Olentangy Orange 46, Upper Arlington 36
It was business as usual for the Pioneers as they remain undefeated
LEWIS CENTER, OH - As the Pioneers brought back four starters from a team that finished with a 26-2 record and a second straight regional final appearance, expectations this season were understandably and reasonably high for Orange. Not even a month into the season, the results have been eerily familiar — wins, and a lot of them.
On Friday night at home against Upper Arlington, Orange added another tally in the win column as their usual recipe of strong team defense and balanced scoring gave them a 46-36 victory, in which they never trailed despite UA keeping the margin within single digits for most of the game.
Long possessions allowed the Golden Bears to shorten the game and prevent the influx of Orange athletes from going on extended runs, a strategy Orange head coach Anthony Calo has begun to notice from opponents that attempt to identify any way to limit a Pioneers team that has several talented two-way players.
“This has now been a couple games we’ve had where teams are trying to make less possessions in a game and it was a good strategy from Upper Arlington. They did a good job of not only making long possessions, but making us work on those,” Calo said after the game. “They were trying to get us tired and use a lot of clock.”
