BARN STAYS ON FIRE, IRISH WIN AT WESTERVILLE SOUTH

Better call the fire department.

The Irish played in their second consecutive barnburner on Tuesday night at Westerville South and came away with a 47-45 win that puts them squarely in the driver’s seat for the league race.

Scioto stands 9-0 in OCC Cardinal Division play and holds a two-game lead over the second place Wildcats who are now 7-2.

The Irish face league foe Westerville North at home on Friday. The Warriors are in the middle of the pack in terms of league standings, but have shown they are capable of beating good teams by knocking off defending Division I state champ Newark on its own floor earlier this season.

Unlike the game at home last Friday against Olentangy that featured big runs by both teams and required a bucket at the buzzer to secure the win, Tuesday’s game was close the whole way. The Irish played good defense most of the night, but had to ratchet it up further in the final seconds in order to secure the win.

The sequence started when Rainer Duzan split a pair of free throws with 33.8 seconds to go that gave the Irish a 47-45 lead. The senior wing stepped up on this night when both teams were defending well. He scored 11 of his team high 17 points and canned 5-6 free throws in the fourth quarter.

A steady defender who has a knack for deflecting balls in the passing lane and picking up steals; Duzan picked a great night to showcase what he can do on the offensive end of the floor. In addition to the solid free throw shooting, he nailed three treys and had an outstanding drive down the lane for a layup in the third quarter that helped the Irish cut into a 6 point Wildcats lead. His 17 points match his high in league games set in the opener at Olentangy.

Following Duzan’s late free throw, the Wildcats worked the ball around the perimeter in order to try to get an open trey or lane to drive to the basket.

As the clock wound down, South’s senior captain Jason Davis caught the ball deep on the right baseline and David McKinley closed him out on a trey attempt. Davis’ contested shot went long and Ben Jones retrieved the loose ball for the Wildcats.

He got the ball to Traevon Jackson, who scored a game high 19 points, and the sophomore guard shot a 10 foot baseline jumper from the left side that went long.

There was a scramble for the ball as the clock wound down and Jones retrieved it again. He got the ball to Davis, who attempted a contested jumper in the lane. The shot skipped off the flange and sophomore post Jamare Mills jumped high to secure the rebound just before the buzzer sounded.

There are five league games remaining, but the Irish showed against a solid opponent for the second consecutive game that they have the meddle to step up the defense when necessary to secure a league win.

Westerville South had a good night beyond the arc, but still finished the game shooting only 36.2 percent overall from the field. They were able to generate offense by having five different players nail three pointers and by snaring 12 offensive rebounds. They only got to the free throw line 4 times and converted 2 of them.

For the most part, the Irish offense was generated by getting the ball inside and by getting to the free throw line more frequently than the Wildcats. Scioto shot 43.2 percent from the field and made 11-16 free throws (68.8 percent).

The only other scorer in double figures for Scioto was senior post Marco St. John with 10 points. He also had 4 rebounds and 2 steals.

Three of his buckets came on cuts to the basket fed by passes from Mills. The big sophomore had a team high 4 assists and led the Irish in rebounding with 5. He also scored 3 points.

Bradley McDougald had 9 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 blocked shot.

Deji Olatoye had a steady game on the defensive end with 4 rebounds and a team high 4 steals. He scored 3 points.

Eric Stamets had 3 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 steal and several deflections. David McKinley had 3 assists, 2 points, 2 rebounds, 1 steal and 0 turnovers. Tyler Harrell chipped in 1 rebound in limited action.

Joining Jackson in double figure scoring for the Wildcats was Jones with 11 points. Five other players dented the scoring column: Jalen Robinson (4), Adrian Collins (3), Davis (3), Jonathan Jennings (3) and Olumide Olenrewaju (2).

The Irish did an especially good job defending Davis who came into the game averaging around 13 points. He scored 17 points the last time these teams played.

Jackson led the Wildcats with 5 rebounds and he had 5 assists. Davis had a game high 6 assists.