Basketball teams during the course of season can find themselves buried in one of those seemingly never-ending slumps. It might be poor shooting or lackadaisical defense.

Dublin Scioto High School boys coach Tony Bisutti believes his team's troubles go deeper than that.

"I think it's just a general lack of respect of the overall essence of what we're trying to do," he said.

"We're looking for guys who want to be here and want to play hard. We want guys who are going to produce."

Before playing Pickerington Central last Tuesday, Scioto has lost three in a row, including OCC-Cardinal Division contests against Olentangy, Grove City and a non-league game against Mount Vernon.

Scioto was 9-7 over all and 4-3 in the league before last Tuesday but remained in the hunt for at least a share of the championship as it was tied with Olentangy for third behind co-leaders Central (5-2) and Grove City (5-2).

League play continues on Friday at Chillicothe, which Scioto beat 80-5 on January 7 as Clark Crum scored 23 points, leading three others in double figures.

"Right now we're not even thinking about an OCC championship because we don't deserve it," Crum said. "We need to worry about competing. Our practices have been better. We just have to hope to win these last few games."

Scioto was averaging more than 58 points before the skid, then made just two 3-pointers in 42 tries against Olentangy and Mount Vernon and was 13 of 60 (21 percent) from the field against Grove City.

With the paltry shooting from the perimeter, opponents have had success with a zone defense by putting two and three defenders on Crum in the middle. Grove City held him to eight points.

"I really think it's been more of a mental than a physical thing for us," Crum said. "We haven't been relying on our system and we haven't been listening to coaches. Too many people are trying to do their own thing."

The Greyhounds built on their lead in every quarter except the last and led 22-16 at the half. Mount Vernon held Scioto to 9 of 41 from the field. After allowing Crum to score the team's first six points, it went on a 14-3 run over the next five minutes, making three 3-pointers.

The Irish finish the regular season at home Tuesday against Marysville and at Westerville Central on Feb. 11.

Scioto is seeded 14th for the Division I tournament and will open against Whetstone on Feb. 19 in the Fairgrounds Coliseum.