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District Champs: Pickerington Central wins second straight district championship

By Mark Francis, 03/04/23, 7:15PM EST

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Tigers turn up in fourth quarter of big win

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- With a chance at back-to-back district titles, Pickerington Central took on the last team to beat them in the tournament, the Hilliard Bradley Jaguars.

In what was a brilliant all around game for sophomore standout Amare Spiva and a defensive masterpiece from the Tigers as a whole, Pickerington Central locked in and came away with a 51-43 victory to keep their hopes of back-to-back state titles alive.

It was a defensive battle early, as RJ Kuelcher started the game off with a block at the rim and Markell Johnson added one a couple of possessions later.

Johnson also added a sweet scoop to the hoop to get Central on the board, as they trailed 3-2 early in the game. Cade Norris hit a shot to keep the Jaguars ahead 5-2.

Tiger senior Gavin Heading came off the bench and gave Central an offensive spark, hitting two three’s in the opening quarter and helping his team get a 10-7 lead as the time ticked away.

Breakout player Amare Spiva calmly sank two free throws with under three seconds on the clock to give Pickerington Central a 12-7 lead heading to the bench after the opening eight
minutes.

Hilliard Bradley started the second frame off with two straight triples, both from Jeb Bischoff, giving the Jags their first lead of the game.

Junior point guard Juwan Turner responded with a bucket of his own before the game was tied again from Ian Abrass. A bucket from Gavin Headings gave Central a 19-15 advantage as time ticked away before halftime.

Junior guard Cade Norris scored on a difficult drive to the cup before Ian Abrass buried a three to give Hilliard Bradley a 20-19 lead over the Tigers heading into the half.

The lead change before half was indicative of how the opening possessions of the third quarter were going to go.

Bradley and Central traded the lead for the first five possessions after
halftime, ending with Devin Royal’s post up bucket to give Pickerington Central a 27-24 lead.

Hilliard Bradley was able to tie the game at 29 before Spiva’s layup to get them the lead back.

After a save from the Jags, Cade Norris banked in a shot at the buzzer to tie the game at 31 going into the final quarter.

After a pair of made free throws, Norris picked up his fourth foul with 7:18 remaining in the game. This proved costly as Central went on a 7-0 run, capped off by Royal draining free throws, giving the Tigers a 40-31 lead that they would not look back from.

It seemed like Pickerington Central began to get dunk after dunk in the open court, expanding their lead to as much as 10 points. They put it on cruise control and rolled to the 51-43 win.

Hilliard Bradley was led in scoring by Cade Norris with 16 total points, Jeb Bischoff and IannAbrass pitched in 11 each while David Heath tossed in five to round out the scoring for the Jags.

Devin Royal scored 16 to lead the Tigers, followed by the sensational sophomore Amare Spiva with 12. Junior point guard Juwan Turner added in 11 points, Gavin Headings scored 10 and Andrew Hedgepeth scored a bucket as well.

The Tigers head back to the regional semi-finals for the second year in a row.

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