Olentangy Orange gets to regional final with win over Newark behind Keegan Knupp, Levi Davis

The Pioneers will take on Delaware Hayes in the regional final

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Junior guard Keegan Knupp and sophomore point guard Levi Davis both have bright futures in other sports, despite being starters for the Olentangy Orange boys basketball team.

Knupp has made a verbal commitment to play baseball at Eastern Michigan University, while Davis already has received five college football scholarship offers.

But even though Knupp and Davis are planning on pursuing different sports at the next level, that didn’t stop them from playing their hearts out while leading the Pioneers’ basketball squad to a 50-42 win over Newark in a Division I regional semifinal.

Knupp scored a team-high 14 points and had six rebounds and a team-high two steals in the defensive slugfest, which was played Wednesday at Ohio Dominican University.

“Baseball’s my number one sport, but I still love basketball, and it’s awesome because I can just enjoy basketball for fun,” said Knupp, whose squad improved to 26-1 overall. “Our team has great chemistry and this was a big, hard-fought win for us.”

Davis scored 12 points and had a team-high three assists, a block, a steal and two rebounds for Orange, which will face Delaware Hayes in the final Saturday at Ohio Dominican.

“I’m looking to play college football, but I have a lot of love for basketball and I’m looking to keep playing this game for as long as I can,” said Davis, who also is a successful track and field athlete. “I’ve received a lot of encouragement from football coaches to do a lot of sports, because basketball and track have helped my quickness and explosiveness.”

Davis used his slick ball-handling skills and quickness to break through Newark’s defense pressure, and drive to the basket to score layups or kick the ball out to open teammates.

The 5-foot-11 speedster scored six points in the second quarter to help Orange rally from a 16-12 deficit at the end of the first quarter to forge a 26-all halftime tie.

“Levi’s so explosive, and he was aggressive and made a lot of positive things happen for us,” said Orange coach Anthony Calo, who guided his squad to its first regional final a year ago, where Orange lost to eventual state runner-up Pickerington Central.

With Orange clinging to a 34-33 lead entering the fourth quarter, Dylan Joy tipped the ball free from Newark forward Steele Meister into the hands of Davis, who raced in from midcourt and electrified the Pioneers’ fans with a dunk.

Moments later, Davis used deft ball-handling to juke his way past a defender for a layup to put the Pioneers ahead 38-33 with 5 minutes, 56 seconds remaining in the game.

“When Dylan back-tapped the ball to me, I saw my chance for a dunk and took it,” Davis said. “That dunk got our crowd going crazy, and shifted the momentum our way.”

Knupp followed Davis’ back-to-back baskets to open the fourth quarter by making three consecutive field goals.

The versatile 6-foot-3 athlete snuck behind Newark’s defense for a wide-open layup off a nifty dish by Davis, and followed with another layup on Orange’s next possession.

“Keegan’s a baseball-first kid, but he’s an excellent athlete, and he’s been incredible for us the past two games,” Calo said.

Knupp then stole the ball at midcourt and finished with a two-handed dunk, sending the sold-out crowd into hysterics.

 “I saw where the ball was going, jumped the pass and dunked it,” Knupp said. “That was big for us, because it took the air out of Newark’s side, just like Levi’s dunk did earlier.”

Joy followed Knupp’s dunk with a free throw with just 63 seconds remaining in the game to complete a 14-0 run by Orange for an insurmountable 45-33 advantage.

Devin Brown, who finished with 12 points, 14 rebounds and a block, made two free throws with 29.4 seconds left to extend Orange’s lead to 49-39.

And Treyton Schroeder, who finished with nine points, five rebounds and a steal, made three foul shots within the final 54 seconds to further ice the game.

“This was a game where you could tell that whoever was able to take a two-possession lead in the fourth quarter was going to win it,” said Newark coach Jeff Quackenbush, whose squad finished 22-5 overall. “(Davis) and (Knupp) both had big dunks that impacted the game.”

Calo was most impressed with the way the Pioneers played defense, shifting between hybrid forms of man-to-man.

When informed by reporters that Newark was held without a field goal for a stretch of 11:34 over the third and fourth quarters, which finally ended when Ty Gilbert made a 3-pointer with 54 seconds remaining, Calo broke into a surprised smile.

The Wildcats also went completely scoreless for a stretch of 8:52, before Gilbert’s trey.

“Really?,” Calo replied. “That’s beautiful, that’s really beautiful! I have a lot of respect for Newark, and I consider coach Quackenbush to be one of the top couple of guys in central Ohio. I’m super proud of our kids for this defensive effort."

“Everybody did their jobs, and Schroeder and Davis made things especially tough for Newark with their on-ball defense.”

Braylon Morris made four 3-pointers and scored a game-high 21 points to lead Newark, while Ethan Stare (9 points), Meister (5), Gilbert (3), Austin Rose (2) and Kalen Winbush (2) rounded out the Wildcats’ scoring.

Newark held the lead a total of eight times, including three times in the third quarter, in a game that featured 13 lead changes and 10 ties.

“When you’re playing against length like that, it’s hard to score, and we didn’t have shots go in that normally go in for us,” Quackenbush said. “Orange is skilled and athletic and they played hard.

“We had an amazing season, where we kept our community entertained, and I’m very proud of our seniors and our entire team.”