North College Hill High School (Cincinnati, Ohio)

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

DDN

3/26/06

Mayo's 34 give NCH title No. 2

By Kyle Nagel
Dayton Daily News

COLUMBUS | When the game ended, minutes after the starting players from both teams had been taken out, O.J. Mayo walked slowly among his teammates holding up two fingers.

It signaled the second of a possible three state championships for one of the most talked-about and debated teams in Ohio high school basketball history.

North College Hill, which features Mayo, the near-consensus top junior in the country, and fellow junior phenom Bill Walker, overwhelmed Cleveland Villa Angela-St. Joseph, 90-73, in the Division III state final on Saturday at the Schottenstein Center.

It was the first title repeat since — you guessed it — LeBron James led Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary to titles in 2002 and '03.

Only now, the bigger-than-life player is Mayo, a 6-foot-6 guard that many say would be the top player selected in the 2007 NBA Draft if he were eligible. He scored 34 points and added eight rebounds and seven assists as his legs cramped throughout.

"I still have some symptoms of pneumonia," Mayo said. "And, I was dehydrated."

You couldn't tell by his play, which caused the 16,024 in the crowd to hold their breath each time he gripped the ball. He sank plenty of shots, but he also helped Walker score 22 points (to go with 10 rebounds) and senior Andre Evans go 9-for-9 from the floor for 24 points.

"That's how we play," said NCH coach Jamie Mahaffey, "as a team."

Mayo scored 12 of NCH's first 18 points as the Trojans (26-1) built an 18-8 lead five minutes into the game. After trailing 47-30 at halftime, VASJ cut the deficit to 56-45 with 3:35 left in the third quarter, but three technical fouls against VASJ in 14 seconds — two of which led to the early exit of junior Maurice Haynes — allowed NCH to extend its lead to 19 points (64-45) and take firm control.

David Lighty, a VASJ senior guard headed to Ohio State, had 20 points and eight rebounds.

"I'm proud of my team that we battled and didn't give up," said senior Darryl Ruston, who had 20 points for VASJ. "They've got good players, but so do we."

Contact Kyle Nagel at 225-7389.

COMMENTARY
Tom Archdeacon: North College Hill collects titles, but not admiration

By Tom Archdeacon

COLUMBUS | They were the most despised team at the state tournament.

If that wasn't the case when North College Hill came to Columbus Thursday, it certainly was Saturday when they left here with their second straight Division III state title and the boos of many in the Schottenstein Center crowd of 16,024.

"The kids have had a rough year," NCH coach Jamie Mahaffey said after his Trojans outmuscled Cleveland Villa Angela -St. Joseph, 90-73. "We had a lot of stuff, a lot of pressure on us. I don't know if you'd say haters, whatever...but we had a lot."

With a team led by O.J. Mayo and Bill Walker —two out-of-state transfers who Villa Angela-St Joe coach Dave Wojciechowski said would be "the first and fifth picks" in the upcoming NBA draft were there no age limit — NCH has been on the magazine covers and under the microscope all season.

Although Mayo and Walker are two of the most phenomenal prep talents ever to play in the state, the more the Schott crowd watched the Trojans, the more they turned against them.

It was bad enough at game's end that for the first time all tournament, the referees — who removed Villa Angela-St. Joe center Maurice Haynes from the game with two technicals after calling another on Wojciechowski — left the floor from the opposite side of the arena and under guard to avoid the angry Vikings crowd.

The Haynes expulsion came after he and Walker tangled on a rebound and then Mayo stepped in and — according to Vikings' star David Lighty — "pushed" Haynes.

That's how it looked to many on press row and in the stands as well. And by the time NCH was awarded its championship trophy by a representative of the Ohio High School Athletic Association, most of the crowd had left.

As the NCH team celebrated with its trophy held high after the ceremony, an OHSAA official looked at them, shook his head and walked off.

I'm not sure what he was thinking, but if I had to guess it was the carpet-bag nature of the crown, which came not just on the talents of Mayo and Walker but — for much of the year — 6-foot-11 Keenan Ellis, who came in from Indianapolis.

Ellis was kicked off the team for unspecified reasons in February. Mayo missed the state semifinal Thursday for reasons the school wouldn't reveal either.

He was back in the line-up Saturday —scoring 34 points — and afterward claimed he'd missed his first three classes Wednesday.

The guy who three years ago could leave Huntington W.Va. and find NCH — a little known school outside Cincinnati that had won just two of 20 games the season prior — couldn't find third-period algebra the day before state.

He and Walker were ushered to NCH by Dwaine Barnes, his AAU coach, who once told the Dayton Daily News he was looking for a place where they knew success was due to the kid, not the program:

"The way I see it, the kid makes the high school, not the high school makes the kid."

Barnes initially passed himself off as Mayo's grandfather to some in the press and even talked about their family relationship.

It wasn't true.

NCH — which has gone 74-3 since Mayo joined the team —emphasizes no laws have been broken.

It does admit the addition of top talent has been lucrative. Reebok — which sponsors the AAU team of Mayo and Walker — bought NCH something like $10,000 worth of warm- ups and uniforms.

School revenue from basketball is way up and last May the school passed a $564,000 funding levy for the first time since 1989.

So the program is flush and all but unbeatable.

It's just not universally loved.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Cincy

3/27/06

NCH three-peat is likely

Trojans reign in Division III

BY TOM GROESCHEN | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Bill Walker was doing a television interview after North College Hill won its second straight Division III state basketball title Saturday in Columbus, and the reporter concluded his questions to Walker by saying:
"I've got a feeling we'll be seeing you all up here again next year."
NCH, with superstars Walker and O.J. Mayo returning for their senior seasons, will be heavily favored to win its third consecutive state championship.
"I'd like to wrap it up with three in a row and be national champions next year," said Mayo, who had 34 points in Saturday's 90-73 championship win over Cleveland Villa Angela-St. Joseph.
Said Walker, who had 22 points in the title game: "I don't see why we can't three-peat."
That's how it is when you have two of the nation's top-rated players competing against overmatched competition in Ohio Division III, the second smallest of the state's basketball classifications.
NCH (26-1 this season) is ranked No. 3 nationally by USA Today. The Trojans' only loss was 88-74 to Oak Hill Academy (Va.) on Feb. 18, with Oak Hill ranked No. 1 and NCH No. 2 nationally at the time.
NCH also will try for a piece of Ohio history next season. Only two other boys' programs, Dayton Stivers (1928-30) and Columbus Wehrle (1988-90), have won three consecutive state basketball titles. Stivers won in Class A, then the big-school division. Wehrle won in Division IV, Ohio's smallest classification.
Trojans coach Jamie Mahaffey is not ready to talk trifecta. Mahaffey admittedly is tired after a season of injuries, illnesses, player suspensions and national media coverage. The capper was Mayo being held out of the state semifinals because he missed some classes.
"I probably won't wake up until June," Mahaffey said, shortly after the title game ended. "I'm going to go home and go to sleep. It's been a rough year, but we stuck together as a family and pulled through."
The Trojans will lose starting forwards Andre Evans (9.2 points per game; 24 in the title game) and Paul Leary (6.0 ppg) and backup guard Elliott Horne (2.5 ppg) to graduation.
The top returnees will be guard Mayo (28.5 ppg) and forward Walker (22.4). Damon Butler (6.8 ppg), a sophomore and two-year starter at point guard, also returns as does junior guard Nathaniel Glover (5.0 ppg). The status of sophomore Courtney Davis (10.3 ppg) is not known. He missed the season's last four games for undisclosed reasons.
NCH athletic director Joe Nickel said the 2006-07 schedule is still being set, but said the Trojans might play Oak Hill Academy again.
The season opener probably will be against Huber Heights Wayne at University of Dayton Arena. Other possible opponents include La Salle, Hamilton, Hughes, Woodward and Columbus De Sales. There will be another trip to California for two games in late December, and another trip to West Virginia (original home of Mayo and Walker).
Yes, chances are.

A look aheadNorth College Hill loses three seniors from its Division III state title team but will return stars O.J. Mayo and Bill Walker for the 2006-07 season. Here's a look at where they stand according to this season's final varsity roster:

GRADUATING
PlayerHt.Yr.Pos.PPGAndre Evans6-4Sr.F9.2Paul Leary6-4Sr.F6.0Elliott Horne5-10Sr.G2.5

RETURNING
PlayerHt.Yr.Pos.PPGO.J. Mayo6-5Jr.G28.5Bill Walker6-6Jr.F22.4Dwayne Parks5-11Jr.G3.0Courtney Davis6-3So.F10.3Damon Butler5-11So.G6.8Alphonso McPherson6-3So.F5.6Mario Ward6-2So.FDNP

 

[smitty03]

http://ohiostate.scout.com/2/514406.html

Check out the 12th picture down. (The picture of Walker shooting a free throw).

Check out #4's left hand in the background. My father and I noticed it at the state tournament this past weekend. It is almost like a claw. It's amazing the kid was able to even play basketball. I have to give props to that young man for overcoming the adversity of his hand to be able to start for a team like NCH and contribute.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

DDN

4/6/06

North College Hill coach not a bad guy

By Greg Simms Sr.

Dayton Daily News

• Topic: North College Hill's Image

The first time I saw Jamie Mahaffey, he and Isaac Curtis Jr., were carving up a pretty good Dunbar High School basketball team in a regional tournament some years ago.

Later, I covered Miami University when Mahaffey was a pretty quiet and pretty good starting forward along with the celebrated Devin Davis. Those two took part in Miami's upset of Arizona in the NCAA tournament at UD Arena.

After his senior year at Miami, I lost track of Mahaffey until he was introduced to a young basketball player from a Kentucky High School. O.J. Mayo was the player and Mahaffey was the head coach at North College Hill High School. He still is, which begs the question: Is Mahaffey a bad guy? He always seemed to be a quiet gentleman, but I only interviewed him after games.

Because he has Mayo and Bill Walker and others on his team and has won three straight Division III titles, Mahaffey and his team have been portrayed as a bunch of hustlers taking advantage of kids.

I don't know everything there is to know about Mahaffey, but I do know this: If most any basketball coach I've come across got a phone call, and the person on the other end of the line said, "Listen, I got a 6-foot-6 kid who can straight-out ball. He wants to play for you, and his best friend, who is just about as good, does too. And everything is on the up and up, are you interested?" The answer would be, "if all you say is true, let me give you directions to my gym."

Contact Greg Simms Sr. at (937) 225-2160.

 

[DaytonBuck]

Is there any fire power left at NCH now?

 

[schwab]

The Enquirer - Prep sports roundup

BOYS' BASKETBALL
Hughes 57, North College Hill 49 (OT): Hughes junior guard Jack Smith led all scorers with 17 points in an upset of North College Hill (9-4), ranked No. 1 in the Enquirer Divisions II-IV area coaches' poll. Senior forward Matt Hill added 12 points for visiting Hughes.
North College Hill senior guard Damon Butler had 14 points.