NEWS AND NOTES

Around the OCC Cardinal – The Irish maintained their two game lead over the Westerville South Wildcats as a result of a 58-45 win over Westerville Central on Tuesday. Westerville South kept the pressure on the Irish with a 74-56 win at Marysville. Liberty dropped Westerville North (56-47) and Olentangy got back in the win column against Jerome (54-49).

Davis Middle School 8th Graders Still Alive in Martin Memorial Tourney. The Davis 8th grade boys team won its quarterfinal match-up against Upper Arlington Hastings and Semifinal game against Marysville. They play in the championship game against Dublin Grizzell on Saturday Feb 7th at 3:00 PM at Hillard Weaver Middle School The Irish are 14-1 on the season. The 7th grade Irish bounced from the winners’ bracket on Monday after a loss to Hilliard Memorial. They are now 13-2 and were scheduled to play consolation game on Thursday. Both teams will have their season ending banquet on Tuesday.

Polls Change Just A Little This Week -- Columbus Northland fell just one spot in the Ohio Associated Press Sportswriters Division I basketball poll after an overtime loss against state-ranked Canton Timken on the road Saturday night. The Irish fell to 13th in the AP poll, despite winning both games last week. They were leapfrogged by a couple of teams that beat ranked opponents. In the Dispatch Coaches Poll the Irish remained number 2 behind Northland, but snagged one first place vote for the first time. The Newark Wildcats and Grove City Greyhounds were third and fourth. Scioto also remained #2 in the ThisWeek Newspapers Poll behind Northland.

Tournament Draw on February 8 – In addition to preparing for league games this week, area coaches have been evaluating opponents in order to get ready for the Central District Athletic Board tournament draw to be held on Sunday afternoon at Olentangy Liberty. It will be interesting to see how the seeds shake out and which teams choose spots in order to avoid or find a certain opponent. Most observers still consider Northland to be the obvious top seed and suggest that this may be the deepest tournament field in several years. Another consideration for coaches is the fact that the OCC has gone to 8 team divisions which means there are likely to be more teams squaring off for a third time this season in the tournament. Look for sectional pairings in the Columbus Dispatch on Monday, February 9.