Walsh Jesuit senior Zach Halligan pledges to play college basketball at Akron

Walsh Jesuit senior Zach Halligan is staying in Summit County for college.

Halligan enjoyed a standout senior basketball season at Walsh Jesuit and has committed to play at the University of Akron as a walk-on player who will have an academic scholarship.

“I have always been a homebody, so I always wanted to stay around home and be by my parents [Nancy and Dennis],” Halligan said. “Akron is right up the street, essentially. It is not that far of a drive. With all of my options, Akron just felt like it was the right fit for me.”

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Halligan, a Green resident, was also being recruited by the University of Idaho, Malone, Ohio Dominican, Notre Dame College, Wooster, Baldwin Wallace and Denison. His older brother, Tyler Halligan, is a basketball player at Idaho.

Zach Halligan, who is 6-foot-4 and 205 pounds, has a 4.025 GPA at Walsh Jesuit. He plans to play shooting guard and study sports analytics at the University of Akron.

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Halligan earned three varsity letters on the WJ boys basketball team and was a starter as a junior and senior. WJ compiled a 20-8 record in 2022-2023 and was a Division I regional runner-up to state champion Archbishop Hoban.

Halligan earned All-Ohio third-team honors and All-Northeast Inland District first-team honors in Division I after averaging 15.0 points, 5.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.4 steals. He was also named the Crown Conference Player of the Year.

Walsh Jesuit fifth-year coach Kevin Byrne is very familiar with Akron after being on staff with former Zips coach Keith Dambrot for the 2016-2017 season and with current Zips coach John Groce for the 2017-2018 season.

“I think Akron is a great fit for Zach,” Byrne said. “I am very happy for him. He has worked really hard for this opportunity. I know the guys down at Akron, coach Groce and all of his staff really well. I think they are going to be really happy with Zach. He is going to be well looked after and well coached by them. The sky is the limit for him.”

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Halligan lettered as a sophomore on the Warriors baseball team and returned to the diamond as a senior to play right field and third base. He currently has a batting average over .400.

Byrne said Halligan brings “relentless good play and competitiveness” to the court. Halligan scored a career-high 32 points in a win over Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin and had a school-record 10 steals in a sectional final victory over North Canton Hoover.

“He brings it everyday,” Byrne said. “I think people who followed us saw that this year. Every night he was out there guarding the other team’s best player and we played teams with some really good players and he is out there guarding those guys possession after possession and doing a great job. He led us in scoring, led us in rebounding, led us in stealss and was second in assists. We needed him to deliver on both ends every night to be good and he did it almost every game.”

Halligan matched up against several standouts, including CVCA’s Darryn Peterson, Brush’s Marlon Barnes (Pittsburgh), Ace Buckner of St. Ignatius, St. Vincent-St. Mary’s Lance Hayes (Kent State), Louisville’s Will Aljancic (Findlay), Stow’s Reece Raymond-Smith and Jonas Nichols of Hoban.

Walsh earned two wins over Brush, single wins over CVCA, STVM, Ignatius and Louisville, split with Stow and lost twice to Hoban.

“Zach played against terrific guys and held several of them under their scoring average,” Byrne said.

Tallmadge’s Ameer Yasin chooses Akron over four Division I schools

While just a sophomore, 6-6, 295-pound offensive tackle Ameer Yasin saw all he needed to in the Zips and committed to Akron over Kentucky, Miami (Ohio), Kent State and Marshall.

Penn State, Cincinnati and Louisville also showed interest in the standout, but Yasin’s heart kept him with the Zips.

"It means a lot to stay home and play for my hometown," Yasin said. "I'm excited to be a Zip."

As a Division III second-team all-district lineman, Yasin was instrumental in Ty Hurst throwing for 3,163 yards and 33 touchdowns.

The Blue Devils averaged 117.5 yards on the ground and 390.9 yards per game behind Yasin and reached the Division III, Region 9 quarterfinals.

Michael Beaven can be reached by email at mbeaven@thebeaconjournal.com and is on Twitter at @MBeavenABJ. Contact Brad Bournival at bbournival@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter at @bbournival.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Zach Halligan and Ameer Yasin pledge to compete at University of Akron