All-Star Basketba= ll
City, OCC again to square off for bragging rights
Ashwill, Brady, Stucky represent Dublin schools for OCC squad<= /b>

Thursday, March 20, = 2008

JARROD ULREY
Villager Staff Write= r

Because City League boys basketball= teams play 14 of their 20 regular-season games against league opponents, matchups like when Westerville South lost to Beechcroft = 58-56 on Dec. 27 in the championship game of the Westerville Rotary Holiday Class= ic don't come along often.

The limited number of times teams from the OCC and the City me= et, according to South senior Michael Fletcher, has a unique impact when they face off in a district tournament game. =

He expects a similar effect when the City plays the OCC at 8 p= .m. Friday at Worthington Kilbourne in the annual all-star battle between the leagues.

"The Columbus schools think the suburban schools are real= ly soft," said Fletcher, whose team went 2-1 against City-North opponents, including a win over No. 1-seeded Northland 67-59 on Feb. 23 in a Division I district semifinal. "I know when we played Northland, they talked a li= ttle trash against us, so there's somewhat of a rivalry. It should be a great feeling to play against them." <= /span>

Fletcher and the OCC all-stars -- who will be coached by Thomas Worthington's Bob Miller -- will attempt to snap a two-game skid against the City.

Since the rivalry was renewed in 1999, the OCC is 5-4 against = the City, but last year the City rallied from an 86-71 deficit with 12 minutes,= 40 seconds remaining to win 117-108.

Others on the OCC roster include Dublin Scioto's Ben Ashwill, Reynoldsburg's Eric Beard, Dublin Jerome's Tim Brady, Thomas Worthington's Taylor Hobbs and Justin Hallowell, Westland's Demarcus Jackson, Worthington Kilbourne's Goran Lokas, Marysville's Ian Quick, Dublin Coffman's Scott= Stucky and Gahanna's Robbie Taylor.

Taylor made first-team all-district, Ashwill and Hobbs were second-team all-district and Quick and <= span class=3DSpellE>Stucky made the third team in Division I. =

"It's a pretty talented group," said Thomas assistant Sean Luzader, who will be coaching the team alo= ng with Miller. "What you notice right away is it's a very perimeter-orie= nted team. Basically, everybody but two of them are good 3-point shooters, which affords you to do a lot of things in an all-star game."

Milburn Johnson, who coached Walnut Ridge to a 9-11 record in = his first season this year and heads the City team, sees similar strengths from= his group.

The City all-star roster includes Africen= tric's Tim Mapp, Eastmoor Academy's Antonio Bumpus and Vincent Coleman, Independence's Brandon Gwinn, Mifflin's Adrian Arter and Keshon Pullins, Northland's Quintin Harris, Devon Moore and Ian= Nixson, Walnut Ridge's Derrek Farr and Whetstone's Joe Howard. Moore might not be available to play becau= se of other all-star commitments.

= Bumpus (Division II) and Mapp (Division = IV) were first-team all-district and Pullins (Divis= ion II) made second team.

"We have mostly perimeter type of people, but some of the= se people like Bumpus can go down there and reboun= d and can offset a lack of size inside," Johnson said.