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® Saturday, March27,1999
(91r C ulumbus Dispatch
BOYS HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
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West star lands top.h.onor ei Isaac Jefferson,the do-it-all man who powered the Cowboys to a 21-2 season,is the player of the year. By Steve Blackledge Dispatch Sports Reporter s Kent Burgert nearly choked when asked how his West boys basketball team might have fared the last twoseasons withoutIsaac Jefferson. u ~4 "Oh, goodness gracious, I can't imagine that," Burw ,! gert said of the 6-foot4 guard-forward who averaged 18.1 points, 17.9 rebounds, 7.O assists and 3.8 steals per — game this season. "We'd have been nothing without Ike. Well, I take that back. We'd be nowhere close to this. He was the a catalyst to everything we did." i For his value to West's 21-2 season, Jefferson, a senior, was selected DispatchAgonis Club player of the year. Players in Franklin and its six contiguous counties are eligible for the team. A Hampton University signee, Jefferson was the tallest starter in the Cowboys' guard-oriented lineup. He played all five positions. "Ike was the driving force, the main cog, the heart and soul ofour team the lasttwo years," Burgert said. "He's ,probably the most intelligent player I've ever been around in all my years as a coach. The. thing is, Ri a he's very unselfish with the ball." _' : In Jefferson's three seasons as a starter, West went c 61-7and won two City League championships. ` The coach of the year is Wally Vickers, who guided Hilliard Darby to the Ohio Capital Conference Central Division championship and a Division I Central District title in the school's second year. "Once we saw some of the players we had, we thought we could be competitive in our second year, The Dispatch Agonis Club team: from left, Charles and we setour goals accordingly Vickers said: Warren (Whitehall), Isaac Jefferson (West), Adam " The Panthers entered tournament play as the No. 10 seed but continually amazed observers with staunch defense,fundamentalsand discipline. coach Ed Calo said. "Although our team had a disap"Only once all -year did I feel we were physically pointing season this year, he came to practice with a overmatched to the point where everything was going great attitude every day. I expect him to have,a great to have to go our way to win, and that was the East future in the Big Ten." Liverpool game," Vickers said, referring to a 7143 re✓ Miami University-bound Larry Drake, who became gional semifinal loss. "I'm getting a little bit of attention the career scoring leader at Groveport with 1,176 here for the success we had, but the credit should go to points,changed his game.. our staff and the players. They did everything we asked Previously only a perimeter shooter, the 6-5 Drake — ofthem and more." who averaged 20.9 points and 5.1 rebounds and shot 54 I The rest of the fast team consists of seniors who left percentfrom the field — became an adeptslasher. indelible marks on their schools'record books: "When the recruiting process started, he was told he „✓ With 1,209 points, 6-8 forward-center Adam Wolfe needed to work on getting to the basket or he'd be seen departs as the career scoring leader at Westerville as one-dimensional," coach Mike Beck said. "Larry has South. He helped the Wildcats win three league chain- made unbelievablestrides." Eddie McMillian made a ' pionshi 'guard ps m fourseasons as astarter. ✓ Six-foot Newark Wolfe, who has committed to Michigan State, aver- similar transformation, developing a solid outside aged 22.7 points and 10.2 rebounds as a senior. jtunper to complementincredible athletic skills. "Adam's role changed dramatically each year," McMillian, who averaged 19.1 points, 4.0 rebounds
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Wolfe (Westerville South), Wally Vickers (Darby), Larry Drake(G'roveport)and Ed McMillian(Newark). and 2.5 assists for the OCC Ohio Division champion, is the school's No.5careerscorer with 1,007 points, 'At Newark, they measure you as to how good your team was, and this was a big comeback year for us," coach Gary Walters said. "Eddie was a big-time go-to player who has always put his team fast. He's really made himselfa better player." ✓ Charles Warren leapfrogged his coach, Van Gregg, then Scott Tedder, in Whitehall's Division R district championship run to become the scchoors career scoring leader with 1,466 points. The 6-1 guard averaged 22.0 points, 5.1 assists and 4.6rebounds and wasafour-year starter for the Rams. "Obviously, the kid can shoot lights out and is a fine passer, but people wouldn't begin,to understand his value to us," Gregg said. "His character on the floor, desire at practice and ability to lead by example made him specialto me."
Player Larry Drake Isaac Jefferson Ed McMillian Charles Warren Adam Wolfe
FIRST TEAM Ht. School Groveport 6-5 6-4 West 6-0 Newark 6-1 Whitehall Westerville South 6-8 Player of the year Isaac Jefferson, West Coach of the year Wally Vickers, Hilliard Darby
Yr. Sr. Sr. Sr. Sr. Sr.
Ppg20.9 18.1 19.1 22.0 22.7
Player Phillip Dupree Josh Helm Sam Smith Delano Thomas Ron Williamson
SECOND TEAM School Brookhaven Grove City Worth. Christian Beechcroft Briggs
Ht. 6-6 6-5 6-5 6-8 6-1
Yr. Sr. Jr. Jr. Sr. Sr.
Ppg17.4 16.9 20.2 16.0 23.6
Player Mike Brake Kyle Comstock Art Saunders Jason Smith Justin Wendel
THIRD TEAM School Hilliard Davidson Buckeye Valley West Centennial Grandview
Ht. 6-6 5-10 5-10 6-1 6-1
Yr. Sr. Sr. Sr. Sr. Sr.
Ppg13.9 25.6 17.6 17.0 21.6
SPECIAL MENTION Mark Adams(New Albany), Greg Barnes (Groveport), Frank Cardwell (Brookhaven), Marchello Cox (Beechcroft), Preston Dean (Mifflin), Ryan Green (Northridge), Greg Guiler (Canal Winchester), Chris Hootman (Ready), Craig Jackson (East), Ish Kamara (Dublin Scioto), Lonnie Kosch (Bloom-Carroll), Jeff Lane (Marion-Franklin), Damien Lee (Beechcroft), Joe Loudenslager (Hilliard Darby), Todd Lovegrove (Grandview), Ryan Lucas (Hilliard Darby), Scott McMullen (Granville), Brandon Norris (Heath), Robby Owens (Brookhaven), Josh Patterson (Delaware), Keiwan Ratliff (Whitehall), Bo Richardson (BloomCarroll), Tyler Schleich (Westfall), Matt Seibert (Watterson), Kory Sharp (Bexley), Scott Thrush (Fairbanks), Tim Walker (West), Jason Weakley(Worthington Christian). HONORABLE MENTION Andrea Bethea (Northland), Dustin Blake (West Jefferson), Markkus Brown (Linden) Andrew Buckingham (Whetstone), Jake,Campbell (Lancaste,), toVc;s Cassidy (Logan Elm), Matt Castle (Grove City), Mark Church (Westland), Anthony Clark (Gahanna), Mario Collins (Westerville North), Marcus Colvin (Licking Heights), Anthony Diggs (Independence), J.R. Duffey (Bexley), Stefon Dunn (Independence), Mike Enright (Watterson), Jim Flaherty (Watterson), Brennan Gilbert (World Harvest), Justin Habash (St. Charles), Tim Harlin (Eastmoor), Josh Harmon (Newark), Josh Harris (Westerville North), Todd Henry (Hilliard Davidson), Matt Hilbert (Jonathan Alder), Ricky Jordan (Canal Winchester), John Kullum (Walnut Ridge), Kenny Langhorne (Hartley), Damien Lee (Beechcroft), Andy Lipp (Fisher Catholic), Brad Lohr (West Jefferson), Jon Mann (Worthington Kilbourne), Ryan McIntyre (Heath), Bobby Miller (Westerville North), Aaron Minister (Tree of Life), Matt Nelson (Grove City), Eric Norris (Hartley), Zach Parr (Lakewood), Mike Payne (Upper Arlington), Darron Peake (Marion-Franklin); Nathan Pooe (Grove City), Chris Quinn (Dublin Coffman), Jabari Ray (Ready), Adam Reynolds (Berne Union), Aron Rolsen . (Watterson), Mo Ross (Big Walnut), Art Ruffin (World Harvest), Josh Skeese (Whitehall), Eric Slocum (Mifflin), Justin Smith (Pickerington), Mitch Stafford (Upper Arlington), James Sterling (Centennial), Clint Stickdorn (Liberty Union), J.J. Sullinger (Hartley), Mike Swihart (North Union), Willie Thomas (Eastmoor), Josh Thompson (Reynoldsburg), Nilzarrel "Boo" Townsend (Brookhaven), Benn Wallis (Liberty Union), Brandon Wheeler (London), Aaron Woods (Whetstone), Nathan Wright (Utica), Billy Younger (Reynoldsburg), Lamar Woods (Beechcroft).
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RIGHT:Worthington Christian
point guard Jason Weakley, right,turns away from the defensive pressure applied by Ross Casebere ofEdgerton. Alysla Peyton / Dispatch photos
ABovE:Josh Fudge,left,and .Jonathan Hardin,both juniors at Worthington Christian,watch the Warriors rollinto the Division IV state championship game. RIGHT:Dan Weston,left,of Worthington Christian and Brent Van Horn ofEdgerton wantthe same thing— a rebound.
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Heath Baker,left,ofEdgertonfindsSam Smith(33)ofWorthington Christian tough to stop in a Division IV state semifinalinValue CltyArena.Smith had 18 points,nine rebounds and five assists.
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