2006 class update

[zipboy]

Looks like the class of 06 is doing well!!Darryl Roberts updateBoys basketball: Roberts gets 27 as Knights beat ClayDarryl Roberts scored 27 points to lead St. Francis de Sales to an 82-38 victory over Clay last night in City League boys basketball.Chris Wyse added 19 points and Nick Meinert had 12 for the visiting Knights (8-0, 3-0).Wes Taylor led Clay (5-5, 0-4) with 10 pointsMike Bardo updateHAMILTON — It was a tough, physical, let ’em play kind of game, and that wasn’t good news for Hamilton High’s boys basketball team.Visiting Oak Hills broke away from a halftime deadlock by overpowering Big Blue in the second half Wednesday night, taking advantage of its strength and aggressiveness in a 64-43 Greater Miami Conference triumph.“We knew coming into the season that one of our weaknesses was our strength, and that’s something we’re trying to work on,” HHS coach Larry Allen said. “I’ve always been a finesse coach. If the game gets physical like that, we’re in trouble.”Hamilton got outscored by a whopping 38-17 margin after intermission, certainly a rarity on its home floor, and racked up 28 turnovers.Billy Allen scored 14 points and was the lone player in double figures for Big Blue, who fell to 4-3 overall and 3-2 in the GMC.“The game could’ve gone either way at halftime,” Oak Hills coach Mike Price said. “We tried to convince our kids at halftime that we were playing our game, and I thought if we continued to do that, we would wear them out.“We could’ve come out like deer in the headlights or we could’ve come out really aggressive in the second half,” he continued. “I really credit the kids for coming out strong. I think our strength and conditioning took over.”The Highlanders got 21 points from senior guard Steve Pogue, while 6-foot-9 classmate Mike Bardo dominated the middle while totaling 17 points, 13 rebounds and four steals.Oak Hills (6-2, 3-1) uses Bardo and a bunch of guards most of the time, and the Highlanders frustrated Hamilton with their inside-out offensive success.“We’ve got a lot of guys who can shoot 3s — I just try to get them the ball,” Bardo said. “We weren’t in a rhythm in the first half. Once we hit our rhythm, there’s no stopping us.”Oak Hills found its groove in the third period and simply kept going, with HHS getting no closer than seven after the visitors kicked off the second half with an 11-2 run.The Highlanders’ pressure defense led to frequent Big Blue turnovers, and with the officials not calling many fouls, Hamilton’s confidence wilted.“I’ve got to give Mike Price and his kids a lot of credit,” Larry Allen said. “He did a good job of finding some of our weaknesses. We got a little frustrated because some of our kids felt like they got bumped a little bit, but that’s how the game was called. You’ve got to be able to adjust, and Oak Hills adjusted to every situation on the floor better than we did.”HHS shot just three free throws all night, making two. The Highlanders were 10-of-13 at the line.Pogue tallied 13 points and Bardo chipped in 11 in the second half for Oak Hills, which was 6-of-15 beyond the 3-point arc in its third consecutive win.“We work hard every single day in practice, and I think that showed in the game tonight,” Bardo said.“I thought we competed hard,” Price said. “We’ve got a lot of ingredients to be a good team. The key for us is consistency.“It’s nice to see us come here and beat a really good team,” he added. “In our two losses (to Lakota West and St. Xavier), we looked like we didn’t even belong on the floor with those teams.”Justin Steigerwald collected nine points, five rebounds and three assists for the Highlanders, who punished Hamilton on the boards (38-20). Tyler McDonough had eight points and five caroms, and Pogue added six rebounds and three steals.Ryan Butler marked eight points for Big Blue. Aaron Bailey snagged a team-high six boards, Trace Fowler dished out five assists, and Billy Allen chipped in five caroms and four assists.“We’ve got to find some answers,” Larry Allen said. “But the sun’s going to come up in the morning, and I believe in these kids greatly. They need to keep their heads up. I think they’re going to do some damage down the stretch.”HHS travels to Columbus for the Ohio Play-By-Play Classic Saturday, facing Upper Sandusky at 3:30 p.m. in Ohio State University’s Schottenstein Center.Oak Hills 15 26 46 64Hamilton 13 26 33 43OAK HILLS (64) — Alex Richmond 1 0 2; Justin Steigerwald 2 5 9; Steve Pogue 8 1 21; Erik Prosser 0 0 0; Mike Bardo 8 1 17; Kyle Adair 0 0 0; Mike Price 0 0 0; Ryan Craynon 0 0 0; Tyler McDonough 2 2 8; Joe Odenbach 0 0 0; Andrew Stallo 3 1 7; Kyle Dattilo 0 0 0. Totals: 24 10 64Chris McKnight updateLANCASTER - The Lancaster boys basketball team won the program's 1,000th game Friday with a convincing 60-39 victory over a scrappy Hilliard-Darby club.But senior standout Chris McKnight, who led the Gales (4-0, 2-0) with 22 points and 11 rebounds, said it was a different milestone that sparked his team to begin the game with a 17-2 run.ADVERTISEMENT "We knew this was going to be our last game until after Christmas," McKnight said. "We wanted to end this part of the season on a high note and we wanted to come out and set the tone from the start. "The way we came out tonight is the way we need to play all the time. Hopefully, it will carry over into the next 10 days of practice.""We've been starting our games pretty well so far," LHS coach John Cofman said. "This is the third in a row. Whatever they're doing that gets them ready to play, I hope they continue doing it."Lancaster did not allow the Panthers (2-2, 1-1) a field goal for the first 12-plus minutes of the contest, limiting Darby to 2-for-18 shooting from the floor in a first half that ended with the Gales in front 23-10. McKnight led the way with a combined 14 points and, with help younger brother Brett and center Brant Leitnaker, the home team dominated the boards 21-12."We got some decent shots but it just too us too long to get our first field goal," said Panthers coach Brett Norris. "I thought we did a really good job in first few minutes of defending but we couldn't get anything accomplished offensively because we couldn't hit a shot."Our kids were excited to play, but I'm not sure they believed we belonged on the court with them."Coffman said he was confident Darby would come back, even if it seemed the Panther were not."With this new rule they've got called the 3-point shot, no lead is ever safe," he said, smiling. "I knew Darby has a lot of seniors and I knew they would not quit, that they would play hard and were going to make runs."He was right. The Panthers refused to back down to the taller, physical Gales, matching them elbow-for-elbow inside. And when Darby's shooters finally found the range, the Panthers went on an 18-7 run that started midway through the third quarter.Three-pointers from Jeremy Ebert and Austin Fleming kept the run going into the final period. That's when senior guard Griffin Reed stole the ball, drove inside and drew an intentional foul.Reed's free throws cut Lancaster's lead to 36-31 with 6:51 to play, and against most other teams, that might have turned the smoldering Darby rally into a fire. Instead, it only served as a wake-up call for the Gales."It made us mad," McKnight said. "We determined we were not going to lose the game, and that just reminded us that we had to play harder.""Our leadership tonight was the best I've seen it in a long time," Cofman said. "After that play, we got the ball where it needed to go - inside the paint - and we stepped it up a notch defensively."That's what you expect from a senior-laden team. They did everything we needed to do after that.""I thought we had a good opportunity on that possession (after the intentional foul), but we wound up turning it over and got a basket out of it," Norris said."You could kind of sense that they (the Gales) knew it was time to turn it on ... and we didn't help when we missed some shots and turned it over a couple of times."Lancaster answered with a 17-0 run that featured a Chris McKnight steal and dunk that brought the home crowd to its feet. Brett McKnight added a pair of baskets, including a put-back that became a three-point play with 2:41 left in the game that pushed the lead back up to 53-31 and put the game out of reach.Brett McKnight added 15 points, including a pair of 3-pointers, and eight rebounds and Kevin Carr chipped in 10 points and four assists for the Gales, who went 22-for-51 from the field (43.1 percent), including 4-for-9 from long range (44.4 percent) and 12-for-14 at the foul line (85.7 percent).Ebert and Reed led Darby with nine points apiece and Ryan Carter finished with eight."To overcome a lead like we did, on the road against a really good team like that, and get in a position where we were only down five was a credit to how hard our guys kept working," Norris said. "Part of it was, we came out for the second half and played with a little more aggression and then got some confidence when we saw the ball go in the hole a few times."Their size difference was a big factor," he added. "McKnight was just really good tonight and tenacious inside. We just couldn't keep him off the boards."Cofman said he was pleased with his team's scoring but even happier with some of the behind-the-scenes stats. Starting guards Carr and Jordan Lucas combined for nine of the team's 13 assists and Lancaster committed only seven turnovers.Coffman also said he was proud to be a part of the team that recorded the 1,000th win. "It's a great thing for our program, for our community, for our school, and it's an honor for my and the kids we have here to be a part of that," he said.In reserve action Friday, junior Chris Bibler scored a game-high 16 points, including three treys, and pulled down 10 rebounds to lead Lancaster (3-1, 1-1) but it wasn't enough to prevent a 43-33 Darby win. Thomas Howard, a 6-5 sophomore, paced the Panthers (4-1, 2-0) with 14 points.

[Z-Pouch]

ZB - Nice work.Happy to see Bardo putting up some numbers in his senior year. He was the only incoming recruit that seemed like a reach for KD. Could he be a steal as he matures ?With Bubba's scholarship opening up, has anyone heard of any potential HS or JC recruits ? Another big guy would be nice.

[zip37]

KD & staff are going after HS senior players.With ball ammunition lock and load.

[RobC2]

Another big body would be nice. But has anyone heard anything about Rydell Brooks - the guard from Buchtel? This is his second season putting up BIG numbers, and I don't believe he's going anywhere yet. Any word as to why? Is KD interested in him?

[Valpo Zip]

Does anyone have a list of all the committed players with their info ?I am really worried about our front court. The only big guy i am hearing about so far is Bardo and i do not know how ready he is to deliver in his freshman year.Do the coaches realize that next year, the only big guys we have are Romeo (6-7), Jeremiah (if healthy, 6-7) and Quade who is a big disappointment so far ! How are we going to deal with the opponents' big guys next year ?

[msopher]

Akron will need a big body next season of they will look like Toledo.