Miamisburg's Hubbard saves best for big win
The Premier Health Flyin’ to KETTERING — the Hoop has a way of bringing out the best in players. Count Miamisburg’s Jason Hubbard among that bunch.
Hubbard went off by hitting four 3-pointers for a career-high 32 points as Miamisburg stunned Mountain Mission, Va., 65-54 to begin Flyin’s six games Sunday at Fairmont’s Trent Arena.
“Over the summer we worked really hard for this moment,” said Hubbard, who was unstoppable around the rim and had several crowd-pleasing dunks. “To be here and get the ‘W’ just shows how much we’ve worked.”
A promising 6-foot-5 inside presence, Hubbard has signed with Taylor University in Indiana and drew a lot of additional interest after his Flyin’ debut.
Like most of the prep school programs that play in Flyin’, Mountain Mission is an academy with an international lineup.
“They were really scary on paper with the size and international players they have,” Miamisburg coach Tim Fries said. “We felt we’re going to make them play a Southwest Ohio high school basketball game. There’s ice and snow outside and we’re going to play tough, hard defense. We call that a GWOC game.”
■ Versailles bolted to an 18-point halftime lead and rocked Sidney 65-50 in a must-see matchup of area standout individuals. Versailles senior and Ohio State recruit Justin Ahrens had a game-high 26 points, 11 rebounds and five assists. Sidney junior Andre Gordon had 20 points.
“That’s my bro,” Gordon said. “It’s all
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■ Trotwood-Madison couldn’t hang on to a halftime lead and fell to McEachern, Ga., 87-77 late Saturday. As usual, Trotwood (7-3) was paced by Amari Davis (24 points) and Myles Belyue (19 points, 11 rebounds, three steals. The Rams also received a season-high 17 points and eight rebounds from junior center Justin Stephens.
On deck today: MAC member Minster will play Franklin Monroe of the Cross County Conference to open the final day’s six-game slate. It’ll be the first Flyin’ appearance for FM.
Fort Loramie (11-0) is matched against Dayton City League member Thurgood Marshall in the second game. Loramie has beaten Bethel and is coming off a 48-46 overtime win at Versailles on Tuesday. Loramie hit a 3-pointer with three seconds left in OT to tie it. Versailles called a timeout that it didn’t have. Loramie converted the two technical free throws to win it.
The last of 19 Flyin’ games fittingly will pit Upper Arlington against Wayne. Both teams are unbeaten and loaded with top-end talent. Upper Arlington is led by senior Damon Goodwin, who spurned OSU after its midsummer coaching change and instead signed with Notre Dame. He’s the son of Dayton Hall of Famer Damon Goodwin.
Wayne counters with Darius Quisenberry (Youngstown State signee) and L’Christian “Blue” Smith, who signed with OSU to play wide receiver. UA was No. 1 and Wayne No. 2 in last week’s first Associated Press Division I state poll.
■ General admission tickets are available. Cost is $18 and good for all games. Contact this reporter at 937225-2381 or email Marc. Pendleton@coxinc.com. Twitter: @MarcPendleton