Pivotal third quarter fuels Westerville South victory

Elton Sunnyway scored a career-high 15 points, and Westerville South used a strong third-quarter surge to upend host Westerville Central 59-45 in an Ohio Capital Conference Buckeye Division boys basketball game Saturday night.

After taking a 26-21 halftime lead, South outscored Central 12-2 in the third quarter, holding the Warhawks scoreless the first five minutes.

Five other players scored between seven and nine points for South (8-3, 2-3). Josh McDaniel (12), Solomon Wells (11) and Thomas Hickman (11) hit double figures for Central (9-2, 3-2), which fell out of a share atop the Buckeye with Westerville North.

PICKERINGTON NORTH 51, CINCINNATI PRINCETON 38: Jerome Hunter scored 23 points, and Pickerington North (10-2) beat Cincinnati Princeton (10-1) in the Flyin' To The Hoop Invitational in Kettering. Jack Sawyer added 13 points for the Panthers, who upended their second unbeaten opponent of the week. North beat Dublin Coffman in tripleovertime on Tuesday. XENIA 67, OLENTANGY LIBERTY 60: Despite Ben Roderick's 26 points, Olentangy Liberty (5-6) fell to Xenia in the Flyin' To The Hoop Invitational. Liberty led 31-24 at halftime. WORTHINGTON KILBOURNE 55, FORT RECOVERY 54: Thomas Wilson converted a rebound basket with four seconds remaining to give Kilbourne (2-10) a nonleague win at Fort Recovery (6-4). Jake Kirschy paced the Wolves with 13 points. WESTERVILLE NORTH 67, WATTERSON 50: AJulius Brown had 10 of his gamehigh 23 points in the second quarter and added six steals, lifting Westerville North (10-2) to a nonleague victory at Watterson (4-7). Jeremiah Keene added 19 points for the Warriors. BEXLEY 49, WORTHINGTON CHRISTIAN 33: Ryan Callahan scored eight of his 14 points in a 16-4 first quarter, and host Bexley (9-4, 2-3) went on to beat Worthington Christian (4-8, 1-4) in MidState League Ohio Division play. Nakimba Mullins had 15 points for Worthington Christian.

GIRLS

WESTERVILLE SOUTH 55, WESTERVILLE NORTH

44: Gabby Hutcherson, Sommer Pitzer and Cailin Duffey combined for 34 points, and Westerville South (9-4, 5-0) won at Westerville Central (10-2, 3-2) in an OCC Buckeye game. Central's Brianna Smith led all scorers with 15 points.

PICKERINGTON CENTRAL 75, GAHANNA 68: Adrian Crockwell scored 19 points off the bench, and Pickerington Central (14-1, 7-0) won an OCC Ohio contest at Gahanna (9-7, 2-5). Anisja Harris had a career-high 29 points for Gahanna, which trailed by as many as 17 in the third quarter.