Westerville South wins OHSAA Division I sectional final over Marysville behind Kruz McClure's return

Kruz McClure returned from four days in the hospital to score 18 points and help lead Westerville South to the win

Westerville, Ohio – Kruz McClure didn’t think he was going to be healthy enough to play in Friday’s Division I sectional final against Marysville after spending the previous four days in a hospital bed helplessly waiting to feel better.

The Westerville South junior point guard was admitted to a hospital on Monday after a sudden flare-up caused by Crohn’s Disease gave him such crippling abdominal pain and a high fever that he had to stay overnight and miss the Wildcats’ tournament-opening victory over Dublin Scioto the following night.

“It was terrible timing, because I’ve been on medicine for Crohn’s for three years and it just stopped working,” McClure said. “My stomach was in pain, and I couldn’t keep anything down, and then I developed a fever and felt really sick. I was screaming at the hospital television that I had to watch the Dublin Scioto game on, because I wanted to play so bad. I’ve just felt horrible all week.”

McClure returned to school on Friday and felt so miserable that very few people expected him to play in South’s home game against Marysville later that night.

However, despite continuing to feel weakened and fatigued, McClure made the last-second decision to play, and then defied expectations by scoring 18 points to lead the Wildcats to a 65-59 victory over the Monarchs.

With the win, South improved to 16-7 overall and advanced to Wednesday’s district semifinal to face Delaware Hayes at a site to be determined.

“Kruz is a tough kid and he played his heart out to make a huge difference for our team tonight,” South coach Ed Calo said. “We didn’t even know if he was going to be able to play because he spent all week in the hospital and he was attached to an IV yesterday, so for him to show up and play this well was very impressive and beyond what we could have hoped for.”

Playing the point guard position with a voice that was so hoarse that it was barely audible, McClure had to use his arms, hands and facial expressions to signal to his teammates where they needed to go on the court before he used his athleticism and deft ball-handling skills to dribble past opponents and dish them the ball for open looks.

Despite being limited to just six points in the first half, McClure ran the point so well that the Wildcats managed to take a 33-27 lead heading into intermission.

“I felt so bad that I knew I couldn’t beat them physically, so I was going to have to do it mentally,” McClure said. “I really couldn’t communicate on the court with my voice, so I had to point to where I needed my teammates to go to put my guys in the right spot, because I know where they want the ball, and I just had to get it to them.”

Remarkably, after missing five of his first six field goal attempts, McClure dug deep and seemed to play with more energy on both ends of the court over the last 10 minutes of the game.

McClure made back-to-back jump shots on South’s final two possessions of the third quarter to help the Wildcats stretch their advantage to 50-42 heading into the final period.

The speedy 6-foot-5 athlete then swished in a 3-pointer in the opening minute of the fourth quarter, before stealing the ball in the paint, darting the length of the court and finishing a layup over the outstretched arms of a Marysville defender to make it 60-54 with only 2:01 remaining in regulation.

“Kruz willed them to this win tonight,” said Marysville coach Mark Tinklenberg, whose squad finished 13-10 overall. “His confidence and relaxed, no-care feel to the game spread to his teammates, and he made outstanding plays down the stretch. My respect for Kruz as a competitor is outrageous.”

After Marysville pulled within a basket of tying the game, McClure drove to the rim, drew contact and then sank two free throws to expand South’s lead to 62-57 with 1:27 remaining.

McClure – who is the Player of the Year in both the Ohio Capital Conference Capital Division and District 10 – also made another foul shot with 44 seconds left to help ice the game.

“I just wanted to win so badly and I’m grateful that I found the strength to play the entire game,” said McClure, who already has scored more than 1,000 points during his varsity career.

Even though South was without the services of 6-7 starting center Tyler Kielmeyer, a Division I football recruit who was sidelined with an ankle injury, McClure received plenty of help from his supporting cast.

Sophomore guard Hassan Kaba made three 3-pointers and scored 11 of his game-high 19 points in the first half. Junior guard Amari Hodges also had 13 points, while Hamza Bendahhou (5), Brandon Slattery (5), Drazen Smith (3) and Andrew Koroma (2) rounded out South’s scoring.

“Lot of kids made great plays for us, including those who came off the bench,” Calo said. “(Kaba) made some big shots, especially while we were trying to hang in there early on. He’s been really good as a sophomore, especially the past 10 games, and he’s getting better. (Koroma’s) been a consistently great rebounder, and McClure, Kaba and our entire team did a good job on the boards as well.”

Point guard CJ Collins scored a team-high 14 points, including a 3-pointer in the opening moments of the game to help the Monarchs build a 6-2 lead. In the fourth quarter, Collins made three more 3-pointers and scored 11 consecutive points to help Marysville nearly erase a 14-point deficit to pull within 60-57 with 1:50 remaining in the game.

Also scoring for the Monarchs were Jason Moore (12 points), Andrew Rabe (12), Ryker Bowden (9), Zach Barlow (6), Merrick Reynolds (5) and Cole Brewer (1).

“This was a special group that I got to coach and they never quit,” said Tinklenberg, who was the OCC-Cardinal Division Coach of the Year after guiding the Monarchs to their first league title in four years. “We were as well-prepared as we’ve ever been, and we emptied the toolbox and put ourselves in a position to win late in the game.

“We had three chances after we cut it to three late in the fourth quarter, but we had a turnover and Westerville South made some nice plays to yank it from us. Their role players gave them a boost early, and Kruz picked his spots and helped close it out for them late.”

Westerville South guard Kruz McClure gets ready to inbound the ball in a win over Marysville on March 1, 2024 / Aaron Blankenship, SBLive Sports

After the game, McClure sat slumped in the stands, exhausted, but sporting a satisfied smile as he managed with great effort to rasp out answers to the media with a voice that barely rose above the volume of a whisper.

The affable student athlete was already looking forward to South’s rematch with Delaware (23-1 overall), after the teams split their regular-season series.

The Wildcats handed the Pacers their only loss of the regular season, winning 73-55 on Ed Calo Court on Dec. 22, before Delaware won at home 73-55 on Feb. 2 en route to capturing the OCC-Capital title with a 13-1 league mark.

“My doctors are telling me that it’s going to be two to three months before I get all the way back to normal, but I’m hoping that I will feel a lot better and play better by our next game,” McClure said. “It was definitely in question if I was going to be able to play tonight, up until the very last moment, but I decided to play because I felt like I owed it to our seniors to do my best to help keep our season going.

“It feels surreal to be sitting here, talking about this game, after being stuck in the hospital all week. All of the glory goes to God, because it was nothing short of God giving me the strength that I was lacking to do what I did tonight.”