Kaleb Wesson continues to put up eye-popping numbers throughout his senior season.
The 2017 Ohio State signee enjoyed another huge weekend leading Westerville South at the Burger King Classic in Erie, Pennsylvania.
In South's first game, an 82–54 win over Cathedral Prep (Erie, Penn.), Wesson scored a career-high and tied the school record with 43 points. He also snared 14 rebounds to lift the Wildcats to a victory.
Westerville South fell to national power Paul VI (Fairfax, Virginia) in the championship game, but Wesson notched another career-high in this game — this time grabbing 19 rebounds to go with 13 points.
It was quite the weekend for the 6-foot-9 big man.
Kaleb Wesson had one of the greatest Classic weekends in tourney history for @SouthBasketball Tonight he had 13 points, 19 rebounds.
— Burger King Classic (@BKClassicErie) January 15, 2017
Wesson signed with the Buckeyes during the early signing period and will be on campus in the summer. The younger brother of current Ohio State freshman Andre Wesson, Kaleb Wesson is the No. 76 player in the country and the No. 7-ranked center, according to 247Sports' composite rankings.
Goodwin Continues Dominant Junior Season
Flyin' to the Hoop is annually one of the high school events in the country and it was held this past weekend in Kettering, Ohio at Fairmont High School. We previewed the event last week as a trio of Ohio State commits in 2018 — Dane Goodwin, Justin Ahrens and Darius Bazley — were all in action.
All three were impressive, but perhaps none more than Goodwin, who led Upper Arlington to a dominant 62–34 victory over Garfield Heights, a state semifinalist the last two seasons.
Goodwin matched Heights with 34 points himself to go along with 13 rebounds as the Golden Bears improved to 12-1 on the season. According to 270 Hoops, Goodwin is averaging nearly 28 points per game this season as a junior.
Upper Arlington and Goodwin will square off against Wesson and Westerville South next Tuesday in a matchup of two of Ohio's top players and teams. For now, check out highlights from Goodwin's performance against Garfield Heights via NextUpRecruits.
Ahrens Shines; Bazley Makes Season Debut
Justin Ahrens also had a big game to help lead his Versailles team to a 61–56 victory against Tri-Village. Ahrens, a 6-foot-5 wing, scored 26 points in the win as Versailles improved to 12–1 on the season.
Highlights from Ahrens' performance, via Marc Givler of Rivals, can be seen below.
Darius Bazley, who committed to the Buckeyes on the same day as Ahrens, made his season debut for Cincinnati Princeton after sitting out the first 11 games of the year due to OHSAA transfer rules. Bazley spent last season playing for Finneytown.
Bazley scored 11 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to notch a double-double for Princeton after foul trouble hurt him in the first half. Princeton was drubbed by national power Wheeler (Marietta, Ga.), however, by the score of 77–48.
At 6-foot-8, Bazley has a unique skillset that can allow him to play multiple positions at the next level. After the game, Bazley said he could see himself being used at Ohio State the same way Thad Matta used Evan Turner.
Matta and assistant coach Dave Dickerson were both in attendance to watch Bazley's debut.
“He did it all for them and went on to the NBA,” Bazley said, via Marcus Hartman of the Dayton Daily News. “I want to be a position-less player. They can say, ‘OK Darius, you’re gonna be here this play. You’re here this play.’ I want to do anything down the stretch just because I can do it.”
In his second game of the season Tuesday, Bazley had another double-double and nearly had a triple-double in Princeton's win over Fairfield.
#OhioState commit Darius Bazley had 14 points, 20 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 blocks and 3 steals in Princeton's 66-40 win over Fairfield Tuesday
— Mike Dyer (@MikeDyer) January 18, 2017
Other Recruiting News & Notes
- 2019 target Jordan Mitchell also competed at Flyin' to the Hoop. Mitchell, a local product from Gahanna, already has an offer from the Buckeyes and, according to Ben Axelrod from Land of 10, the two sides are starting to "build more of a relationship together."
- Another Ohio State target in the 2019 class for the Buckeyes is point guard Jeremiah Francis. Francis is a Buckeye legacy but does not have an offer yet from Ohio State. His two biggest are from West Virginia and Purdue, but the Buckeyes are heavily involved in his recruitment. Here are some highlights from his game at Flyin' to the Hoop, via Scout.com's Brian Snow.
- A pair of players in the 2018 class who each have offers from Ohio State squared off over the weekend as Dwayne Cohill and Robby Carmody went head-to-head at an event in Canton, Ohio. Cohill's team came out on top with a one-point win, but here are some highlights from the game between the two top 2018 prospects, via 3rdCoastHoops.
- Jerome Hunter is another local product Ohio State has already offered in 2018. Hunter attends Pickerington North High School and he also participated in Flyin' to the Hoop over the weekend. 270Hoops has a highlight video of both Hunter and Dane Goodwin and you can check it out here.
