Africentric doesn’t miss a beat with Moss

LEXINGTON, Ohio — A year ago in the same gymnasium and point in the basketball season, Tyeasha Moss was just another proud alumna watching from the stands when Africentric won yet another regional championship.

Moss improved her seating to the bench Saturday as coach for a game in taking over for a suspended Will McKinney.

The Nubians played as though McKinney was still leading them rather than perched in the upper reaches of the building in wiping out Archbold 60-31 to advance to the Division III state tournament.

Africentric ( 23- 3) will play Gates Mills Gilmour Academy

( 23- 6) in a semifinal at 1 p. m. Friday at Value City Arena.

McKinney was suspended one game and the school was fined an undisclosed amount by the Ohio High School Athletic Association for his critical comments of the officiating in a 39- point regional semifinal victory over Mount Blanchard Riverdale on Wednesday.

Moss was one of McKinney’s first stars in scoring 1,635 points and playing on a state championship team in 2007 and runner-up in ’08 before becoming a three-year starter for Xavier.

“I don’t really want to comment because it’s all about the girls and not about me," Moss said. “They were the ones who put it all out there on the floor."

But McKinney couldn’t stop talking about Moss, who is in her first season as the No. 1 assistant and junior varsity coach. He was not permitted to interact with the players before, during or after the game.

“Tyeasha Moss did an impeccable job and I’m proud of her, but I knew she could do the job," McKinney said. “I wasn’t worried about the kids executing and knowing what to do with Tyeasha there. This whole situation turned out to be fantastic the way Tyeasha handled things."

Africentric ( 23- 3) began to dominate starting with sophomore point guard Jordan Horston blocking a shot five seconds after tip- off.

Freshman guardforward Alexia Smith led the Nubians with 15 points, followed by senior guard Leah Morrow with 12 and Horston with 12.

Morrow said it was more than different playing without McKinney.

“That felt really weird because I’ve been with him since the fifth grade," she said.

“We said that we were winning it for him. (Moss) told us to play with everything we had. We’re happy for her. We love Coach Moss."

Waterford 50, Danville 35: Waterford (24-3) will return to the state tournament to defend its title after it downed Danville (19-7) in a regional final at Pickerington North.