Boys Basketball: St. Charles Cardinals’ tourney run ends in district final

St. Charles basketball coach Michael Ryan had post player Chase Walker in his corner, but second-seeded Gahanna had the hot hand of senior point guard Sean Jones.

Jones made his first eight shots, including three 3-pointers, for 19 first-half points to help lead the Lions past 15th-seeded St. Charles 66-39 in a Division I district final March 5 at Ohio Dominican.

St. Charles finished 14-9 after the 29-point performance by Jones.

“Sean Jones is a special player. I don’t know if he missed a shot in the first half,” Ryan said. “He was hitting from 2, from 3 and we were helping onto him (defensively) and contesting every shot, and he hit them.

“I’d take Chase Walker against any post in the state. He’s the best big in the state of Ohio, there’s no doubt about that. He dominated the first half.”

The 6-foot-8, 335-pound junior was a force in the paint against the Lions, scoring 11 points in the first half and finishing with 16.

Walker led the Cardinals with averages 17.8 points and 9.5 rebounds per contest to be named second-team all-district and CCL Player of the Year. He shot 63.2 percent from the field (158-for-250).

“We improved from the start to the end,” Walker said. “We have to be in the gym every day and work on our bodies and work on our shots.”

After three seniors left the school during the offseason and another missed the season with a medical condition, St. Charles had two seniors in guard Sam Roehrenbeck and point guard Isaac Searls.

Searls averaged 6.8 points, 2.6 rebounds and 4.8 assists and was second-team all-league.

“Sam Roehrenbeck came over from Hartley and spent one season with us,” Ryan said. “He was just the absolute scout team leader. He ran the scout team and was captain of the bench and never once complained about anything. He did everything he could to help us win.

“Isaac was the senior that stayed when everyone else left. Instead of getting down and thinking this would be a wash, he got to work. He got everyone else to work. He’s the reason we made it this far. He redefined himself. He did everything every night, and he never came out of games and never complained once.”

Aside from Walker, three other starters expected to return are junior guards Zach Auletta (9.4 points, 2.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.1 steals) and John Levy (4.0 points) and junior forward Max Colucy (4.3 points, 4.5 rebounds).

Junior forward Ryan Carretta (2.9 points) came off the bench.

“I think there are a lot of people that didn’t expect us to make it here (to a district final) but it didn’t happen today,” Ryan said. “It took a whole offseason of work to get here.

“The players worked super hard, they pushed themselves in the weight room and gym and they pushed each other. We didn’t have a bad practice all year long. The seniors did everything they could to get us here. Now the plan is to get back here next year.”

•Bexley gave eventual district champion Heath a battle, but the seventh-seeded Bulldogs won 63-57 on Feb. 26 in the second round of the Division II district tournament.

The 12th-seeded Lions led 35-34 entering the fourth quarter, despite a third quarter in which senior guard Henry Brandt and junior forward Josiah Old left with injuries and senior post play Griffen Wagenbrenner fouled out.

“Give (the Bulldogs) credit. They hit big shots,” said coach Todd Phillips, whose team finished 13-9 in his seventh season. “We asked them to play as hard as they could but it was tough. You lose your leading scorer (Brandt) for a quarter, then you have your post (Wagenbrenner) foul out and you lose your second-leading rebounder (Old) to a broken tooth and a broken nose. We hung in there, but we just didn’t make enough plays defensively at the end.”

Senior guard/forward Chris Mitchell led Bexley with 23 points and five 3-pointers, and Brandt scored 19.

Mitchell, an Ashland signee, was first-team all-league and second-team all-district. He averaged 14.1 points and led the team in rebounds (8.6), assists (3.2), steals (1.9) and deflections (1.7).

Brandt (third-team all-district, second-team all-league) led with 16.2 points per game and added 1.1 steals. The Kenyon commit made 68 of 172 shots from 3-point range (39.5 percent).

Senior forward Tucker Harpe (5.8 points, 4.6 rebounds) and Wagenbrenner (5.3 points, 2.1 assists) round out the senior class. Wagenbrenner was honorable mention all-league.

“It seems like the seniors have been around here forever,” Phillips said. “They were in the fifth or sixth grade when I came here, and right now they’re hurting. Losing in the tournament, you can’t really tell them what it feels like until it happens. I feel badly that we couldn’t have done more for them.”

Old (7.6 points, 6.5 rebounds) and junior guard Dom Gutter (5.5 points, 2.7 assists) lead the expected returnees.

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BEXLEY

•Record: 13-9 overall

•MSL-Ohio standings: Buckeye Valley (12-0), Columbus Academy (8-4), Grandview (6-6), Worthington Christian, Bexley (5-7), Whitehall (5-7), Wellington (0-12)

•Seniors lost: Henry Brandt, Tucker Harpe, Chris Mitchell and Griffin Wagenbrenner

•Key returnees: Dom Gutter, Josiah Old and Andrew Zwick

•Postseason: Lost to Heath 63-57 in second round of Division II district tournament

ST. CHARLES

•Record: 14-9 overall

•CCL standings: Ready (6-2), St. Charles and Watterson (both 5-3), DeSales (4-4), Hartley (0-8)

•Seniors lost: Sam Roehrenbeck and Isaac Searls

•Key returnees: Zach Auletta, Max Colucy, Ryan Carretta, John Levy and Chase Walker

•Postseason: Def. Olentangy Berlin 59-57; def. Grove City 41-36; lost to Gahanna 66-39 in Division I district final

This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Boys Basketball: St. Charles’ tourney run ends in district final