KNIGHTS WELCOMED HOME WITH A WIN
By Ty Bartell
AKRON OH- As the new year rapidly approaches, so does the midway point for the high school basketball season, both on the boys and girls sides. With plenty of holiday tournaments going on all around the state of Ohio, there are plenty of great basketball games to choose from. On Tuesday night, the network had a mix of both boys and girls games with a grand total of 23 live games on YSN! One of those contests featured last year’s boys Division I State Champions, The Archbishop Hoban Knights hosting it The Wilson Academy Warriors out of Lithonia, Georgia!
Founder of The Wilson Academy, Byron F. Wilson, is a graduate of Archbishop Hoban and actually played underneath Knights Head Coach T.K. Griffith during his 30+ year tenure at Hoban. Having an intriguing connection was not the only thing The Warriors had, because The Wilson Academy was growing trees for post players! Having guys standing as tall as 6’10” height looked to be a strength of The Warriors. Both teams were also finding themselves at some vastly different points of the season. The Knights sported a 1-3 record after dropping three consecutive road games and needing this early season win. Meanwhile, The Warriors were already in the middle point of their season, coming to Akron with a 10-2 clip.
The first quarter seemed like Hoban enjoyed being home because The Knights shot the lights out in the first quarter! The three ball was falling for Hoban in the first, led by Kent State commit Jonas Nichols who put up 11 points in the first en route to a 21-9 Knights lead after one. After realizing they were not in Georgia anymore, The Warriors responded with a bounce-back second quarter. Spreading the love around, multiple Warriors scored in an effort to trim the deficit, but it was Jeremiah Ruffin that led his squad in points at the half, as Wilson Academy trailed Hoban 28-21 at halftime.
Out of the halftime break, the game was still up for grabs and The Warriors were on the comeback trail. The Knights would hold strong in a back-and-forth scoring affair in the third 14-13, grasping onto a 42-34 lead heading into the final eight minutes of play. After holding the lead since the opening tip, Hoban finally surrendered the advantage with three minutes left in the game, kicking the intensity in this one up a notch! The lead would change hands a few more times in the closing moments of the ball game; however, The Knights armor held through on a couple strong defensive stands that caused turnovers and translated into four points off four made free-throws by Jonas Nichols! The points at the line helped seal the tough and gritty win for Hoban 58-53 as Ohio bests Georgia this time around!
Player of the Game honors, no doubt, went to Jonas Nichols who finished with 17 points and 5 rebounds in the win! Following him, the young freshman, “JJ” John Johnson was impressive in his decision-making and confidence on the floor, as he scored 12 points and secured 4 rebounds himself. Beyond that, some highlight performances from Hoban include Joey Hardman, who had 9 points and 2 rebounds. Sam Greer had 8 points and 4 rebounds and Josh Greer had 5 points and 7 rebounds. WIlson Academy with Jeremiah Ruffin leading the way in both points with 14 and rebounds with 6. Following him, Caleb Cameron had 13 points, Terryon Stebbins had 12 points and Isiah Cameron had 11 points.
Hoban (2-3) will now head down to Archbishop McNicolas in the Cincinnati area to participate in back-to-back contests on Thursday and Friday against a couple teams from Kentucky! Starting with The Covington Catholic Colonels (5-2) on Thursday, December 21st. Wilson Academy (10-3) will stay in the Akron area for one more day, as they are set to battle Buchtel (4-2) on Wednesday, December 20th. Keep updated with all Archbishop Hoban winter athletics with live games, scores, stats, stories and more on YSN!
