City League Report: Week 2
Catching up with the happenings of the Columbus City League
COLUMBUS, Ohio - - After a fun week of hoops throughout the Columbus City League, things are already a little more clear as far as the championship picture is concerned. The top two teams in both the north and south divisions clashed on Friday night, creating a night of cant-miss basketball in Central Ohio. The outcomes of those games will have a ripple effect on the rest of the season for those four squads, with all four still having goals of the City League title game. Elsewhere around the City League, a team came off the winless slide in the south and an under the radar team on the north side of the city is slowly becoming tough out for any team to play.
Check out everything that happened around the City League this past week and what’s on the slate for this upcoming week as well.
Starting on the north end of the City League, both Northland and Centennial remained unbeaten on the season and in league play on Tuesday when the Vikings held Whetstone under 40 points in their home win and the Stars closed out Mifflin 58-49 behind a 23 point, 13 rebound performance from junior Angelo Diedalis.
With each team entering Friday without a loss to on their record, it was Northland who came out with a win over a undermanned Centennial squad. Northland keeps its track to the City League title game alive with the win while Centennial will look to stay afloat until the next matchup with the Vikings. Without sophomore Keon Bonner and senior Carl Koonce, the Stars never quit and made a couple runs throughout the ball game, but would every run would be responded to.
Senior forward Nehemiah McMorris was a force in the game, scoring 26 points. The Vikings suffered their first taste of defeat on Monday night, losing to Bishop Hartley 56-48. Centennial bounced back with a solid weekend, competing a holiday showcase and then beating Independence on Monday evening.
Elsewhere around the north division, East High School rose to 4-1 overall after wins over International and Beechcroft. They stymied International’s offense, holding them to 24 total points and averaged 62 points per game in their two games last week. The Tigers are a couple of upsets away from being in the championship picture if they can continue to rack up City League wins.
Mifflin, who has played the most games of any City League north team this season, lost their first two games this week, to Centennial then to Central Crossing on Wednesday, but bounced back with a win over International on Friday. Both Beechcroft and Linden split their pair of games this week, with the Cougars beating the Panthers Tuesday then losing to East and Linden jumping back from their loss on Tuesday with a win over Whetstone Friday.
Both International and Whetstone are still winless on the season so far, but the Braves will have a chance to get into the win column on Friday when they play Columbus Academy at Briggs High School.