Pickerington North gets some revenge

PICKERINGTON — Aware that it was facing a wounded opponent, Pickerington North pounced on host Pickerington Central and never relented Friday night.

Waiting since March to avenge three losses to its crosstown rival — including in a Division I regional final — North used a blend of suffocating perimeter defense and dominance inside to beat host Central 59-41 in an Ohio Capital Conference Ohio Division game before a sellout crowd.

"First and foremost, they put us out and ended our season last year and that's motivation enough," North coach Jason Bates said. "Outside of that, we didn't think we played very well in our

our first game (a 65-60 loss to Huber Heights Wayne), and we were committed to just simply play well."

The Panthers did that against a Central team minus its starting backcourt of North Carolina-bound junior Jeremiah Francis and Jah Garcia. Francis suffered a knee injury in the team's preview event and will undergo arthroscopic surgery Dec. 12 to remove loose cartilage. He is expected to return in mid- to late January. Garcia is out two or three games because of a sprained ankle.

But North was missing 6-9 center Ross Ryan and transfer Corey Baker.

Francis' absence was exploited early by North guard Ty Wiley and Tyler "Red" Potts.

"Red's a special defender, and Ty holds his own against everybody he goes up against," Bates said. "It's no secret we wanted to pressure them and win the point of attack and get back downcourt to utilize our bigs."

Six-foot-10 Eli McNamara scored 20 points and 6-7 Indiana signee Jerome Hunter had 19 for North (1-1, 1-0).

“It seems like it’s been awhile since we beat them, and I know that’s been on our minds since last March,” said McNamara, a Miami University signee. “We had an inspired week of practice, and coach Bates had a great game plan. It was a lot different than last year with Sterling (Manley) gone and Jeremiah out. We had the advantage this time.”

Central (2-1, 0-1) had won 12 of the teams' past 13 meetings dating to 2011.

"They don't have the big men that we have this year," Hunter said. "We sensed we had the advantage physically this time, and we took it right to them from the opening tip."

With 14 points, Juan Elmore was the only Central player in double figures. Detroit Mercy signee Adrian Nelson was kept scoreless until the five-minute mark of the fourth quarter.

What's more, the Tigers didn't score in the first 4:25 of the game. They took 6:30 to put their first points on the board in the third quarter. By that time, they trailed by 16.

"We're just banged up right now," Central coach Eric Krueger said. "We've got guys playing out of position. Not having your all-Ohio point guard is tough … real tough. We knew we had to play flawless to beat them. We weren't hitting shots at all, and couple that with the fact Pickerington North did a great job defensively, and it wasn't our night."

Bates credited his team for keeping its composure and staying with the game plan in an emotional contest.

"This is the first time I've ever started five seniors," he said. "They took ownership of the game, and I really liked that. I didn't have to say much at all. They're able to coach themselves."

Krueger hopes his team jells in time to defend its OCC Ohio title and make another deep tournament run.

"Pickerington North has the best talent in central Ohio, and maybe in all of Ohio," he said. "We think we're going to be pretty good in time, too. We're just trying to keep positive and keep battling until we put this all back together."