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Buckeye State seeks 3rd straight BACF win vs. West Virginia

JORDAN HOLLAND The Marietta Times Marietta’s Anthony Avendano makes a move with the ball during a high school basketball game this season against Athens at Sutton Gymnasium. Avendano is expected to suit up for Ohio in Friday’s 17th annual Battle Against Cystic Fibrosis All-Star Basketball Classic at Parkersburg South’s Rod Oldham Athletic Center.

In Mark Romick’s 23-year tenure coaching River’s boys basketball team, opposing teams have come to expect a specific play style.

“Our program is known for playing hard and getting after it,” Romick said.

That’s what fans can count on seeing from the Ohio team in the 17th annual Battle Against Cystic Fibrosis All-Star Basketball Classic Friday, as Romick has been selected as the coach and will be joined by Pilots Lukas Isaly and Cody Hupp.

“We had a really nice season this year,” said Romick, whose team collected a school-record 24 wins. “It’s nice to get back together and have our staff back together.”

Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at the Rod Oldham Athletic Center, and Ohio is seeking its third straight win after dropping 12 of the first 14 contests. In fact, Ohio’s first two victories in the series (2011 and 2014) came when Romick was coaching. And Romick feels good about the all-star team that’s been assembled for this year.

“There’s some really nice players on it,” Romick said. “I’m kind of excited to see some of the kids, like the (Randy) Hixson kid from Trimble and the (Ty Staten) kid from Fairland. Those are kids we don’t normally get to see.”

Hixson was named the Tri-Valley Conference Hocking Division Player of the Year after leading the Tomcats to the league title.

He closed his prep career with a 53-point performance in a win over Waterford.

Isaly is another prolific scorer. In fact, the two-time first-team All-Ohioan in Division IV scored more than 2,000 points in his prep career. Those who follow Marietta College men’s basketball may be interested in seeing Isaly play Friday as he’s committed to continuing his career with the Pioneers. He averaged 25 points, seven rebounds and six assist per game as a senior for the Pilots.

“Coaching Lukas was tremendous,” Romick said. “He’s once of those once-in-a-lifetime players that come along.”

Another first-team all-stater playing for Ohio will be Meadowbrook’s Trey Singleton. A 1,000-point scorer for the Colts, Singleton is a talented point guard who helped lead Meadowbrook to the state tournament this season. In a regular-season game at Rod Oldham this season, Singleton scored 26 points against the state-bound Parkersburg South Patriots in a 56-52 loss.

There also are four Washington County players on the roster, including Waterford’s Travis Pottmeyer, Marietta’s Anthony Avendano and Warren’s Josh Huffman and Troy Huck. Avendano will help shore up Ohio’s backcourt while the other three give the Buckeye State solid size and athleticism.

Also playing for Ohio will be Athens’ Dalton Cozart, Miller’s Carson Starlin and Vinton County’s Jake Speakman and Naylan Yates.

“The most difficult thing about it is you only get to practice one time,” Romick said. “You try to get the guys acclimated to each other and divided into the groups they’re going to play in. All these kids were stars on their team, so you’ve got to let them do their own thing. I tell them, ‘Don’t be afraid to do what you did during the year.'”

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