Both teams played well in stretches, but visiting Upper Arlington got it done down the stretch en route to a 57-48 OCC-Central Division win over Olentangy Liberty Friday night in Powell.
After a tight first half — the Golden Bears led 28-27 at the break — the Patriots’ James Hummel finished off a three-point play the hard way to give his team a 32-30 lead with just under four minutes left in the third.
UA promptly answered with a 10-0 run to end the third quarter, though, getting back-to-back buckets from Quinn Corna to take a 40-32 edge into the final eight minutes of action.
Nick Boysko snapped the skid with an inside hoop, Cooper Davis hit a three for his first points of the second half shortly after and Parker Hinkle scored off a nice feed from Hummel to help the Patriots close the gap to two, 43-41 midway through the fourth.
Davis knocked down a pair of free throws a few possessions later and, after Trey Majidzadeh came up with a clutch steal at the other end, Liberty found itself down just 48-45 with the ball and 1:37 left.
The Patriots got a good look on the ensuing possession, but Majidzadeh’s shot rimmed out. With Liberty forced to foul, UA sealed the deal from the charity stripe as Geoffrey Schoeny and Corna went 4-for-4 on back-to-back trips to push the lead to 54-45 with less than a minute left to all but seal the deal.
Corna led all scorers with 21 points while Schoeny and Drew Graves chipped in 12 and 10, respectively.
Hummel had a team-best 14 points for Liberty while Davis closed with 12.
Delaware Hayes 69, Worthington Kilbourne 56
The Pacers outscored the visiting Wolves 36-24 in the second half to pull away for a solid OCC-Capital Division win Friday night in Delaware.
Jesse Burris led the charge with a game-best 29 points, 15 coming in the second half. Jake Lowman and Hezekiah Russell were also steady, finishing with 16 points apiece. The trio combined to hit all six of the Pacers’ three-pointers in the win.
Luke Wolford had 18 and Ayden Parsons finished with 16 for Kilbourne.
Thomas Worthington 62, Olentangy 52
The Braves started hot, scoring 17 first-quarter points, but the visiting Cardinals were even hotter in the second half, scoring a combined 43 points in the third and fourth quarters to notch an OCC-Cardinal Division win Friday night in Lewis Center.
Ethan Smith had more than half the Olentangy points, closing with a season-best 29 in the setback. Reid Apke added nine.
Joey Zalewski and Caleb Miller led Thomas, finishing with 15 and 13 points, respectively.
Hilliard Darby 64, Olentangy Berlin 52
The Bears won the second 14-9 to take a 28-25 lead into halftime, but the host Panthers used a 22-11 third to regain control on the way to an OCC-Cardinal Division win Friday night in Hilliard.
Jason Inbody led Berlin with 19 points while Cam Gilkerson had 17 for Darby.
Also: Big Walnut 72, Franklin Heights 53; Buckeye Valley 81, KIPP Columbus 49.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Sophia Midura poured in 17 points and Porter Barickman added 15 more, but it wasn’t enough as Delaware Hayes — playing without leading scorer Chloe Jeffers — fell to host Worthington Kilbourne 51-38 Friday night.
The Pacers fell behind 13-5 by the end of the first quarter and never recovered. They cut the deficit to four by the break, 22-18, but the Wolves bumped it back to double digits by the end of the third quarter.
Kacy Kohler had a team-leading 14 points for Kilbourne.
Olentangy Liberty 40, Upper Arlington 33
The Patriots trailed 21-19 at halftime, but got defensive in the second half, allowing just 12 points the rest of the way en route to an OCC-Central Division win over the host Golden Bears Friday night in Upper Arlington.
Gigi Bower led Liberty with 12 points while Ceylone Brooks had 11 for UA.
Hilliard Darby 57, Olentangy Berlin 30
Points were hard to come by for the Bears, who were limited to less than 10 points in all four quarters en route to an OCC-Cardinal Division loss at the hands of the visiting Panthers Friday night in Delaware.
Darby used a 23-9 second quarter to take control.
Lexi Goff and Tayen Beown each had 12 points for the Panthers while Abbie Bell led the Bears with seven.
