DELAWARE, Ohio -- Delaware Hayes traveled the short distance to Olentangy Berlin in a game that featured two of the area's top 2024 prospects in Jesse Burris for the Pacers and Derek Goodman for the Bears.

Both these teams ranked in the top 15 for the 270 Hoops Division I Power Rankings this week with Hayes coming in at No. 9 and Berlin at No. 11.

Last time these two teams took the floor against one another, Berlin came away with a one point victory on the road and this game wouldn’t be much different as the Bears  pulled away with some late free throws to pick up the 52-45 win.

Berlin came out of the gates hot going on an 8-2 run early in the first making their three first shot attempts, but Delaware wouldn’t go away that easy, weathering the storm to go into the first quarter break trailing 12-8. Berlin did a great job defending Burris the whole game, but it was limiting his space in the first quarter that never allowed him to get in an early rhythm.

After a dunk from Goodman to start the second, Hayes settled in and went on a run 9-0 of their own sparked by sophomore guard Carter Piatt-Brown who had seven points in the quarter and gave the Pacers their first lead of the night 19-18 with 1:10 left in the half.

With momentum slipping, Berlin turned to senior Jason Inbody who scored the last two buckets of the quarter with a square-up post jump shot and driving reverse lay-in, putting the Bears ahead 22-19 at halftime. Inbody was the go-to guy in the first half for Olentangy scoring 10 of his 11 points that half and grabbing multiple rebounds.

After a slow first half for Goodman, he started cooking scoring 15 points in the second half and finishing with a game high 21 points. Goodman showed his ability to score from anywhere on the court hitting three long range shots, two dribble pull-ups and even opened the first half with a steal and dunk in transition.

Goodman and the Bears tried to pull away after back to back three pointers from the junior wing, but the Pacers found scoring in the third quarter from a junior of their own, Jake Lowman, who had back to back three point plays the old fashioned way to keep the lead at six late in the third quarter. Burris, still unable to get his shot to fall, became a distributer finding freshman Chase Griggs for a corner three to cut the lead to four points heading into the fourth quarter 33-29.

The Bears continued to do what they did best all night - Finish Around the Rim. Three possessions in a row Noah Gamble, Mathios Abenet, and Goodman took their defender off the dribble and finished in the paint extending their lead to 40-31 and forcing Hayes to call a timeout with 5:00 left in the game.
 

Delaware Hayes' role players stepped up all night to keep the Pacers in the game with Burris struggling to find his shot and now it was his turn to show why he is one of the top players in Central Ohio. He turned to his inside game and began to show some dominance of his own in the paint converting an and-1 in transition and hitting free-throws after getting fouled attacking the rim, bringing the Pacers within four. 

Abenet had an answer as he drove to the rim and finished in traffic for his second and-1 of the fourth quarter and brought the Bears lead back to 46-39 with a little under four minutes left to play.

Burris and the Pacers would not go down without a fight as they went on a 6-0 run capped off by yet another finish inside for Burris who put the team on his back down the stretch and the Pacers now only trailed 46-45 with a minute left in the game. 

Ohio still not having a shot clock for high school basketball allowed Olentangy Berlin to pull it out and begin to run clock forcing Delaware Hayes into fouling. Junior guard Noah Gamble went to the line and sunk two clutch free throws with 45 seconds left to extend their lead to three. 

Burris, who finished with 15 points for Hayes, came up just short on a step-back three point attempt from the wing that was rebounded by Gamble and he was sent back to the free-throw line where he calmly hit both shots again to give the Bears a five point lead with less than 30 seconds left in the game.

Goodman added two additional free throws at the end to give Olentangy Berlin a 52-45 victory over Delaware Hayes. 

The Pacers, who started the year 6-0, are now 1-3 in their last four games to end 2022 and will look to rebound in the start of 2023 against division foe, Dublin Scioto.

Olentangy Berlin will look to continue their end-of-year hot streak on the road this Friday against Centennial before getting back into league play at the beginning of 2023.

1. Olentangy Berlin's Defensive Effort on Burris- It wasn’t a gimmick defense that Berlin ran to limit Burris on Thursday but rather an overall team effort on that side of the court to get into his space and not give him easy shots. This effort was led by Aidan Ackermann who was tasked with the match-up from the beginning but it was ultimately a team effort for the Bears to make Burris earn every point he had.

2. The Bears Four Headed Monster- Olentangy Berlin had four players score in double figures tonight: Goodman (21), Inbody (11), Gamble (10), and Abenet (10). While Goodman was the leading scorer tonight, you could tell that Berlin doesn’t have a No. 1 option, but instead four players that can carry that load on any given night.

3. Finishing through contact- Both teams did a great job when getting into the paint of getting fouled and still finishing through the contact. Hayes junior Jake Lowman converted back-to-back and-1’s in the third quarter to keep the Pacers within striking distance while Abenet had two and-1’s in the fourth quarter that helped extend the Bears lead.

4. Free Throws- I feel like this is important in every game, but Olentangy Berlin shot better than 90% (11-12) from the line including a perfect 8-8 in the fourth quarter. In a close game like tonight, free throws can be the determining factor in winning and losing down the stretch and Olentangy Berlin seized every opportunity from the line.

5. Hustle Player- Looking at the box score, you wouldn’t be able to understand the impact Aidan Ackermann had in the outcome of the game. He didn’t score any points tonight but he did a great job of defending and doing the little things to help the Bears get the victory. Ackermann was given the tall task of guarding one of the areas top scorers in Burris and he did his job holding Burris to only two points in the first half and only four points through three quarters of play. On the offensive end he came up with a big offensive rebound in traffic and hit Goodman at the top of the key for a three pointer in the fourth quarter. 

MVP: Derek Goodman
High Scorer: Derek Goodman
Hustle Player of the Game: Aidan Ackermann