IRISH WILL SALUTE SENIORS ON FRIDAY NIGHT

Nine senior basketball players and three cheerleaders will be recognized on Friday as the class of 2009 will have its final home basketball game ever against Dublin Jerome.

The Irish enter the contest with a 16-1 record overall and they are 12-0 in the OCC Cardinal Division. A victory over Jerome would clinch Scioto’s third consecutive outright OCC title in boys basketball. Last Friday’s win at Olentangy Liberty clinched a tie for the championship.

Jerome enters the game with a 4-13 overall record and 3-9 in the OCC Cardinal. Their two seniors, 6-4 forward Stephen Harrell and 6-8 post Neil Johnson, were honored at home last Friday as the Celts dropped Marysville 46-42. The Celtics played a non-league game on February 10 and fell 51-38 to Olentangy Orange.

Harrell leads the Celtics in scoring with around 11 points a game. Freshman guard Cameron Wilson averages 9 points. Johnson averages 6.5 points and is a shot blocking presence on defense. Other players in the Jerome rotation include Garrett Couche, Ryan Linville, Jake Martin, Hunter Naylor, Nick Neale and Ben Nesdor.

When these teams met at Jerome in mid-January, a hot shooting Irish team jumped out to a 37-19 halftime lead. They led by 15 points entering the fourth quarter, but the scrappy Celtics hit a few treys late to make the final score 60-53.

The Irish broke the team record for three-point shooting percentage by hitting 8-10 shots from beyond the arc in that game. The 80 percent success rate broke the record of 63.5 percent set in 1997 and tied last season against Watkins Memorial.

Pre-game ceremonies will recognize the following Irish student athletes: Kelsey Joseph, Rachel Kraft and Charity Mack of the cheerleading squad; and, players Rainer Duzan, Tyler Harrell, Bradley McDougald, David McKinley, Deji Olatoye, Jason Reinick, Eric Stamets, Marco St. John and Destin Thomas.