Olentangy rivals Liberty, Orange, think big
Two teams from same district ranked in top 5
Representing schools about 8 miles apart, Olentangy Liberty and Olentangy Orange boys basketball could be on a collision course this postseason.
Both teams finished in the top five in the Division I Associated Press state poll.
“We’re one (school) district and it’s nice when I look in the paper and I see Orange is fourth in the state and we’re fifth in the state (in the final rankings),” said Liberty coach Greg Nossaman. “There’s two teams in the district in the top 10. That says a lot.”
Liberty (20-3) won the Occ-central title at 9-1, and Orange (21-3) tied Hilliard Bradley for second at 7-3. The teams split their regular-season meetings, with Liberty winning 56-55 on Jan. 13 and Orange taking the regularseason finale 56-50 on Feb. 17.
They could meet again in a regional semifinal March 8 at Ohio Dominican, with the winner playing for the regional title — and a state tournament berth — March 11 at Ohio University.
Prior to that, Orange, seeded third in the district tournament, faces No. 18 seed Grove City in a semifinal Wednesday at Upper Arlington. The winner plays seventh-seeded Pickerington North or 10th-seeded Delaware Hayes for a district title Saturday at Ohio Dominican.
“It is very important to this group of seniors and the entire team to win a district title,” said Orange coach Anthony Calo. “We have to win this next game to get there. It’s super important for this group.”
Second-seeded Liberty plays 17thseeded Dublin Coffman on Wednesday at Jonathan Alder — Liberty won both of the meetings in Occ-central play — with the winner taking on sixth-seeded Gahanna Lincoln or
11th-seeded Newark on Saturday.
Liberty ended Orange’s season a year ago, beating the Pioneers 53-50 in overtime in a district semifinal. The Patriots went on to lose to eventual state champion Pickerington Central 54-49 in the next round.
“This team has potential,” said Nossaman. “It’s a good group of seniors. As each game gets a little bit tougher, they dial in a little bit more. I like where we are. Twenty wins in a year with just one returning starter (in senior forward Alex Okuley) is not too bad.”
Senior guard/forward James Hummell averages a team-high 11.2 points, followed by Okuley (10.4), senior forward/center Jackson Mikola (9.1) and senior guard Matt Wilson (9.0). Sophomore center Tyler Kropp averages a team-leading 4.2 rebounds.
“We just have to put in the work,” Wilson said. “I’m excited to see where we go.”
Orange has been boosted by the return of senior guard Mikey Mccollum, who missed nine games with a hip injury and then five games later in the season with a sprained left ankle.
“(Last season’s tournament loss to Liberty) was something that was salty — it definitely stung,” Mccollum said. “We don’t want to have that feeling again. If it works out and we play them again, we’d like that and they’d like that. We’re ready.”
Senior guard Elias Lewis averages a team-best 16.6 points for Orange, followed by Mccollum (14.3) and senior guard Jordan Edwards (10.9). Mccollum leads in rebounding at 4.7 per game.
“We’re finding our chemistry and hopefully catching our stride at the right time,” said Calo.
Olentangy Berlin also enjoying strong season
In its fifth season, Berlin will finish with a winning record for the first time.
The Bears are 15-9 heading into their district semifinal Wednesday against top-seeded Pickerington Central at Westerville Central. Donovon Barrett coached Westerville Central for five seasons before taking over at Berlin when the school opened.
“We’re facing a huge challenge in the defending state champion, but it’s March and we get to practice some more, our young guys get some more experience and other guys get to keep going, so we’re excited for it,” Barrett said.
Seeded 12th, Berlin has won two postseason games in the same year for the first time, beating 21st-seeded Marion Harding 65-41 on Feb. 21 and 27thseeded Big Walnut 49-40 on Friday.
Junior guard/forward Derek Goodman averages a team-high 16.0 points, followed by junior guard Noah Gamble (13.3) and senior forward Jason Inbody (10.0). Senior forward Aidan Ackermann averages a team-best 5.1 rebounds, just ahead of Inbody (4.8).
“If you’re playing in March, you have to be doing something right,” Barrett said. “We’ve won four tournament games in three years, and we’ve been in existence for five. Winning is hard and, in the tournament, winning is even harder. We’re giving our kids some credit.” fdirenna@dispatch.com @Dispatchfrank