Raiders win ORVC title

SR Basketball

South Ripley boys basketball won its first ORVC title since 2021 on Friday night with its win over Jac-Cen-Del. The Raiders head into the postseason as conference champions, county champions and owners of the Ripley Publishing Inc. Pride Trophy.

Class 2A No. 2 South Ripley had already clinched a share of the Ohio River Valley Conference championship heading into Friday night’s rivalry matchup at Jac-Cen-Del but sharing just made no sense given the green and white’s magical season thus far and the Raiders became outright conference champions, winning 54-38 over the Eagles.

It was Homecoming for Jac-Cen-Del as the two rivals played in front of a sold out crowd at the Eagles’ Nest. South Ripley is now a conference champion for the first time since 2021 and it is the 22nd ORVC title in program history.

Jac-Cen-Del did everything in its power to slow down a South Ripley team that had won the first regular season matchup on November 26 by a 72-23 final score and a much better effort allowed for that through much of the first half on Friday. The Eagles trailed just 10-8 at the first stop but nine points from sophomore Drew Volz in the second quarter boosted the green and white to a 24-15 halftime advantage.

From there South Ripley only inched the margin upwards. A combined nine points from Drew Volz, Chancie Volz and Cole Henry sparked a 16-13 edge in the third quarter and the Raiders finished the night off with a 14-10 spurt that not only secured that outright ORVC crown, but also allowed for the Versailles crew to maintain possession of the Ripley Publishing Inc. Pride Trophy.

Drew Volz finished his night with 17 points and that included a perfect 7-of-7 mark from the free throw line. All 17 of Volz’s points came in the final three quarters. Henry added 14 points for the Raiders and Chancie Volz put in 11 points with nine points coming off three 3-pointers.

Jac-Cen-Del senior Johnny Newhart led his team with 12 points. Newhart drilled three 3-pointers in the first half. Darian Grieshop was next in line for the Eagles at eight points and Luke Simon added seven points.

South Ripley (21-1, 6-0 ORVC) is now tied for the second-most single-season wins in program history, a mark shared with the 2020-2021 squad coached by Tyler Theising. The Raiders are off until Friday night and will face Brown County (6-16) in the first semifinal of Class 2A Sectional 45 at Southwestern (Hanover).

Jac-Cen-Del (6-16, 2-4 ORVC) go to Milan for Class A Sectional 60 this week and will face Trinity Lutheran (7-16) tonight in the opening round.