Scioto's Travis Wehder came off the bench to score 13 points in a 72-60 victory over Marysville on Jan. 13.
As the Dublin Scioto High School boys basketball team prepares for its stretch run through the OCC-Cardinal Division schedule, coach Tony Bisutti has some comfort in knowing the Irish won't be relying on one scorer.
The Irish gradually have developed a nine-player rotation that has them at 7-4 overall and 4-3 in the league.
Scioto begins the second round of OCC-Cardinal play Friday, Jan. 20, at Olentangy before playing host to Westerville South on Tuesday, Jan. 24.
Olentangy Liberty sits atop the league standings at 7-0, followed by South (5-2), Westerville North (5-2), Scioto, Dublin Jerome (3-4), Olentangy (3-4), Westerville Central (3-4) and Marysville (0-7).
"I think we're really close to turning the corner and being a good basketball team," Bisutti said. "We had some guys coming off the bench who didn't have a lot of experience coming off the bench. They've gone from unsure and uneasy to making some positive contributions."
One of those players is Travis Wehder, a 6-foot-4 junior post player whose family moved to Dublin from Virginia before the start of the school year. He scored 13 points off the bench in a 72-60 victory over Marysville on Jan. 13 and scored 11 in a 61-42 win over Dublin Jerome on Jan. 6.
"I almost kind of prefer coming off the bench," Wehder said. "You get a feel about the flow of the game and when I get on the court I contribute as much as I can. When we go in there coach Bisutti wants 10 minutes out of everybody. If he puts you on the floor, he wants you to contribute. It's not just about giving somebody a rest."
Grant Anderson came off the bench to score 10 points against the Monarchs and 14 in a 69-29 win over Athens on Dec. 30. The junior wing player has played significant minutes and has developed into a strong 3-point shooter.
Senior wing player Gabe McGlone, who's nearly back to full strength after suffering an injury early in the season, has been first off the bench.
Junior guards Antonio Bisutti and Joshua Ashwill, both three-year varsity players, rarely get rest. Ashwill was averaging 13.5 points through 10 games and was among the area's top 3-point shooters at 44 percent. He was shooting 56 percent from the field through 10 games.
Bisutti and Ryan Duncan both are averaging 10 points and Scioto's bench players are combining to average 15 points.
"We really don't have a true backup point guard, so either Antonio or Josh has to be on the court," coach Bisutti said. "I know there have been games where Ryan, Josh and Antonio have played 32 minutes. But that's just the way it is, and what we do kind of depends on the flow of the game."
Scioto has remained competitive against the top opponents in the OCC-Cardinal.
The Irish trailed by as many as 13 points at Liberty on Jan. 3 before battling back in the fourth quarter. Bisutti scored a career-high 28 points in the 59-53 loss.
Scioto also had its chances in a 63-59 loss at Westerville South on Dec. 9 and defeated Westerville North 45-41 on Dec. 16.
With the exception of an 82-49 loss to visiting Walnut Ridge on Dec. 29, Scioto's average margin of defeat has been five points.
"I think our league has proven to be what I thought it was going to be, and that's pretty darn tough," coach Bisutti said. "We're pretty spread out with our scoring and we're about dead on with rebounds per game with our opponents. If we can maintain that and control the ball a little better, that's going to be good for us."