Boys Basketball: New cast eager to step up for Worthington Christian Warriors
Of the five appearances the Worthington Christian boys basketball team has made at the state tournament, coach Kevin Weakley has been directly involved in three of them.
The group that helped the Warriors leave last year’s Division III state tournament with a runner-up finish sticks out to Weakley, not just for its talent but because of some of the intangibles it possessed.
“Anytime you have a season like we did last year, you’re going to have great memories,” Weakley said. “I have great memories from seasons when we didn’t win like that. One thing I’ve realized in coaching is that it’s about the kids, and last year we got the combination of really good kids and families with a good season in terms of wins and losses. It was fun for sure, and to play 30 games was pretty spectacular and draining at the same time considering the circumstances.”
Weakley, who is in his 22nd season as coach, was a player in 1994 when the Warriors were state runners-up. He also guided the team to a state runner-up finish in 2008.
With Weakley finishing up his college playing career at Otterbein in 1999, Worthington Christian won the Division IV state title under former coach Ray Slagle for its only championship. The Warriors then were state runners-up in 2000 when Weakley was serving as the school’s seventh-grade coach.
He took over the program as a 24-year-old for the 2000-01 season and entered this year with a career mark of 371-150.
While much of central Ohio played a limited schedule in December 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Warriors got in 10 games and went on to go 21-1 during the regular season, which included beating Whitehall 58-48 for the MSL-Ohio Division tournament title.
With a six-player senior class and standout guard D.J. Moore leading the way, the Warriors earned the No. 1 seed for the district tournament and lost 61-56 to Cleveland Heights Lutheran East in the state final to finish 28-2.
Moore was a junior but announced shortly after the state tournament that he was graduating a year early to begin his college career at Liberty. He finished with 1,333 career points to rank fifth in program history and 382 assists to finish third.
The talent provided by Moore and others in the 2021 class, including guard Tyler Kindberg and forwards Kobe Buford and Isaiah Hazelwood, is only part of the legacy they left behind, according to sophomore forward Sam Johnson.
“One of the biggest takeaways is the leadership the older guys showed me as a freshman,” Johnson said. “They showed me how to lead and what to do on the court and off the court.”
Johnson is among the few returnees who saw extended action last season, but senior guard Tommy Anthony and sophomore point guard Jonah Lewis help give the Warriors a trio of talented, albeit inexperienced, players around which to build.
Worthington Christian trailed the entire state final but cut it to 57-55 with 55.7 seconds to play when Anthony stole the ball and made his only basket of the game.
Johnson and Lewis will get extensive time together again this winter after helping the middle school team go a combined 40-0 in 2018-19 and 2019-20.
“A lot of people aren’t going to expect us to do as well as we’re going to this year,” Johnson said. “We’ve really got the pieces, with real hungry guys who are excited to play at the varsity level.”
Anthony is considered a combo guard who should fit well alongside Lewis in the backcourt, with junior forward Correll Amsbaugh and senior forward JaVaun Robinson also playing bigger roles.
Anthony hopes this year’s group can build on last season’s success.
“I was kind of the sixth or seventh man (last year),” Anthony said. “(Last season) definitely developed our experience and maturity. As leaders stepping into that role, it showed us how to lead a team and how to take a team to that championship level. We have a bunch of guys who are stepping up in that role and a lot of hidden pieces that people don’t know about.”
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KILBOURNE
•Coach: Tom Souder, 22nd season
•Top players: Aidan Gallogly, Marcus Gipson, Nicky Hirschy, Jackson Judy, Justin Kim, Te’Mar Lewis, Ayden Parsons, Bryce Taylor and Luke Wolford
•Key losses: Mitchell Abahaze, Cayden Dougherty, Travis Mecklenburg, Ian Schupp, Mitchell Tomasek and Brian Wilson
•Last season: 17-5 overall
•2020-21 OCC-Capital standings: Kilbourne (12-2), Westerville South (8-2), Canal Winchester (8-5), Big Walnut (7-5), Westerville North (6-7), Delaware (3-7), Dublin Scioto (2-8), Franklin Heights (2-12)
•2021 postseason: Def. Upper Arlington 50-43; lost to Olentangy Liberty 51-49 in Division I district semifinal
•Outlook: There’s a new banner hanging in the gym at Kilbourne, denoting the program’s first league title. Souder — who was named district and league Coach of the Year last season and shared that honor at the state level in Division I with Mentor’s Bob Krizancic — hopes to add to it this year.
The Wolves were hit hard by graduation, as last year’s senior class included Schupp (first-team all-district, league Player of the Year), Mecklenburg (honorable mention all-district, first-team all-league), Dougherty (special mention all-league) and Wilson (honorable mention all-league).
Still, Souder is excited about his roster, whose top returnee is Parsons. The senior guard averaged 10.8 points and 2.4 rebounds and was honorable mention all-district and second-team all-league a year ago.
Other returning letterwinners are seniors Wolford (guard), Judy (wing player), Taylor (wing player/post player) and Hirschy (wing player) and sophomore Gallogly (guard/wing player). They will be joined by Kim (senior guard), Gipson (junior wing player/post player) and Lewis (sophomore guard).
•Quotable: “I really like this team. These guys kind of have a chip on their shoulder and they’ve done everything we’ve asked them to do. I think we’ll be a much better shooting team. We’ll run (some different things) to utilize the speed and athleticism that we have on the team. We’re going to have to do it as a unit and I think (our players) understand that and embrace that.” — Souder
—Michael Rich
THOMAS
•Coach: Sean Luzader, eighth season
•Top players: Caleb Miller, Shaheem Nieves, Melvin Omameh, Benson Oriental, Mike Sekyere and Joey Zalewski
•Key losses: Maurice Collins, Omari Effiong, Tyrese Hughey, Isaac Settles and Jalen Sullinger
•Last season: 18-5 overall
•2020-21 OCC-Cardinal standings: Thomas (10-0), Marysville (7-3), Olentangy (6-4), Hilliard Darby (4-6), Dublin Jerome (3-7), Olentangy Berlin (0-10)
•2021 postseason: Def. Independence 84-53; lost to Newark 53-45 in Division I district semifinal
•Outlook: It’s basically a whole new team for Thomas, but there’s plenty of talent, said Luzader, who was league Coach of the Year last season.
The Cardinals lost Sullinger (first-team all-district, league Player of the Year), Hughey (second-team all-district, first-team all-league), Effiong (honorable mention all-district, second-team all-league) and Collins (honorable mention all-league). Sullinger is a freshman guard at Kent State.
The only returnee who saw significant playing time is Zalewski, a junior forward who averaged 9.0 points and 5.4 rebounds and was honorable mention all-district.
Miller (junior), Nieves (sophomore) and Sekyere (senior) will play at the guard positions, Oriental (junior) will be at forward and Omameh (junior) will play in the post.
•Quotable: “We’re really returning one guy (Zalewski) with any major experience. (It’s) an inexperienced group, but I think it’s a talented group. We’ve got some youthful talent and length and athleticism, so it’s just going to take reps for them to get up to speed. You’ll see the same types of things you’ve seen out of Thomas Worthington the last five to 10 years. We just won’t have the same names on the roster.” — Luzader
—Michael Rich
WORTHINGTON CHRISTIAN
•Coach: Kevin Weakley, 22nd season
•Top players: Correll Amsbaugh, Tommy Anthony, Sam Johnson, Jonah Lewis and JaVaun Robinson
•Key losses: Kobe Buford, Drew Faieta, Isaiah Hazelwood, Daniel Kimbrough, Tyler Kindberg and D.J. Moore
•Last season: 28-2 overall
•2020-21 MSL-Ohio standings: Worthington Christian (8-0), Whitehall (6-3), Bexley (5-4), Buckeye Valley (5-4), Wellington (2-6), Grandview (0-6)
•2021 postseason: Def. West Jefferson 73-26; def. Galion Northmor 60-24; def. Columbus Academy 55-40; def. Harvest Prep 50-25; def. Wheelersburg 50-47; def. Proctorville Fairland 50-28; def. Cincinnati Taft 47-45; lost to Cleveland Heights Lutheran East 61-56 in Division III state final
•Outlook: The Warriors lost the Player of the Year in both the MSL-Ohio and the district in Moore, who averaged 18.0 points and left after his junior season to enroll early at Liberty. Also gone from the state runner-up team are Kindberg, a first-team all-league and second-team all-district honoree who averaged 13.5 points and starting forwards Buford and Hazelwood.
Johnson, a 6-6 sophomore who averaged 7.0 points and was honorable mention all-district, is the only returnee who saw extensive time last season. Robinson (6-5, forward) and Anthony (6-3, guard) are seniors and Lewis (6-0, guard) is a sophomore; all should play key roles after gaining experience last season.
Amsbaugh, who is a 6-5 junior forward, seniors Adam Dunson (5-9, guard), T.J. Hristev (5-9, guard) and Luke Snedecor (6-5, forward) and freshman C.J. Miller (5-7, guard) also should fill key roles.
•Quotable: “We’re getting a late start and we’re going to be playing a majority of guys who didn’t play at this level last year, so I think this is one of those seasons where you say it’s a marathon and not a sprint with some bumps and bruises as we learn and grow together. Hopefully when we get to mid-January, we’ll be starting to play to the potential that we have down the road.” — Weakley
—Jarrod Ulrey
This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Boys Basketball: New cast eager to step up for Worthington Christian
