Badin All-Time Scoring Leaders
Here are the Top 10 scorers in Badin High School boys basketball history:
1. John Richter — 1,229 points, 74 games, 16.6 average
2. Steve Eyl — 1,043 points, 62 games, 16.8 average
3. Zach Larkin — 1,012 points, 86 games, 11.8 average
4. Mark Pater — 973 points, 69 games, 14.1 average
5. Brian Giesting — 898 points, 65 games, 13.8 average
6. Nick Brown — 892 points, 62 games, 14.4 average
7. Matt Broermann — 859 points, 64 games, 13.4 average
8. Scott Purcell — 856 points, 69 games, 12.4 average
9. Kevin McGuff — 844 points, 60 games, 14.1 average
10. David Shull — 834 points, 68 games, 12.3 average
Zach Larkin made history Saturday night, but found it a little hard to smile.
What was supposed to be a feel-good experience turned into a very mixed bag for Badin High School’s boys basketball team. Larkin reached the 1,000-point plateau for his career … and the Rams suffered a 57-55 loss at Finneytown.
“We missed a lot of layups and free throws. It’s that simple,” Badin coach Matt Thompson said. “We were expected to win by the players. Maybe that was the problem. But no excuses. We missed some stuff we shouldn’t have missed, and hopefully we’ll learn from it and move on.”
Larkin, a senior forward and four-year player for the Rams, entered the game with 994 career points. He tossed in 18 and hit 1,000 on a layup with 7:07 remaining in the third quarter.
“We just came in lackadaisical and didn’t pull out a win we thought we should’ve had,” Larkin said. “That’s pretty disappointing.”
He scored 16 points after halftime and 12 in the third quarter for Badin, which also got 14 points and four rebounds from Logan Heintzman. Philip Dozier had eight points and seven boards, Larkin collected 10 caroms and three steals, and Mitchell Raley added four steals.
The Rams led 42-35 early in the fourth period, then watched the Wildcats rip off a 19-5 run to go up by seven. Finneytown buried four 3-pointers during that binge, two by 6-foot-8 sophomore Darius Bazley.
Things got interesting down the stretch as the visitors rallied within two points twice, 55-53 on Dozier’s jumper with 57 seconds left and 57-55 on Larkin’s jumper with 21 seconds remaining.
Finneytown’s Delshon Watson missed the front end of the bonus with 17.1 on the clock, but Badin was off the mark with a pair of 2-pointers in the final 10 seconds and dropped to 6-8.
“Credit to them,” Thompson said. “They took us out of some stuff. Their big kid (Bazley) changed our shots in the paint. We let him affect the way we played, we didn’t affect the way he guarded, and it cost us.”
Bazley, who had missed the last two games for disciplinary reasons, racked up 15 points and 12 rebounds for the Wildcats. He tallied 11 points after intermission.
Michael Clay paced Finneytown (6-9) with 17 points and five boards.
“Right now, we’re just trying to find out who we are,” Wildcats coach Kimar Morris said. “We had four sophomores out there at one particular time tonight. I don’t know what other teams could say that this late in the season. The talk before the game was, ‘Guys, look. Tonight is not about a win. It’s not about a loss. It’s all about coming together and trusting each other and trusting the process, and let’s live with the result at the end of the game.’ ”
Finneytown began the night on a four-game losing streak and had lost seven of its last eight contests. The Wildcats were also missing a starter (6-4 junior Isaiah Daniels) because of a death in the family.
Badin had won three straight games and four of its last five.
“To be honest, I don’t even know if the kids know how big of a win it was tonight,” Morris said. “Three of our last four games have been overtime games that we just haven’t been able to finish. I have all the respect in the world for Badin and their program. To get a win against a quality program with the history that they have and the league they play in, it’s huge for our guys’ confidence. This was a program win for Finneytown tonight.”
It was this kind of night for the Rams: They jumped to a 7-0 lead and held the Wildcats scoreless for nearly seven minutes. But when Finneytown did finally score, it went on a 10-point run.
The hosts were 8 of 15 at the foul line. Badin was 9 of 14.
Larkin’s only first-half points came on a layup midway through the second stanza. But he reeled off three baskets in the first 60 seconds of the third quarter, and that second hoop brought him to the 1,000 milestone.
A timeout was called, and an announcement regarding Larkin’s accomplishment was made. He reacted with a look of surprise.
“I wasn’t aware of it … I didn’t know what was going on,” Larkin admitted. “I knew I was close coming into the season, but I haven’t been thinking about it. It was cool. It’s special because this school’s had a lot of history in basketball.”
John Richter (1,229 points) and Steve Eyl (1,043) are the only two players ahead of Larkin on Badin’s all-time boys scoring list. He said he didn’t expect this kind of career when he joined the Rams.
“Not at all,” Larkin said. “I was fortunate to play my freshman year, so that gave me a lot of extra games to get some easy points. I was just expecting to better my dad, and he didn’t score a lot. He was an assist guy. He gave it to the people that scored.”
Barring injury, he should certainly pass Eyl and move into second place. Catching Richter might be difficult.
“If I’m going to get to John Richter, that means we’re going to go deep in the tournament, so hopefully we do that,” Larkin said. “We just want to get wins. If I don’t have to score a lot, that’s probably a good thing because that means other people are scoring.”
Larkin finished his prep football career as one of the top quarterbacks in Badin history, and he said he’s still leaning toward that sport at the next level. His only offers at this point — from Urbana and Georgetown (Ky.) — are for football.
“But if the right situation comes up for basketball, I’ll consider it,” Larkin said. “I love both sports.”
Thompson said Larkin’s basketball success is particularly impressive because he’s a football-first athlete.
“He just competes at the highest level all the time,” Thompson said. “That’s why he is who he is.”
Thompson alerted Finneytown before the game that Larkin was on the verge of history. Morris had no problem with stopping the game and recognizing an opposing player.
“That’s an accomplishment, whether it’s 1,000 points, steals, blocks, whatever,” Morris said. “I’m happy to be a part of it because I know it’s something him and his parents are going to remember forever. Hopefully he’ll see Finneytown in the picture he takes. I know he wishes he would’ve gotten that W, but it was still a special moment for him and his family.”
Finneytown will return to Cincinnati Hills League play Monday at Madeira. The Rams will host Greater Catholic League Coed Division rival Alter on Tuesday.
“We’ve lost games as a team. We’ll bounce back as a team,” Larkin said. “Alter destroyed us last year, so we’ll be hungry for them.”
Badin 7-16-17-15—55
Finneytown 7-11-17-22—57
BADIN (6-8) — Seth Thompson 1 0 2, Philip Dozier 4 0 8, Logan Heintzman 6 0 14, Daunte DeCello 1 1 3, Corey Mohr 0 3 3, Zach Larkin 8 2 18, Jordan Rutherford 1 1 3, Mitchell Raley 1 2 4. Totals: 22-9-55
FINNEYTOWN (6-9) — Courtney Evans 1 0 3, Jaylen Mason 1 3 5, Darius Bazley 6 1 15, Delshon Watson 2 1 5, Alex Goellner 2 0 6, Noah Rowe 2 0 6, Michael Clay 7 3 17. Totals: 21-8-57
3-pointers: B 2 (Heintzman 2), F 7 (Bazley 2, Goellner 2, Rowe 2, Evans)
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