Greenon (1-1) returns its three top scorers from a squad that finished 13-10 and 11-5 in the division last season, including junior Jaden Journell (13.7 ppg), senior Mason Potter (10.8 ppg) and junior Clayton Minteer (10.1 ppg). Juniors Clay Hough and Braden Ware also saw varsity action last year.
“We’ve got a really close group of kids who are fun to work with,” said Knights coach Matt McCurdy. “They play really hard. They’re unselfish. The potential is there. We’re putting in the work every day and figuring out what it takes because we’re still (a team of) juniors. We’ve got one senior. There’s a big difference. When a senior walks into a gym, they know it’s their last year. The juniors have a little bit more time. It’s a serious group.”
Greenon opened the season with an 86-49 victory over Yellow Springs on Nov. 27.
“We moved the ball really well offensively,” McCurdy said. “We’ll find that rhythm. It’s a long season. We just got started. We compete really hard at the defensive end, it’s just about trying to be able to contain the basketball a little bit better.”
The Knights led in the third quarter against defending OHC North champion West Liberty-Salem, but struggled against the Tigers zone defense down the stretch and fell 54-44.
“We’ve got kids that can shoot it, we just didn’t shoot it very well (against West Liberty),” McCurdy said. “You’re going to have that.”
Potter is the team’s lone senior and tallest player in the paint at 6-2.
“He does a great job attacking the rim,” McCurdy said. “He’s extremely unselfish, too, because when they collapse, he kicks it.”
Greenon graduated three post players and lost another key player in the offseason when Cade Rice transferred to Northmont to play football. They’ll have to improve on the boards, McCurdy said.
“We’re a team full of guards,” McCurdy said. “We’re getting adjusted to it.”
They open division play against Clark County rival Southeastern on Friday.
The Knights will face a big challenge in the OHC South Division. Greeneview is the defending champion, while Cedarville and Catholic Central made deep tournament runs last season. Southeastern and Madison Plains will also be improved.
“It’s going to be very difficult to get through those hurdles,” McCurdy said.
The biggest key will be staying healthy as teams are continuously making schedule changes due to complications with the COVID-19 pandemic.
“With how things have been the last couple weeks and talking to other coaches, you keep thinking when is the call coming,” McCurdy said.
Opening Night: Several Clark County schools are scheduled to open the season tonight, including Shawnee, Southeastern, Emmanuel Christian, Northwestern and Northeastern.
Springfield isn’t expected to play until the week of Dec. 14 at the earliest, according to athletic director Mike Dellapina.
Catholic Central is 1-0, but paused athletics for two weeks after Thanksgiving. The Irish won’t play again until it hosts Greenon on Friday, Dec. 11.
All schedules are subject to change due to both inclement weather and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Opening win: Tecumseh won its opener on Nov. 27, beating host Bethel 59-45. Collin O’Connor scored a game-high 18 points and Evan Parker added 16 for the Arrows (1-1).
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