Jerome takes down the Irish in surprising style

By CHRIS MILES

Published: Tuesday, January 12, 2010 4:06 PM EST

It was the Dublin Jerome boys basketball team that came into a crosstown matchup with host Dublin Scioto Friday, Jan. 8, with the winless record,

But when the dust settled, it was the visiting Celtics (1-9, 1-5) and not the Irish (1-8, 0-6) who were smiling from ear-to-ear following a convincing 75-32 victory.

Neither team has had much to brag about this season, but for Jerome to get a convincing win over its neighboring rival was a nice change of pace.

"I think any time the Dublin schools play each other it's a rivalry type of game," Celtics coach Chris Carlisle said.

"Obviously, the kids get real excited about playing. Scioto and coach (Tony) Bisutti have won a lot of games and championships and have a lot of tradition and we're trying to build something like that at Jerome."

The Celtics had never had a night like they did Friday against an Irish team playing without their best player, junior post Jamare Mills.

"I thought our guys came out with some good intensity tonight and brought some energy to the floor," the Jerome coach said. "We tried to take away any type of offensive game plan they had by throwing a little press in there. It was a half-court press to try and get them out of their flow a little bit.

"Obviously Jamare not playing is huge. He's a very good player and a great young man. Our guys took advantage of the situation."

Mills has been nursing a shoulder injury and was unavailable for the Irish. Without his athletic 6-foot, 5-inch frame in the middle, Scioto looked lost on offense the whole night.

Jerome jumped out to an 18-7 advantage at the end of the first quarter and never looked back. In fact, it took until 1:48 to play in the third quarter for Scioto to reach the 18-point plateau, and by that time it trailed 46-18.

It wasn't the fact his team lost that had Bisutti upset afterward; it was the way they lost.

"I mean there aren't a whole lot of positives to take from this," the Scioto coach said. "I'm embarrassed, they're embarrassed. We didn't play with any intelligence, didn't execute and I don't think we played hard. I don't think I've ever said that about one of my teams."

Scioto failed to get a player in double figures. In contrast Jerome had eight players score between four and 12 points.

"We're always looking for balance," Carlisle said. "But we haven't had that balanced scoring where we could anticipate getting four or five points from a number of different people. Tonight we were able to do that. I think it showed a willingness by the players to share the ball.

"I'm happy for our guys to be able to come though tonight. We've had a lot of close ones, but maybe this makes up for it a little bit. Hopefully we can get on a roll."

Jerome led 30-12 at the half, but instead of sitting back and enjoying the advantage, the Celtics attacked in the third quarter and built the lead to 52-21 heading into the final period.

"I think it's part of the maturation process you try and reach," Carlisle said. "To try and get to that next level, to get our kids to execute no matter what the score. We wanted to work on some things and accomplish some things in the second half and I think we did that. We obviously have a long way to go to get to where we want to be but this was a good night for us."

Jerome was led in scoring by Jake Martin (12 points) and Ben Nesdore (10 points). Scioto got nine points each from Raneal Ewing and Hector Cintron.

"Any time when you're in a position like we are and can get a win it's a good thing," Carlise said. "I think we were able to share the basketball and everybody has to go home feeling good. We not only won the game but everybody contributed in one way or another."

Jerome will look to make it back-to-back wins when it plays host to Westerville Central Friday, Jan. 15 (7:30 p.m.).

Scioto will try and bounce back at Marysville Jan. 8 (7:30 p.m.).

"From my standpoint we have to keep plugging and trying to push the right button," Bisutti said. "But I don't know what that is right now."

"We didn't play with any intelligence, didn't execute and I don't think we played hard. I don't think I've ever said that about one of my teams."

--Tony Bisutti