Below scoring pace, Curtis happy to win
Area leader’s 25 points spark Xenia’s victory.
KETTERING — Xenia standout Samari Curtis has had such a great season, the 25 points he scored during Saturday’s 16th Annual Premier Health Flyin’ to the Hoop will ding his average.
“It feels good but I don’t really care about the scoring; I just want to win,” he said. “We got the W and that’s all that matters to me.”
Xenia did just that with a 67-60 defeat of Olentangy Liberty. Curtis entered as the area’s scoring leader (31.7) and just last weekend put a personal-best 50 points on Tippecanoe in a loss.
Uncommitted, Curtis was a high-scoring reason why the Bucs
(7-6) were invited to Flyin’. Xavier University is among the programs to have made him a scholarship offer.
“That will take (Curtis’ scoring average) down to a solid 31 points,” Xenia coach Kent Anderson said. “He’ll trade 4-5 points off that average if it means winning. That’s what type of kid he is.”
■ Springboro raced to decisive early advantage and stunned Tippecanoe 57-38 in Saturday’s girls opener. Jordan Diehl scored 15 points and Rachel Gillum added 11 for the Panthers, who led 18-2. Allison Mader led Tipp with 10 points.
“I’m surprised at the outcome,” veteran Springboro coach Tom Benjamin said, “but I sure am glad we won.”
■ Sponsored by River Valley Credit Union, Mader, a senior, was presented the $1,000 Flyin’ scholarship at halftime. Mader averages 15.4 points and has signed with Cedarville.
■ Hilliard Bradley reluctantly informed Flyin’ President Eric Horstman that school administration ruled they would not be allowed to travel to Kettering because of a winter storm that hit on Friday. Horstman had a backup plan of Belmont filling Bradley’s spot against Spire Academy. That, too, unraveled, when district officials ruled the Bison couldn’t play because there was no school Friday. The game was scraped. “There’s a gap in time, but not a gap in talent or enthusiasm,” Horstman said. “We’re still going forward.”
■ Spire’s Rob Bobroczky is 16 years old, 7 feet 7, fluent in three languages — including his native Romanian — and short on experience. He’s believed to be the tallest basketball player at any level in the world.
“I know I’ve made improvement,” said Bobroczky after not playing in Spire’s 80-70 comeback defeat of host Fairmont in Friday’s opener. “I definitely feel like I’m getting there slowly.”
Fairmont’s Jack Hendricks hit eight 3-pointers and had 29 points for the Firebirds (9-3). Two weeks ago he scored a program record 52 points.
■ Bol Bol, the nation’s No. 1 center, led top-ranked Findlay Prep (Nev.) to a 50-48 defeat of Huntington Prep (W.Va.) in Friday’s nightcap.
The son of the late NBA fan favorite Manute Bol, the 7-3 Bol Bol delivered as expected. He had that similar easygoing manner and knock-kneed towering presence as his father. Then he scored a game-high 18 points to go with a chippiness to his game that eluded his shot-blocking father.
Thought to have been won over by Kentucky coach John Calipari, Bol instead recently signed with Oregon.