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District Champs: Upper Arlington stays alive, taking down Reynoldsburg

By Mark Francis Jr., 03/06/22, 9:15AM EST

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Upper Arlington won its first district title since 2017 on Saturday

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A back-and-forth affair all afternoon long, that was filled with ups, downs, crowd reactions and pure emotion, the Golden Bears bested the Raiders in the district finals. Nick Heath had an answer for every problem Reynoldsburg threw at his team and Upper Arlington came out victorious by a score of 48-43 to win its first Division I district title since 2017.

It started early with the teams baskets to open the game, being separated by one point for the majority of the opening eight minutes. Upper Arlington senior Heath got the scoring started for the game with his three-pointer, one of four hit between both teams in the first half.

The pendulum swung both ways in the first quarter as both teams would make shots to keep them alive. Heath scored five of his 22 in the opening frame and Reynoldsburg junior Zazen Bivens hit a free throw to tie the game at seven going into the second quarter. 

The Golden Bears came out in the second quarter and went on an 11-2 run to start, highlighted by Heath’s three-point play and triple in the corner that made the lead 18-9 with just under three minutes remaining. Reynoldsburg refused to go out like that though, they began to claw their way back into the contest and it started with a deep three from senior leader Julian Heckman that got the Raiders off and running and that was followed up with a Jonye Madison putback lay-up.

Rising star, Reynoldsburg freshman Jordan Fisher made consecutive thre’s that cut a 22-14 lead to 22-20 at halftime. 

Senior captain Madison scored on the opening possession of the second half, getting to the bucket and scoring to tie the game at 22. Heath answered, like he did all afternoon, and hit a three to give the Golden Bears a lead before Raider senior Isaiah Wilkins matched it to tie it back up at 25.

Much like the first quarter, these two teams were separated by at most two points for the entire eight minutes. An and-1 from Madison gave Reynoldsburg a 30-29 lead midway through the third quarter before Heath once again gave the Golden Bears the lead. The seesaw quarter ended with Reynoldsburg junior Nehemiah Taylor making two free throws to give his team a 36-35 lead heading into the last quarter. 

Starting the money quarter was senior Quinn Corna, scoring a bucket to give the Golden Bears a one-point lead. Heath continued to be his heroic self, scoring back-to-back baskets and putting his team up 41-36 with just under 5:00 remaining in the contest. The Raiders got back down by two when Heckman made the defensive play of the game; a block at the rim that was followed by him making a lay-up and cutting the lead to 45-43. Heath answered one final time, dropping in two free throws to put his team up by four before taking the game and the district title by a score of 48-43. 

The star freshman Fisher led the team with 11 points, followed by seniors Heckman with 11, Madison with 7 and Wilkins with five.

Freshman Toby Nwokolo scored five as well, while Noah Smith pitched in four and Bivens added a bucket.

Golden Bear senior Heath was stupendous, leading the way with 22 points while both Drew Graves and Owen Gawel both poured in eight points. Corna and Geoffrey Schoeny scored five a piece to round out the scoring for the Golden Bears. 

Upper Arlington advances to the Division I regional semifinals where they will take on Pickerington Central on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Ohio Dominican. 

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