Sidney Yellow Jackets 2017-18

[Yellow_Jacket06]

Schedule

12/05 - Away - Xenia* - L 73-67 (0-1) (0-1)
12/08 - Away - Tippecanoe* - W 68-64 (1-1) (1-1)
12/09 - Away - Wapakoneta - L 54-40 (1-2) (1-1)
12/12 - Home - Troy* - W 65-54 (2-2) (2-1)
12/15 - Away - Piqua* - W 69-61 (3-2) (3-1)
12/19 - Home - Butler* - L 58-51 (3-3) (3-2)
12/22 - Away - Greenville* - W 95-64 (4-3) (4-2)
12/29 - Away - Urbana - W 57-50 (5-3)
12/30 - Home - Bellefontaine - W 63-40 (6-3)
01/05 - Home - West Carrollton* - W 65-35 (7-3) (5-2)
01/14 - Away - Versailles (Flyin' To The Hoop) - L 65-50 (7-4)
01/16 - Home - Centerville - L 67-56 (7-5)
01/19 - Home - Fairborn* - W 65-44 (8-5) (6-2)
01/20 - Away - Lehman Catholic - W 69-44 (9-5)
01/23 - Home - Stebbins* - W 68-60 (10-5) (7-2)
01/26 - Away - Trotwood-Madison* - L 87-53 (10-6) (7-3)
01/30 - Home - Tippecanoe* - W 79-74 (11-6) (8-3)
02/02 - Away - Troy* - W 58-35 (12-6) (9-3)
02/03 - Home - St. Marys - W 61-52 (13-6)
02/09 - Home - Piqua* - W 62-53 (14-6) (10-3)
02/13 - Away - Butler* - W 36-34 (15-6) (11-3)
02/16 - Home - Greenville* - W 71-45 (16-6) (12-3)

OHSAA Tournament

02/23 - Troy - W 55-35 (17-6)
02/27 - Beavercreek - W 56-45 (18-6)
03/02 - Springfield - L 63-62 (18-7)




Team

#1 Darren Taborn - 6'0" - G - Sophomore
#2 Josiah Hudgins - 6'0" - G - Junior
#3 Ryan Heins - 6'0" - G - Senior
#4 Cam Perry - 6'0" - F - Junior
#11 Keith Lee - 5'11" - G - Junior
#13 Ratez Roberts - 6'3" - F - Junior
#20 Andre Gordon - 6'2" - G - Junior
#21 Trey Werntz - 6'3" - F - Sophomore
#22 Devan Rogers - 6'2" - F - Senior
#23 Josh Harlett - 5'11" - F - Junior
#32 Ben Spangler - 6'3" - F - Sophomore
#33 AJ Brussell - 6'4" - C - Senior
#50 Jalen Hudgins - 5'10" - G - Sophomore

[NewJacketCity]

What hapened to Jace Conrad? He was a guy that I thought would play a significant role in filling in for the loss of Bowser. That's a pretty big blow imo.

[Yellow_Jacket06]

Originally Posted by NewJacketCity

What hapened to Jace Conrad? He was a guy that I thought would play a significant role in filling in for the loss of Bowser. That's a pretty big blow imo.

I wondered that myself when I saw the roster. He played fairly well off the bench. Hit big three's in some games.

[NewJacketCity]

I was thankful to see Devan on the roster. He adds some much needed girth under the basket to take some pressure off of Ratez. Here's my attempt at a depth chart going into the season. Let it be known I haven't seen any of their scrimmages nor do I have any inside info.

PG- 1. Andre Gordon
2. Darren Taborn or Jalen Hudgins

SG- 1. Josiah Hudgins
2. Ryan Heins

SF- 1. Keith Lee or Trey Werntz

F- 1. Ratez Roberts
2. Cam Perry

F- 1. Devan Rogers
2. AJ Brussell

This is all pure speculation. It's going to be interesting to see how the roster plays out. There's going to be quite a few players getting first time meaningful varsity experience this year. Either way they should have the depth and athleticism to guard and play up-tempo basketball. I think they'll go as far as their perimeter scoring will take them, because a lot of teams are going to load up the lane and look to force Sidney to shoot it from the outside rather than letting Andre dribble drive and create.

[Yellow_Jacket06]

I think you have 4 of the 5 starters right for sure. SF is where I haven't the slightest clue. They might even go with a three guard lineup. Either way I expect the bench will see a lot of action this season.

[Yellow_Jacket06]

Sidney boys hoping for another league title - Sidney Daily News

Sidney looked like one of the state's best Division I teams at times last year but at other times looked like any other good-but-not-great Greater Western Ohio Conference team. At no time was that more apparent than a four-day stretch late last January. The Yellow Jackets beat Trotwood-Madison, which went on to advance to the state semifinals in Division II, by two points on Jan. 27. Four days later, Sidney lost by 11 points at GWOC American North rival Tippecanoe, which finished 11-13 and lost in the second round of the Div. II sectionals.

"It was just different styles of play," Sidney coach John Willoughby said. "We struggled with some of that, so we've got to get better at that."

Consistency, especially on defense and in rebounding, is what the Yellow Jackets are striving for this year. The number 32 is prominent on the back of the team's warmup t-shirts to signify the amount of time in the game.

"We want a full 32 minutes," Willoughby said. "We have to play hard and well through an entire game and not go on so many spurts where we let up."

With as much as Sidney returns, Willoughby doesn't see why the team can't be more consistent and improve on last season's 18-6 record. The Yellow Jackets return four starters: junior guard Andre Gordon, senior forward Devan Rogers, junior forward Ratez Roberts and junior guard Josiah Hudgins.

Gordon led the team in points (20.3), assists (5.6) and steals (2.4) per game last year in addition to averaging 4.8 rebounds. Willoughby expects Gordon will be able to play at shooting guard at times this season due to a couple newcomers who can play point guard. Gordon, who has four scholarship offers for basketball in addition to two for football, said he's improved his jump shot since the end of last season.

"I'm just going to try to do better than I did last year," Gordon said. "I've improved on my shot and want to keep improving my IQ and be sound and fundamental."

Roberts averaged 11.4 points per game and was second with an average of 6.5 rebounds. Rogers led the team with 7.3 rebounds per game and scored an average of 7.9 points, while Hudgins averaged 4.5 points.

"Josiah is a great defender," Willoughby said. "He came on great shooting the ball at the end of the year last year. We'll need him to shoot the ball well this year."

Sidney averaged 63.7 points per game last year, and Willoughby said he believes the team will score even more this season.

"I believe we'll be a better shooting perimeter team, and that should help us quite a bit," Willoughby said. "We've got some guys who can knock down open jumpers, and since there's so much concentration on Andre, there's a lot of players left open, and I hope we do a better job shooting wise."

Sidney shot 27.6 percent from three-point range last year. Improved long-distance shooting could help the Yellow Jackets against the zone defenses and box-and-one schemes they frequently faced last year.

“A lot of teams slowed it down against us because they didn’t want to give us that many possession opportunities with Andre and stuff,” Willoughby said. "We try to get the break early and if not, we try to set a lot of screens for Andre. There’s a lot of opportunities for a lot of kids to score against that, so we’re hoping for a better job at that.”

The lone starter from last season Sidney will be without is guard Isaiah Bowser, who is graduating early and enrolling at Northwestern for spring
semester to start his collegiate football career. Willoughby said Bowser will be missed for his defense as much as he will be his 10.5 points per game. Willoughby said he’s counting on newcomer Darren Taborn to help fill that gap on the defensive end. Taborn, a sophomore, moves up to varsity after starting on J.V. last year.

“Darren Taborn is a point guard, and he’s one of the kids we’re hoping will help handle the ball handling responsibilities with Andre,” Willoughby said. “He’ll be a really good defender. He’ll take that role from Isaiah, who was our top defender last year.”

Willoughby said Roberts will be counted on for more rebounds this year in Bowser’s absence. Bowser averaged 4.7 rebounds per game.

“I was trying to make him into more a wing player but we didn’t get around to that, so he’ll play the same role he did last year,” Willoughby said of Roberts. “Without Isaiah because of football stuff, he’s going to have to have bigger numbers rebounding wise than he did last year. Even though he was our leading rebounder last year, he’s going to have to improve.”

Junior guard Ryan Heins is expected to have increased playing time off the bench this season. Heins averaged two points per game last year. Willoughby said junior guard Keith Lee should also contribute.

Gordon said the team’s goals are to repeat as GWOC North champions and advance to the districts, which hasn’t happened since 1999.

“We’ve proven that we can hang with the top people in the state, so I feel like if we can come out and play every game like it’s our last, we’ll do our thing,” Gordon said.

Aside from the GWOC North slate, the Yellow Jackets have tough crossover games against the likes of Trotwood and Centerville. Sidney opens the season on Dec. 5 at Xenia, which finished 17-8 last year and has one
of the best guards in the state in Samari Curtis.

Sidney’s biggest nonconference game will come on Jan. 14 in the Flyin’ to the Hoop Invitational at Trent Arena in Kettering. The Yellow Jackets, which are
in the invitational for the second consecutive year, will face Versailles. Gordon said he’s looking forward to a matchup against Versailles’ Justin Ahrens, who has signed with Ohio State.

“That’s going to be nice, especially playing against Justin,” Gordon said. “He’s a pretty good dude. We text like we’re friends, but when we’re on the court, we’re not friends and we compete. It’s going to be fun.”

[Yellow_Jacket06]

Jackets open up the season on the road at Xenia tomorrow night. A matchup between top area guards in Gordon and Curtis.

Dre enters his junior season with 839 career points. Looking to become just the 4th player in school history to reach 1,000 and only the 2nd junior to do it (DeWayne McCluskey). Also 73 assists away from being the all-time assists leader.

It's 60th meeting all-time between Sidney & Xenia dating back to 1927. Bucs lead 40-19 overall. Sidney has won the last two, 5-5 in the last ten.

[buckeye1689]

I'll take Sidney by 10 plus vs Xenia tonight

[BrutusBuckeye90]

Originally Posted by buckeye1689

I'll take Sidney by 10 plus vs Xenia tonight

No idea what Xenia has besides Curtis. Does he have any help?

[NewJacketCity]

Xenia is 0-2 so far and hasn't really had a close game (at least in final score), but their losses are to Columbus Afrocentric (which is usually a strong program) and a strong Cincinnati Princeton team led by Syracuse commit Darius Bazley. Xenia, in the first game and on the road for a team with a few new pieces is going to be a tall order. Good for Sidney is that it appears that Xenia is working in several inexperienced players. We'll see.

[Yellow_Jacket06]

They'll have to figure things out quickly with three road games this week and two of them were losses last season (Tipp and Wapak). Beat Xenia pretty comfortably last season at home 54-35 but Curtis didn't play in that game.

[buckeye1689]

Originally Posted by Yellow_Jacket06

They'll have to figure things out quickly with three road games this week and two of them were losses last season (Tipp and Wapak). Beat Xenia pretty comfortably last season at home 54-35 but Curtis didn't play in that game.

Are you providing updates like Football?

[Yellow_Jacket06]

Originally Posted by buckeye1689

Are you providing updates like Football?

Hopefully. That's if I can find updates myself.

Freshman: Xenia 47 Sidney 44
JV: Xenia 50 Sidney 36

[buckeye1689]

Is the game on the radio?

[Yellow_Jacket06]

Originally Posted by buckeye1689

Is the game on the radio?

Nowhere I can find. WBZI covers some Xenia games but they aren't there tonight. Not familiar with other stations around there.

[Yellow_Jacket06]

Xenia 21
Sidney 13

End of 1st Quarter

Bucs started the game on a 9-0 run.

Roberts 7 points. Gordon and Taborn 3 each.

[Yellow_Jacket06]

Xenia 21
Sidney 20

Dre heating up with 2 baskets and a triple.

5:30 2nd Quarter

[Yellow_Jacket06]

Sidney 24
Xenia 23

4:00 2nd Quarter

Another 3 by Dre and a FT by Hudgins.

[Yellow_Jacket06]

Sidney 26
Xenia 23

3:01 2nd Quarter

Timeout Xenia after a layup by Dre.

[Yellow_Jacket06]

29-23

Hudgins for 3.

[Yellow_Jacket06]

Sidney 31
Xenia 29

Halftime

Gordon - 17 PTS - 3 REB - 2 AST
Roberts - 7 PTS - 4 REB - 4 STL - 2 AST
Rogers - 6 REB

[Yellow_Jacket06]

Sidney 42
Xenia 34

Dre hits two 3's, misses another but Roberts gets the putback and one.

[Yellow_Jacket06]

Sidney 47
Xenia 42

1:00 3rd Quarter

Hudgins 3 ends Xenia run.

[Yellow_Jacket06]

Sidney 49
Xenia 46

End of 3rd Quarter

Gordon 23
Roberts 14

[Yellow_Jacket06]

Sidney 53
Xenia 50

5:39 left

[Yellow_Jacket06]

55-55

4:15 left

[Yellow_Jacket06]

Xenia 60
Sidney 57

3:36 left

[Yellow_Jacket06]

Xenia 62
Sidney 59

[Yellow_Jacket06]

Xenia 65
Sidney 62

Curtis and Gordon exchange 3's

1:45 left

[Yellow_Jacket06]

Xenia 73
Sidney 67

Final

Gordon 37 - Curtis 31