“I just feel like if we want to take this program in a direction we feel it deserves to go, we’ve got to play the best competition available,” Hoskins said. “Brush certainly will be a major test in that way.”
Middletown’s first-year coach has a friendly history with SVSM coach Dru Joyce. That’s how the Middies got invited to the showcase event.
“He and I played against each other pretty much every year that I was the head coach at Thurgood (Marshall),” Hoskins said. “We played against each other in the state final, and we vowed to play each other every regular season and hopefully meet up at the state every year. When he heard that I moved to Middletown, he reserved a spot for our kids.”
Joyce won that Division II state championship matchup 57-46 in 2011. Hoskins’ son played for Joyce’s AAU organization.
The Middies are 1-1 heading into Friday night’s home game against Colerain. Middletown will get on a bus shortly after the game and travel to Northeast Ohio.
“Everything I’ve ever been part of with Dru Joyce has been first class,” Hoskins said. “From hospitality rooms to taking care of hotel rooms for us to providing the kids with T-shirts and the coaches with polos and feeding our kids, it’s all first class.”
Brush will be a quality opponent. The Arcs are 2-1 and under the direction of second-year coach Chet Mason, a former Miami University standout. They’ll visit Mayfield on Friday night.
“From what I’ve heard, they’re really good on the perimeter,” Hoskins said. “Our challenge will be to negate penetration opportunities.”
Brush is scoring 65.7 points per game and giving up an average of 55. The Arcs are led by sophomore guards D.J. Dial and Andre Harris, who are scoring 22 and 9.3 points a game, respectively.
Dial and Harris both have scholarship offers from Kent State. John Hugley, a 6-foot-8, 268-pound freshman center averaging just 3 points a contest, has an offer from Cleveland State, and 6-5 junior forward Tyler Williams has some Division II offers.
“We have the talent. We’ve just got to come together,” Mason said. “For me playing basketball forever, I’ve seen these type of teams before. I’ve been on these type of teams. It takes experience, and we don’t have that yet. I think we’re a year away from being where we really want to be.”
Brush, a member of the Western Reserve Conference, is getting 9.7 points per game from junior guard Tahj Benton.
“We try to press and speed you up a little bit,” Mason said. “We try to use our length and athleticism to get some turnovers. We get up some 3s, but I wouldn’t say we’re a 3-point shooting team. We’re more of a transition and hustle team.”
The Arcs played in the LeBron James Classic last year and lost to Pickerington Central 72-51 and Akron Buchtel 69-50.
“It’s definitely one of the best-run events,” Mason said. “Great basketball, great gym and great exposure.”
The Middies are coming off a 59-58 defeat at Sycamore. Senior wing Cliff Snow led Middletown with 29 points — he’s scored 50 in the first two games.
“I’ve got to give credit to Sycamore. They were really resilient,” Hoskins said. “But what it boiled down to was poor and complete mismanagement by myself. I’ll take full responsibility and credit for us losing that game.
“I didn’t prepare us well enough for that type of environment. It’s a learning experience for all of us. The next time that type of situation presents itself, we’ll be more prepared collectively for it.”
LeBron James Classic
Where: LeBron James Arena at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, 15 N. Maple St., Akron
Day pass: $12 for adults, $8 for students
Weekend pass: $20 for adults, $12 for students
Saturday: Cleveland Benedictine vs. Youngstown Ursuline, noon; Middletown vs. Lyndhurst Brush, 2 p.m.; Cleveland Heights vs. Gahanna Lincoln, 4 p.m.; Canton McKinley vs. Toledo St. John's, 6 p.m.; Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary vs. Evanston (Ill.), 8 p.m.
Sunday: Pickerington North vs. Evanston (Ill.), noon; Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary vs. Westerville South (girls), 2 p.m.; Garfield Heights vs. Westerville South, 4 p.m.; Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary vs. Warren Harding, 6 p.m.; Cuyahoga Falls Walsh Jesuit vs. Brunswick, 8 p.m.
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