2nd straight title 2 wins away
With the bumpy road behind, Trojans favored over unranked Archbold today
BY TOM GROESCHEN | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER
O.J. Mayo and Bill Walker certainly make it look easy. But, North College Hill's second consecutive state basketball tournament appearance came much harder than it seems.
Mayo and Walker, NCH's wondrous junior stars, have battled through a season of turmoil to lead the Trojans within two games of their second consecutive Ohio Division III championship. The Trojans have survived injuries, illness, fights both rumored and imagined, and the dismissal of 6-foot-11 junior center Keenan Ellis to return to the state semifinals.
NCH (24-1), rated No. 3 nationally by USA Today, will play prohibitive underdog Archbold (21-4) today at 5:15 p.m. at Value City Arena in Columbus. NCH is ranked No. 1 and Archbold (21-4) was unranked in the final Associated Press Division III state poll of the regular season.
"When we do win this (state title) again, we can say we took everybody's best shot," Walker said. "We wish we could have done it without some of the drama we've had, but I think it's made us more focused as a team."
Shooting guard Mayo (28.5 points a game) and power forward Walker (22.0) are the marquee players again, after leading NCH to a state title as sophomores.
"For me, this second trip to state was about pride, so it was a little harder," Mayo said. "Everyone expects us to be there. ... Our team is focused on making sure we come into the state with our 'A' game."
This season, NCH played a much tougher schedule, including an 88-74 loss to Oak Hill Academy (Va.) before 16,202 fans at U.S. Bank Arena on Feb.
18, with Oak Hill rated No. 1 and NCH No. 2 at the time by USA Today.
NCH also beat the reigning Division I champion of Ohio (Canton McKinley, 69-67) and the 2005 Kentucky state champ (South Laurel, 65-57). NCH played games in Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia, and played two games in California just before Christmas.
It's been a long road with more than its share of off-court woes, beginning long before the Trojans' Dec. 2 season-opening 89-38 rout of Withrow:
There was the alleged offseason school fight, reported dramatically by at least one local TV station, with Mayo and Walker reportedly involved. Mayo and Walker were provoked into the brawl, it was said. NCH does not comment on student disciplinary matters, so what actually happened was left to off-the-record accusations. The bottom line, from the sports angle, was that Mayo and Walker missed no basketball games - for this incident, anyway.
Ellis, like Mayo and Walker rated among the nation's top 50 juniors by most scouts, was suspended (reasons not disclosed) for the Trojans' big game against St. Xavier Dec. 20. NCH still won 87-49.
Witnesses reported numerous fights in the stands at the NCH-Taft game Jan. 16 at Xavier's Cintas Center, with a packed house of 10,500 on hand.
After the game, there was some kind of disagreement between the teams in a hallway. Among other things, a door was knocked off its hinges. Neither school would comment.
Ellis, two days before NCH's game with Oak Hill, was dismissed from the team (reasons not disclosed). NCH lost to Oak Hill as Mayo (43 points) and Walker (24) carried the load, scoring all but seven of the Trojans' points.
Mayo missed the two games before the Feb. 18 Oak Hill game because of a stress fracture in his foot. With that, plus the early stages of pneumonia, Mayo dropped 43 points on Oak Hill.
Mayo (pneumonia) missed the Trojans' first two postseason games. Walker (stomach virus) missed the first postseason game, a 103-30 rout of Blanchester on Feb. 27. NCH's announcement that Walker was ill did not faze Internet chat posters, who insisted Walker was in a fight at school and that was why he sat. NCH officials would not comment further.
Senior forward Andre Evans, a starter, missed several games leading to the Oak Hill game (reasons not disclosed). Sophomore wing Courtney Davis - another starter - has missed the last two tournament games for what coach Jamie Mahaffey called, "School reasons." Mahaffey said he is not sure if Davis will play this weekend.
"We get a lot of attention," Mahaffey said. "We deal with what we can. I think our kids have handled adversity pretty well."
NCH has taken numerous potshots from critics, who suggest the Trojans have violated the spirit of Ohio High School Athletic Association rules. Mayo and Walker and Ellis all moved in from out of town since 2003, irritating some who say it's just a glorified AAU team.
"I don't know what they prove by winning the state again," said Madeira coach Jim Reynolds, whose team came within a game of facing NCH in the regional finals.
Walker's take: "If you want to change it, then beat us."
There is a real chance NCH will crush its two remaining opponents, Archbold today and then the winner of today's other DIII semifinal - Cleveland Villa Angela-St. Joseph or Wheelersburg - at 2 p.m. Saturday at OSU. NCH won by an average of 33 points a game in the regular season, and has beaten five postseason opponents by an average of 47 points a game.
Archbold, which drives down from Northwest Ohio to take its NCH medicine today, will start a lineup whose tallest man is 6 feet 2. NCH has the 6--6 Walker at forward, the 6-5 Mayo at shooting guard, and 6-4 senior Paul Leary at forward, to name a few.
"To win the ballgame is just going to be an unsurmountable (sic) challenge, but we know that," Archbold coach Doug Krauss said. "We want to go down there and compete. That's our main goal, to be honest with you."
At NCH games, there are mostly supporters but sometimes a few detractors. Most are there to see potential NBA players Mayo and Walker, but some are there to jeer. That's one reason Walker sometimes wears those little white earbuds - attached to his iPod - in pregame warmups. It's not just because he loves music.
"I wear my iPod for one reason - because people are yelling at us," Walker said. "Then after the game, they want your autograph."
NCH is tired of the negatives.
"O.J. and Bill have put in a lot of hours to be as good as they are," NCH athletic director Joe Nickel said. "Somebody didn't just hit them over the head and tell them, 'You'll be this good.' How many 16-, 17-, 18-year-old kids will take 300 or 400 shots a day? I see them coming up after games to shoot, if they're not happy with how they've played.
"They've paid the price through effort and work."
Mayo, still feeling the effects of pneumonia, is just now coming around. He has averaged 26.7 points since returning three games ago, and enters today's game with 1,999 points in his NCH career.
Mayo will score No. 2,000 shortly after the 5:15 p.m. tipoff today. They probably won't stop the game, just like they can't stop the O.J. and Bill Show.
Which, like it or not, has one year and two games to go.
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