Beechcroft deals Northland rare City loss

Youngstown State commit Jelani Simmons scored 23 points and visiting Beechcroft led from start to finish in knocking off Northland 83-74 in a City League North boys basketball showdown Friday night.

Datrey Long added 20 points for the Cougars (7-0, 4-0). Elijah Bishop (13) and Teon Jennings (11) also hit double figures.

William Mfum scored 20 points and Jejuan Weatherspoon 16 for Northland (4-1, 3-1), which fell behind 9-0 and never got closer than five the rest of the way.

It marked only the second defeat in league play since 2006-2007 for Northland, the 11-time defending North champion. It also was the first City loss at home for the Vikings since 2006, when Beechcroft turned the trick.

Mike White and Lelan Johnson scored 18 points as East (7-1, 4-0) kept pace atop the City North with a victory at Linden (4-3, 1-3). Justin Shipman-Curtis added 14 points for the Tigers. David Price had 16 points for Linden, which has dropped three straight City contests.

Taevion Kinsey scored 16 points and Eastmoor Academy (5-1, 4-0) rode a big second quarter to a key City South win at Africentric (5-1, 3-1). Trey Baumgartner had 19 points for Africentric.

Host Watterson (3-2, 2-1) rallied from five points down in the first overtime and went on to edge St. Charles (3-4, 0-2) in a two-overtime Central Catholic League contest. Jimmy Patton had the only basket in the second overtime for the Eagles, who went 5 for 5 at the free throw line. Zach Sawyer paced Watterson with 16 points. Garrett Tipton scored 21 points and Morgan Safford scored four in overtime, including the clinching foul shots with 5.9 seconds left, to give Hartley (4-1, 2-1) a CCL win over DeSales (3-2, 0-2). Kayin Derden poured in a career-high 32 points for DeSales.

Bryson Lane scored seven of his 15 points in the fourth quarter, enabling host Orange (7-1, 2-1) to edge Westerville South (4-2, 1-2) in an Ohio Capital Conference Buckeye Division contest. Four players scored between 10 and 15 points for Orange, which trailed by as many as five in the third quarter. South’s Jordan McMillian poured in a game-high 20 points. This marked the first win for Orange coach Anthony Calo over his father, long-time South coach Ed Calo.

Terin Kinsway scored 26 points and Delaware (4-4, 3-1) sank 10 of 12 foul shots in the fourth quarter to salt away an OCC Cardinal victory at Worthington Kilbourne (1-5, 1-3). Gavin Baker and Zach Wilson scored 13 points each for Kilbourne, which was unable to pull closer than three in the fourth quarter.

Antwon Hampton scored 10 of his 16 points after halftime, helping Groveport (3-5, 3-1) come away with an OCC Capital win at New Albany (1-5, 1-2). Hampton made a jump shot in the waning seconds of regulation to tie it at 46. In overtime, New Albany missed a contested layup with three seconds remaining that would have forced a second overtime.