Oak Hill vs. Newark Catholic
Re: Oak Hill vs. Newark Catholic
Got a few pictures of this game done. They are at http://www.vsOhio.com
I'll get the rest of the game done in a couple of days.
Erik
I'll get the rest of the game done in a couple of days.
Erik
Re: Oak Hill vs. Newark Catholic
Ondera
Oaks down 14-5 while in the zone.........but went on about a 45-27 margin over the next 24 minutes while playing man.
NC was lucky to score in the 3rd.....they couldn't et any shots they wanted.
Oaks down 14-5 while in the zone.........but went on about a 45-27 margin over the next 24 minutes while playing man.
NC was lucky to score in the 3rd.....they couldn't et any shots they wanted.
Re: Oak Hill vs. Newark Catholic
Ironman, you are absolutely correct. As soon as OH got out of the zone the game turned. OH played smothering man to man defense. You could see the frustration on the face of #1 for NC. Ondera and W. Hale especially did a great job shutting down the guards for NC.
Re: Oak Hill vs. Newark Catholic
Congrats to Norm!I am so glad he finally made it!I have alot of respect for him even though I am a Fairland guy,CONGRATS you earned it! 
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Championship07
- Riding the Bench
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- Joined: Tue Mar 10, 2009 2:37 am
Re: Oak Hill vs. Newark Catholic
couldnt agree more with what Earp said ... very glad that Norm finally got to the state, this coming from a south point fan .... Good Luck Oaks bring home a state title for southern ohio and your outstanding coach.
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Keyser_sozeThrice
- S
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Re: Oak Hill vs. Newark Catholic
Another post from the home office. Hope it comes out okay. Congratulations Oaks and Coach Persin and see you all next week, actually in a few hours for now, at the Schott! Enjoy.
Oaks are state bound!
Oak Hill makes history in Convo with regional title
By PAUL BOGGS
Sports Editor
ATHENS — With the return of Norm Persin as head coach, the Oak Hill High School boys basketball team has rewritten the program’s history books.
On Friday night, inside the friendly confines of the Ohio University Convocation Center in Athens, the Oaks — with the legendary Persin pacing the bench — recorded their best chapter yet.
On a historic night both collectively and individually, the Oaks became not only the first boys basketball team in school history, but the first boys basketball team in Jackson County history to ever advance to the state tournament.
For the first time ever, the Oaks will play in the boys basketball state semifinals, thanks to their emotional come-from-behind 56-52 victory over Newark Catholic in the Division IV regional championship.
“Our kids deserve this,†said Persin. “Three years ago, this basketball team won three games. Four years ago, they won one. Now they’re going to Columbus (state tournament), and it just tells you that everything has turned around.â€
On Friday, Oak Hill had trailed for the entire first half, and finally took the lead with 2:32 gone by in the third quarter.
Once they gained the lead, the Oaks never gave it back.
As a result, the Oaks never gave back the regional championship trophy, which all signs pointed toward capturing even before the season began.
With Friday’s first-ever regional championship, in only their second-ever regional championship game, the Oaks added to their school-record win total for most victories in a single season.
Oak Hill — now 23-2 — has a date with the Division IV state tournament against Ada, which is set for Thursday, March 26 at 2 p.m. at Value City Arena in Columbus.
Ada is 22-3, and advanced to the state semifinals after edging Lockland 54-53 in another regional championship tilt Friday night.
Joining the Oaks and Ada in the state tournament are Kalida and Cleveland Heights Lutheran East, which will face each other in the first semifinal on Thursday at 10:45 a.m.
In addition to the Oaks making history as a team, the state tournament berth is the first for Persin, who has coached high school basketball for 32 seasons and is closing in on his 600th career victory.
This is his second stint at Oak Hill, which began three years ago when he led the Oaks’ remarkable turnaround to their first-ever regional appearance as a Division III school.
Persin — who the reached the regional round nine times while enjoying much success at Chesapeake — has added three more appearances at Oak Hill, including last year’s regional final.
But the state tournament had always eluded him, as his teams had fallen short in eight previous regional championship games.
Finally, on Friday night in the Convocation Center — the site of all of Persin’s previous regional heartbreaks — he made history with his first championship as a coach.
“You know, I just screwed you guys (reporters) up big time,†joked Persin in his postgame media conference. “Coach Persin has never been to Columbus, what are you guys going to write about now? But seriously, you just never know. I remember when (former Ohio University men’s basketball coach coach) Larry Hunter was here and I was at Chesapeake, and we would get beat in the regional or the regional final, he would come to me and say that one of these times, you’re taking your team to state. He said your kids deserve it, and you’re (Persin) going to get them out of here at least one time. That has been playing in the back of my mind all the time.â€
Persin’s greatest moment as a coach, and the Oaks’ moment as a team, finally happened Friday night.
After the game, as the Oaks celebrated, Persin was presented the official game ball, as his family came down to the court level and embraced him with several emotional hugs.
Then, with Queen’s We Are The Champions blaring in the background, Persin and the Oaks did something they’ve never done before.
That being cutting down the nets after winning a regional championship.
“The one thing I said to myself when I got up this morning was this: I’m a huge Boston Red Sox fan. They won it (World Series in 2004) after 86 years (in between championships) and when nobody said they’d win it again. I said we’re going to get there (state tournament).â€
They did just that, and in come-from-behind fashion.
The Oaks, thanks to lights out three-point shooting by Newark Catholic, trailed 17-8 after the first quarter.
In the middle two periods, though, they outscored the Green Wave 30-13, scoring 15 points in each period and stymieing Newark Catholic to a mere three points in the entire frame.
With the Green Wave leading 27-23 at halftime, they added another point just 26 seconds into the third to lead by five.
The Green Wave would not score again until the 3:08 mark, as a field goal by Kevin Cox made it 34-30 in favor of the Oaks.
Those were the only three points of the entire period for Newark Catholic, which went just 1-of-10 from the field in the quarter.
In the first, Newark Catholic canned exactly 50-percent of its shots, including 5-of-7 threes.
But things sure changed in the second half.
The Oaks altered defenses, from their traditional 2-3 zone to a straight up man-to-man, and closed out on the Green Wave shooters.
Matt Dawson, who drilled 3-of-4 threes in the first quarter, did not score again until the fourth.
Ditto for Chris Leibold, who went 3-of-3 from three-land in the first half.
“We told our kids that sooner or later, they were going to miss those threes,†said Persin. “I said they would make shots because they are great shooters. But I thought we closed out much better (in the second half). There were maybe one or two shots that were uncontested. We didn’t get devastated. We like to play a lot of zone, but before the game, we said we’d probably have to play some man-to-man. That got us back in the game.â€
Indeed it did.
The Oaks outscored the Green Wave 15-3 in the third, staking a 38-30 advantage which soon swelled to 12 on two different occasions in the last (44-32 and 47-35).
The Oaks opted to feed the ball into J.D. Hale, who did not miss a single field goal on seven attempts in the second half.
Hale shredded the Green Wave for a game-high 27 points, amassing 10-of-13 field goals and 7-of-9 free throws.
“In the second half, we just pounded the ball down into J.D. (Hale),†said Persin. “We kept looking and we kept looking. J.D. proved why he is one of the best players in the district. We just battled back and once we got the lead, we can control the tempo. We ran some offense, we went high post, dished the ball down to J.D., and he had some uncontested layups. We just broke them down in the second half by getting it into J.D.â€
Hale grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds as well, as Newark Catholic could not account for him in the decisive second half.
“Newark Catholic hammers you on the glass, but late in the game, if you take away the long rebounds, they didn’t get second shots,†said Persin. “That’s basically because of J.D.â€
Of his 27 and 11, Hale hit for 18 points and eight rebounds in the final 16 minutes, including all seven field goals and 4-of-4 fourth-quarter free throws.
He had 12 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter alone.
The Green Wave tried to make one last surge in the fourth, and hit all three of their fourth-quarter threes in the final 55 seconds.
Cox canned the first for a 53-46 deficit, Andy Vernau nailed the second to make it 55-49, and Dawson dialed in from the top of the key to trim the score to 55-52 with 11 seconds to play.
Those were the first Newark Catholic triples since Leibold landed his third, and final, at the three-minute mark of the second stanza.
However, the final 11 seconds were indeed made interesting.
The Oaks had to inbound the ball, avoid the Green Wave steal, and make at least one more foul shot to put the game away.
Kyle Ondera, after enduring an emotional week, did just that.
He made the first of two free throws, giving Oak Hill a 56-52 advantage with 4.7 seconds remaining.
Newark Catholic could only watch the time run out from there.
Ondera, who followed Hale with 15 points, six rebounds and a game-high six assists and four steals, played inspired following the passing of his grandmother, Marge Ondera, on Tuesday.
Persin pointed that out in the postgame media interview.
“Kyle was just huge tonight. He made things happen with his dribble-penetration. He got by people and got J.D. and Jesse the ball,†said the coach. “I was glad to see Kyle play so well. His grandmother passed away on Tuesday and they held the funeral today. You never know how that’s going to play on a kid, but he’s handled it so well this week.â€
Ondera finished Friday with five total field goals, including his second-quarter three which answered the one by Leibold and cut a 26-20 deficit in half.
Jesse Slone scored five field goals as well, including a pair of treys, and added a first-quarter free throw for a double-digit 13 points.
Westen Hale rounded out the Oaks’ scoring with a foul shot in the fourth.
Despite shooting a sizzling 59-percent for the game (20-of-34), the Oaks almost gave things away from the free-throw line, making just 13-of-25.
They overcame that by going 17-of-25 from inside the arc, and outscored the Green Wave 30-17 in the paint with the majority of the points coming from J.D. Hale.
For Newark Catholic, Dawson drained half of his team-high 22 in the first frame, sinking three three-pointers as Leibold lauded a pair for a pair early nine-point leads (15-6 and 17-8).
Dawson dialed in six total field goals and 6-of-6 free throws.
Leibold and Cox collected nine points apiece, Vernau netted eight and Nate Adams added four.
The Green Wave shot 37-percent (17-of-46) overall, and 41-percent (9-of-22) from three, but torched the nets for 6-of-9 threes in the first half.
They shot just 23-percent on 3-of-13 from that distance in the second.
Newark Catholic, playing in its first regional tournament in school history and first-ever game at the Convo, concluded its season at 21-5.
Oak Hill, conversely, completes a perfect 6-for-6 in its last six contests there, and eight of its last nine in Athens.
The Oaks captured all four of their contests there this year, which included both games in the Division IV regional tournament, as the Convocation Center was the pre-determined site of this year’s Region 15 championship.
Beginning this season, the site of the Region 15 championship game will alternate between the Convo and the Fairgrounds Coliseum in Columbus.
In previous seasons, including last year when the Oaks played there, the entire Division IV regional was held at the Fairgrounds Coliseum.
But even though the Oaks avoided playing in “The Barn†this season, they will still play in Columbus in March, and at a more important venue.
That being the Division IV state tournament at the Ohio State University Schottenstein Center.
sports@timesjournal.com
Oaks are state bound!
Oak Hill makes history in Convo with regional title
By PAUL BOGGS
Sports Editor
ATHENS — With the return of Norm Persin as head coach, the Oak Hill High School boys basketball team has rewritten the program’s history books.
On Friday night, inside the friendly confines of the Ohio University Convocation Center in Athens, the Oaks — with the legendary Persin pacing the bench — recorded their best chapter yet.
On a historic night both collectively and individually, the Oaks became not only the first boys basketball team in school history, but the first boys basketball team in Jackson County history to ever advance to the state tournament.
For the first time ever, the Oaks will play in the boys basketball state semifinals, thanks to their emotional come-from-behind 56-52 victory over Newark Catholic in the Division IV regional championship.
“Our kids deserve this,†said Persin. “Three years ago, this basketball team won three games. Four years ago, they won one. Now they’re going to Columbus (state tournament), and it just tells you that everything has turned around.â€
On Friday, Oak Hill had trailed for the entire first half, and finally took the lead with 2:32 gone by in the third quarter.
Once they gained the lead, the Oaks never gave it back.
As a result, the Oaks never gave back the regional championship trophy, which all signs pointed toward capturing even before the season began.
With Friday’s first-ever regional championship, in only their second-ever regional championship game, the Oaks added to their school-record win total for most victories in a single season.
Oak Hill — now 23-2 — has a date with the Division IV state tournament against Ada, which is set for Thursday, March 26 at 2 p.m. at Value City Arena in Columbus.
Ada is 22-3, and advanced to the state semifinals after edging Lockland 54-53 in another regional championship tilt Friday night.
Joining the Oaks and Ada in the state tournament are Kalida and Cleveland Heights Lutheran East, which will face each other in the first semifinal on Thursday at 10:45 a.m.
In addition to the Oaks making history as a team, the state tournament berth is the first for Persin, who has coached high school basketball for 32 seasons and is closing in on his 600th career victory.
This is his second stint at Oak Hill, which began three years ago when he led the Oaks’ remarkable turnaround to their first-ever regional appearance as a Division III school.
Persin — who the reached the regional round nine times while enjoying much success at Chesapeake — has added three more appearances at Oak Hill, including last year’s regional final.
But the state tournament had always eluded him, as his teams had fallen short in eight previous regional championship games.
Finally, on Friday night in the Convocation Center — the site of all of Persin’s previous regional heartbreaks — he made history with his first championship as a coach.
“You know, I just screwed you guys (reporters) up big time,†joked Persin in his postgame media conference. “Coach Persin has never been to Columbus, what are you guys going to write about now? But seriously, you just never know. I remember when (former Ohio University men’s basketball coach coach) Larry Hunter was here and I was at Chesapeake, and we would get beat in the regional or the regional final, he would come to me and say that one of these times, you’re taking your team to state. He said your kids deserve it, and you’re (Persin) going to get them out of here at least one time. That has been playing in the back of my mind all the time.â€
Persin’s greatest moment as a coach, and the Oaks’ moment as a team, finally happened Friday night.
After the game, as the Oaks celebrated, Persin was presented the official game ball, as his family came down to the court level and embraced him with several emotional hugs.
Then, with Queen’s We Are The Champions blaring in the background, Persin and the Oaks did something they’ve never done before.
That being cutting down the nets after winning a regional championship.
“The one thing I said to myself when I got up this morning was this: I’m a huge Boston Red Sox fan. They won it (World Series in 2004) after 86 years (in between championships) and when nobody said they’d win it again. I said we’re going to get there (state tournament).â€
They did just that, and in come-from-behind fashion.
The Oaks, thanks to lights out three-point shooting by Newark Catholic, trailed 17-8 after the first quarter.
In the middle two periods, though, they outscored the Green Wave 30-13, scoring 15 points in each period and stymieing Newark Catholic to a mere three points in the entire frame.
With the Green Wave leading 27-23 at halftime, they added another point just 26 seconds into the third to lead by five.
The Green Wave would not score again until the 3:08 mark, as a field goal by Kevin Cox made it 34-30 in favor of the Oaks.
Those were the only three points of the entire period for Newark Catholic, which went just 1-of-10 from the field in the quarter.
In the first, Newark Catholic canned exactly 50-percent of its shots, including 5-of-7 threes.
But things sure changed in the second half.
The Oaks altered defenses, from their traditional 2-3 zone to a straight up man-to-man, and closed out on the Green Wave shooters.
Matt Dawson, who drilled 3-of-4 threes in the first quarter, did not score again until the fourth.
Ditto for Chris Leibold, who went 3-of-3 from three-land in the first half.
“We told our kids that sooner or later, they were going to miss those threes,†said Persin. “I said they would make shots because they are great shooters. But I thought we closed out much better (in the second half). There were maybe one or two shots that were uncontested. We didn’t get devastated. We like to play a lot of zone, but before the game, we said we’d probably have to play some man-to-man. That got us back in the game.â€
Indeed it did.
The Oaks outscored the Green Wave 15-3 in the third, staking a 38-30 advantage which soon swelled to 12 on two different occasions in the last (44-32 and 47-35).
The Oaks opted to feed the ball into J.D. Hale, who did not miss a single field goal on seven attempts in the second half.
Hale shredded the Green Wave for a game-high 27 points, amassing 10-of-13 field goals and 7-of-9 free throws.
“In the second half, we just pounded the ball down into J.D. (Hale),†said Persin. “We kept looking and we kept looking. J.D. proved why he is one of the best players in the district. We just battled back and once we got the lead, we can control the tempo. We ran some offense, we went high post, dished the ball down to J.D., and he had some uncontested layups. We just broke them down in the second half by getting it into J.D.â€
Hale grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds as well, as Newark Catholic could not account for him in the decisive second half.
“Newark Catholic hammers you on the glass, but late in the game, if you take away the long rebounds, they didn’t get second shots,†said Persin. “That’s basically because of J.D.â€
Of his 27 and 11, Hale hit for 18 points and eight rebounds in the final 16 minutes, including all seven field goals and 4-of-4 fourth-quarter free throws.
He had 12 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter alone.
The Green Wave tried to make one last surge in the fourth, and hit all three of their fourth-quarter threes in the final 55 seconds.
Cox canned the first for a 53-46 deficit, Andy Vernau nailed the second to make it 55-49, and Dawson dialed in from the top of the key to trim the score to 55-52 with 11 seconds to play.
Those were the first Newark Catholic triples since Leibold landed his third, and final, at the three-minute mark of the second stanza.
However, the final 11 seconds were indeed made interesting.
The Oaks had to inbound the ball, avoid the Green Wave steal, and make at least one more foul shot to put the game away.
Kyle Ondera, after enduring an emotional week, did just that.
He made the first of two free throws, giving Oak Hill a 56-52 advantage with 4.7 seconds remaining.
Newark Catholic could only watch the time run out from there.
Ondera, who followed Hale with 15 points, six rebounds and a game-high six assists and four steals, played inspired following the passing of his grandmother, Marge Ondera, on Tuesday.
Persin pointed that out in the postgame media interview.
“Kyle was just huge tonight. He made things happen with his dribble-penetration. He got by people and got J.D. and Jesse the ball,†said the coach. “I was glad to see Kyle play so well. His grandmother passed away on Tuesday and they held the funeral today. You never know how that’s going to play on a kid, but he’s handled it so well this week.â€
Ondera finished Friday with five total field goals, including his second-quarter three which answered the one by Leibold and cut a 26-20 deficit in half.
Jesse Slone scored five field goals as well, including a pair of treys, and added a first-quarter free throw for a double-digit 13 points.
Westen Hale rounded out the Oaks’ scoring with a foul shot in the fourth.
Despite shooting a sizzling 59-percent for the game (20-of-34), the Oaks almost gave things away from the free-throw line, making just 13-of-25.
They overcame that by going 17-of-25 from inside the arc, and outscored the Green Wave 30-17 in the paint with the majority of the points coming from J.D. Hale.
For Newark Catholic, Dawson drained half of his team-high 22 in the first frame, sinking three three-pointers as Leibold lauded a pair for a pair early nine-point leads (15-6 and 17-8).
Dawson dialed in six total field goals and 6-of-6 free throws.
Leibold and Cox collected nine points apiece, Vernau netted eight and Nate Adams added four.
The Green Wave shot 37-percent (17-of-46) overall, and 41-percent (9-of-22) from three, but torched the nets for 6-of-9 threes in the first half.
They shot just 23-percent on 3-of-13 from that distance in the second.
Newark Catholic, playing in its first regional tournament in school history and first-ever game at the Convo, concluded its season at 21-5.
Oak Hill, conversely, completes a perfect 6-for-6 in its last six contests there, and eight of its last nine in Athens.
The Oaks captured all four of their contests there this year, which included both games in the Division IV regional tournament, as the Convocation Center was the pre-determined site of this year’s Region 15 championship.
Beginning this season, the site of the Region 15 championship game will alternate between the Convo and the Fairgrounds Coliseum in Columbus.
In previous seasons, including last year when the Oaks played there, the entire Division IV regional was held at the Fairgrounds Coliseum.
But even though the Oaks avoided playing in “The Barn†this season, they will still play in Columbus in March, and at a more important venue.
That being the Division IV state tournament at the Ohio State University Schottenstein Center.
sports@timesjournal.com
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BubbleGumTiger
- SEOPS Hippo
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- Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2004 6:47 am
Re: Oak Hill vs. Newark Catholic
Congrats Oaks.
Anyone have the scoring and rebounding breakdown for OH?
Anyone have the scoring and rebounding breakdown for OH?
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beaverlover
- SE
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- Location: Beaver
Re: Oak Hill vs. Newark Catholic
Congratulations to the Oak Hill Oaks!!! I think Norm just put a final stamp on his outstanding coaching resume!He has now accompished just about everything.Would love to see the Oaks win it all, but if not, this has got to be very satisfying for the whole town and program.4 years ago,this program was one of the lesser in SE Ohio...My, how 3 years and a great coach can change things...Again,a big congrats to the Oaks!!
Re: Oak Hill vs. Newark Catholic
Wow! What a night it was yesterday. A close battle throughout the whole game, wild and incredibly loud fans from both sides, it came down to the wire and Norm finally gets to go to the big dance. Hats off to the Greenwave and their fans, you people are a prime example of a class act. I heard no negative remarks from the student section, their fans were mostly cheerful (except on the one horrible call by the ref). What touched me the most is when the Oak Hill team and cheerleaders gathered at center court and honored Janie with the flying wings. This is definitely a night that I will never forget. GO OAKS!!!
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frank-n-beans
- Varsity
- Posts: 470
- Joined: Mon Dec 22, 2008 12:07 pm
Re: Oak Hill vs. Newark Catholic
Congrats to Oak Hill and especially to Stormin' Norman!!! After so many heartaches and disappointments with great Chesapeake teams, Persin finally got some breaks. Couldn't happen to a better man or coach. Play hard Oaks, Southern Ohio is rootin' for ya.
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crazymidgets
- All Conference
- Posts: 710
- Joined: Wed Sep 10, 2008 9:33 am
Re: Oak Hill vs. Newark Catholic
Congrats to Oak Hill from Pike County way to represent the soc 2. Have been saying all yr that this Oak Hill team is one of the best teams in southern Ohio and you havent let me down, one game at a time, BRING HOME THE TROPHY OAKS.