COLUMBUS, Ohio -- There's a lot to be excited about this week in Central Ohio basketball, and we're going to do our best to condense it into 1,000 words or less in the Countdown!

Five Important Results

1. Beechcroft 62, Linden 55: The City League North picture gained a bit of clarity as Beechcroft was able to put away Linden on Monday night, effectively knocking the Panthers out of the division race with just a week-plus to go. Now, the only thing standing in the Cougars way is a major hiccup combined with Northland winning out.
2. South 71, Walnut Ridge 37: Another big City League result, but a shocking one at that had some extenuating circumstances at play. Africentric now looks primed to clinch a second-straight City South title, but will play for the title for the first time since 2013, after COVID ruined their appearance last year.
3. Westerville South 74, Westerville North 65: An overtime thriller that saw the Wildcats get a massive challenge for four quarters and then some. Calo’s bunch stayed perfect thanks to 31 big points from Wright State-signee Drey Carter.
4. Marietta 66, Otterbein 57: The sixth-ranked Pioneers rolled up to the Rike Center looking for work, and they found themselves in a back-and-forth second half battle with Otterbein. The Cardinals led twice in the final eight minutes, but Jason Ellis and Co. were too much in the end as the Pioneers made it to 10-0 in the OAC.
5. Jonathan Alder 52, Heath 45: Position for seeding this time of year is always so crucial, and Jonathan Alder snagging a big home win over Heath should give the Pioneers a bump this week when the coaches to go to rank the teams. Peyton Heiss dropped 23 for Alder in the big win.

Four Facts about this & last Week

1. The results from the OCC-Central this past weekend only muddied up the picture for the league crown, as now all six teams are within 3 games of the league lead, with Olentangy Liberty leading the pack at 5-2. Hilliard Davidson and Upper Arlington are both just one game back at 4-3.
2. Harvest Prep’s utter dominance of the MSL-Cardinal only continues to grow in stature, as the Warriors beat Grove City Christian and Fisher Catholic by a combined 82 points this week. The Warriors have not lost a league game since the 2017-2018 season.
3. Last week’s results set up a big-time first place MOAC clash on this upcoming Thursday between River Valley and Shelby, as both sit at 9-1 with four games left to play in the league slate. Shelby’s Alex Bruskotter (19.9) and River Valley’s Carson Smith (17.1) are first and second in the league’s scoring leaders as well.
4. The Central Buckeye Conference’s league titles will be all but decided this week. as Jonathan Alder plays both Shawnee and Tecumseh in the Kenton Trail division, while Urbana and Indian Lake, No. 1 vs. No. 2 in the Mad River division, play on Tuesday as well. All kinds of trophies to hand out!

Three Players Who Showed Out

• Dane Goodwin, Notre Dame: Stop me if you’ve heard this before... Dane Goodwin does not miss. pauses Well now that we’re past that, let’s take a look at Dane’s numbers this past week: 11-for-20 from the floor, 8-for-13 from beyond the arc, 16.5 points per game. Pretty impressive numbers for the Irish junior, who helped Notre Dame to a 2-0 week in ACC play over NC State and Virginia.
• Chloe Jeffers, Delaware: Somehow, hitting the 1,000-point mark wasn’t the most impressive things that the Delaware star did last week, as she also had a 40-ball in a win over Mount Vernon on Saturday. Jeffers has led the Lady Pacers to 11 straight wins, and are primed to have a chance to win the OCC-Capital as well.
• Owen Osborne, Buckeye Valley: Buckeye Valley is 14-2, and there’s no doubt that Osborne’s play has been a big reason why. In a pair of Mid-State League wins this week, Osborne averaged 19 points per game on 59% field goal shooting, along with 9 assists and 8 rebounds.

Two Storylines to Watch

1. Who will get the number one overall seed in next weekend’s boys draw? Honestly the order of 1-4 does not really matter when it comes to bracket alignment, but learning who the coaches think is the top team in Central Ohio will tell us a lot about how the teams get positioned at the draw on Sunday.
2. What leagues will realistically come down to the final game of the season? The Capital, Cardinal, City North, City South are all separated by two-plus games, but the other races will be a doozy. Especially leagues where a 1 vs. 2 could be for the whole thing, like the OCC-Ohio with Gahanna and Pickerington North.

One Last Thought

• From here on out, it’s effectively a win-or-go-home scenario for most teams when it comes to league, sectional, and district championships. Buckle up, it’s going to be a wild ride.