Basketball
Irish boys still battling tough
circumstances
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
12:17 PM
By SCOTT GERFEN
ThisWeek Contributor
By Darrin Bryan/ThisWeek
Antonio Bisutti of Scioto fires a
pass as Jerome's Nick Neale looks on during the visiting Irish's 66-44 loss
last Friday in an OCC-Cardinal game.
Just a year ago, the Dublin Scioto
High School boys basketball team was enjoying a lengthy winning streak on its
way to another undefeated run through the OCC-Cardinal Division.
Dominated by seniors, the Irish
reached a Division I regional final where eventual state champion Northland
came away with a 54-53 victory.
The outlook is much different this
year.
Scioto enters the postseason with a
lineup relying heavily on sophomores and freshmen as it continues to battle
through a season rife with adversity.
"These guys have been thrown
into the fire," said coach Tony Bisutti, whose team plays Grove City on
Tuesday in a first-round tournament game at Hamilton Township. "As
coaches, we have to keep that in mind and really try and stay patient."
The Irish lost to Dublin Jerome
66-44 last Friday for their fifth consecutive setback and is 3-12 overall and
1-12 in the OCC-Cardinal Division
Scioto closes the regular season
Friday at home against Marysville and Saturday against visiting Linden.
Its starting lineup has been
anything but consistent.
The Irish are without their leading
scorer, junior post player Jamare Mills because of a season-ending shoulder
injury. They also are missing two contributors in junior Raneal Ewing and
sophomore Jeremie Nsbumbu. Both are ineligible.
"We know we have to just keep
at it no matter what people say," freshman point guard Antonio Bisutti
said. "We have three freshmen and two sophomores on the court at any one
time, but it's only going to help us because we've played a lot of experienced
teams this year."
Freshman guard Josh Ashwill has
earned a number of minutes off the bench.
"It's a lot more physical than
I was used to in eighth grade," he said. "I played point guard a lot
last year, but now I'm on the wing."
With so much youth, Scioto has stuck
with the basics and daily fundamental work.
Against Jerome, the Irish trailed
28-20 at halftime, but the Celtics outscored Scioto 19-5 in the third quarter
to widen the lead to 47-25.
Junior guard Justin Craig had 13
points to lead the scoring.
"We're buying some time
here," Bisutti said. "The hope is we can take a big step next year
and, hopefully, a gigantic step the year after that. But as I caution them,
being a year older doesn't guarantee anything."
•The ninth-seeded girls team
earned its fifth consecutive OCC championship with last Friday's 54-32 win over
Dublin Jerome.
Westerville South's 59-46 victory
over Olentangy gave Scioto a share of the OCC-Cardinal championship at 11-3.
The Braves entered the final week of the regular season with a one-game lead
after defeating Scioto 57-53 on Jan. 22.
The Irish open the postseason at
6:15 p.m. today at Westerville Central against Groveport.
"They were very disappointed
when we lost to them at home the second time," coach Todd Hardesty said.
"But at that point, I think my team has played more relaxed throughout
these last four games. We're playing some of our best basketball, and we got a
little help from the Wildcats so we're thrilled."
At a glance
Below are the recent results and
coming schedules for the Scioto boys and girls basketball teams:
BOYS
*Feb. 9 -- Lost to Olentangy Liberty 50-40
*Last Friday -- Lost to Dublin Jerome 66-44
Last Tuesday -- Game vs. Hilliard Bradley was postponed because of bad
weather. No makeup date has been announced.
*Friday -- Home vs. Marysville. The Monarchs won 65-60 in double
overtime Jan. 15.
Tuesday -- At Hamilton Township in a Division I tournament
first-round game against Grove City
Of note: The Irish are 3-14 overall and 1-12 in the OCC-Cardinal.