Bacon (19-5) moves on to play Dayton Thurgood Marshall (19-4) in the regional semifinal at 8 p.m. at Kettering Fairmont March 18. Thurgood Marshall, which beat Springfield
JOSEPH FUQUA II/STAFF
Roger Bacon High School senior Jorian Hudson cuts down the net after helping the Spartans defeat Graham 47-34 in the Division II district final at UD Arena March 10. Shawnee 52-37 to advance, bounced Bacon in the district final last year en route to finishing as state runnerup. “(Marshall) played after us last night, and by the time our game was over it was already 9:30,” Neal said. “So I told our guys, ‘If you want to stay and watch, that’s fine, but you know what? We don’t care who we play. Shawnee is in the same league as Graham and is very similar to the guys we just played. And if we get Thurgood, we owe them one.’” The message was clear. Neal just wants to keep winning. “When you get to regionals, your goals are a lot bigger than revenge,” he said. Roger Bacon, which started the year 3-3, has now won 16 of 18, including five straight. Leading the Spartans is senior guard Jorian Hudson, who was named the GCLCentral Player of the Year for the second consecutive season. He is averaging
14.3 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.4 steals per game. “He’s the guy that’s been there, done that,” Neal said. “He’s our leader. His energy and effort makes us go. When the Player of the Year gives you a Player-of-theYear-type game, it gives you a chance to win.” Jared Bryant and Byrd also earned first-team allleague honors. Bryant, a junior center, has been mammoth in the middle. He is averaging 13.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.0 blocks while shooting 67.2 percent from the field. “You’ve got to be balanced; you can’t rely on just the inside game or just the outside game, and we wouldn’t be this far if we didn’t have both,” Neal said. “Jared’s continued to improve and hopefully he keeps getting better. We’re going to need him (against Marshall).” Byrd, meanwhile, is averaging 10.2 points and drilling 36.1 percent of his threes, and junior forward Jabriel Coaston is averaging
JOSEPH FUQUA II/STAFF
Roger Bacon junior Jared Bryant (30) rejects a shot from Graham’s Ethan Ward in the second quarter. 9.5 points, giving Roger Bacon essentially four double-digit scorers. “We joke about that,” Neal said. “Ninety percent of the time, it’s great. The other 10 percent, it’s a curse in that all the guys want to help us to be successful. When the game’s on the line and you share the ball as much as we do, the question becomes, ‘Who will be the guy?’ But it hasn’t hurt us yet.” Roger Bacon, which was named city champion and
earned a No. 1 seed, has yet to be seriously challenged in the postseason. The Spartans have playoff wins over New Richmond, Batavia, North College Hill and Graham by margins of victory of 40, 30, 15 and 13, respectively. “Honestly, we haven’t played that well in the postseason,” Neal said. “And give Graham a lot of credit for that. We feel like our best basketball is still in front of us, and thankfully, our guys aren’t satisfied.”
Little losses loom large for Warriors By Tony Meale tmeale@communitypress.com
Four points. That’s the total margin of defeat for the three losses sustained by the Winton Woods High School boys’ basketball team this season. And unfortunately for the Warriors, their season is over. Seeded No. 4 in the tournament, Winton Woods fell to No. 10 St. Xavier in the Division I sectional final at the Cintas Center Feb. 27. The Warriors led 32-15 in the second quarter and 4027 heading into the fourth, but St. X fought back to tie the game at 50. A free throw by Bomber senior forward Alex Longi with 4.8 seconds left gave St. X the one-point win, 5150. “I thought we played three really good quarters,” Winton Woods head coach Donnie Gillespie said. “In the fourth, we had some trouble locating their shooters and the momentum changed.” Winton Woods finished the season 17-3 (10-0). The Warriors started the year 11-0 before dropping two of their next three games in late January and early February by a combined three points. They lost 65-63 at Walnut Hills, a team that entered the game 9-1 and finished 16-5, and they lost 56-55 at La Salle, a team that won the city champi-
GREG LORING/STAFF
Winton Woods High School senior forward Dominique Brown drives to the basket between St. Xavier defenders Alex Longi (13) and Luke Massa (15) during the Division I sectional final at the Cintas Center March 3. Brown had nine points, nine rebounds and four assists, but the Warriors fell 51-50. Winton Woods’ three losses this season were by a combined four points. onship, earned the top seed in the tournament and was 20-2 entering its district final match-up against Woodward March 13. “I think the two midsea-
son losses affected us in terms of our seeding,” Gillespie said. “We were playing all year to get a really high seed.” Although they went 0-2
against the GCL-South, the Warriors were a perfect 100 in the Fort Ancient Valley Conference Buckeye division, defeating league opponents by an average of 25.5 points per game. “I thought we played well all season in the league; we controlled the tempo and played to our strength,” Gillespie said. “Even against St. X, we played fast and allowed our more talented players to play in space.” Winton Woods was led by FAVC-Buckeye Co-Player of the Year Allen Payne, who shared the honor with Anderson senior guard Mike Wilkison, who led the entire FAVC in scoring (21.2). Payne, a senior, was second in the FAVC-Buckeye in scoring (17.1) and blocks (1.6), fifth in rebounds (6.1) and steals (2.0), and first in field-goal percentage (63.2 percent). “Allen really came into his own this season and played with confidence,” Gillespie said. “He just allowed the game to come to him.” Payne, who shot a solid 52.9 percent from the floor as a junior, saw his marksmanship rise by more than 10 percentage points as a senior. “He did a good job of taking what the defense was giving him, and he was more confident and composed,” Gillespie said. Payne, who will play for
Auburn, was aided by a trio of First Team All-FAVC performers: Dominique Brown, Semaj Christon and Nate Mason. Brown, who will play football for Louisville, was third in the league in scoring (15.8), fourth in rebounds (6.3) and fourth in field-goal percentage (55.7). “He’s just a competitor and a pure athlete,” Gillespie said. “He brought a winning mentality from the football team to the basketball team.” Christon, a junior, led the entire FAVC in assists by a landslide, averaging 5.9 dishes per game. Only one other player – Brandon Howard of Walnut Hills – averaged more than 4.0. Christon also led the league in steals with 2.8 swipes per game. “I’m looking forward to him having a strong senior season,” Gillespie said. Mason, meanwhile, was third on the team in scoring (13.6) and rebounding (3.7). He also led the team in foul shooting (80.3 percent) and three-point accuracy, hitting nearly 38 percent of his attempts. “He did a tremendous job of balancing our scoring and shooting from the outside,” Gillespie said. Also playing a pivotal role was junior Dennis Thomas, a second team allleague performer. He averaged 9.2 points per game.