SoutheasternOhioPreps.com

I'd like to see who everyone thinks are some of the best players in South East Ohio from 2000 on.

Here's some I've got,

Dante Jackson
Anthony Hitchens
Ray Chambers
Beau Justice

I’ll toss out two
Andrew Burleson - Burg
Nick Morey - Belpre

Lots of good players from 2000–2005 but those two were the best I saw during that run.

Nick Aldridge-2006?- South Webster-Western Carolina-I think he played overseas-Averaged 18ppg as a Freshman at WCU.

Tanner Holden-2018?-Wheelersburg-Wright State-OSU-Averaged 20ppg his Junior Year @ WSU.

Nick Morey-2002?-Belpre-NCAA D2 St.Mary’s TX-Averaged 16ppg -also JUCO all American-was recruited by Big12 schools but only had one year of D1 eligibility at the time. Played overseas for a short time. Had as much potential as I’ve saw from a player in SE Ohio.

Dennis Gagai-2006?-Ironton-WVU/NKU. Averaged double digits for NKU.

Cam Thoroughman-2006?-Portsmouth Clay-WVU-great role player for Belien and Huggins. I’m thinking he played overseas for a short time.

Humpty Hitchens-2009?-Chillicothe-James Madison/Akron. Double digit scorer in D1. Was an Overseas player.

Jalen Ragland-2011-Chillicothe-UTEP.

Blake Justice -2011? Peebles-Akron/Valdosta State. Double Digits for D2 VSU.

Beau Justice-2016? Peebles-Valdosta State- Record setting career at D2 VSU. Overseas career.

Cunningham-2009-Waterford-UNC Asheville-Great playing career at the D1 level. I believe he averaged a double double ans a SR and is UNC-A’s career leader in blocked shots. Played overseas in Belgium.

Andrew Burleson-2002-Wheelersburg-Wright State-Great player for WSU.

Ibi Watson-2015-Athens/Pick Central-Michigan/Dayton. Major contributor for #1 ranked team in the nation-Dayton. I’d imagine he’s playing overseas.

Kevin Nutter-2000-Southeastern HS-BGSU-Double digit scorer and all league for D1 BGSU.

Tyler Evans-2005-Logan Elm-University ofFindlay-Excellent NCAA D2 player that made the game winning 3 pt shot in the NCAA D2 National Championship.

Zach Loveday-2019?-Gallia Academy/Huntington Prep-was mostly a practice player for Baylor but has a NCAA D1 National Championship Ring.

Jake Kretzer-2011?-Waverly-Akron-Solid player for D1 Akron.

Dante Jackson-2007?-Greenfield McClain-Xavier-Excellent career with Xavier.

Portsmouth had a lot of good players as well.

There are many others but the players mentioned above stand out in my mind

Kyle Sexton all state, d4 state Poy.
Final four
Ghs all time leading scorer
1700 + pts 1000 + rebs

I’m listing the best I have seen in high school in this timeframe, not really considering the next level. I will add there are two sides to the player and game.

Dante Jackson
Humpty
Gagai
Justice
Justice
Waginger
Aldridge
Trey Robertson
Tanner Holden
Caleb Wallis
Cam Thoroughman
Trey Fletcher? (Ironton)
Todd Mayo
Robbie Barnett
Kyle Ondera

I’m missing alot I know and many already mentioned. Some I watched but maybe just a game or two and maybe just caught on off nights and it’s hard to remember so many players.

Myles Montgomery likely added on

Dustin Pfeifer- crazy career. 2nd to LBJ for Mr Ohio...

Ben Howlett was a great player at Marietta and the all-time leading scorer at the school. Went on to have an outstanding career as a 4-year starter at West Liberty (top 10 D2 program). I believe he was ~ Top 5 in the nation in scoring his junior or senior year. And now an excellent coach.

Nick Aldridge-South Webster-2,000 point scorer

Brigham Waginger- Ironton/South Webster. Easily one of the best on-ball defenders in SE Ohio History.

Cam Miller-Wheelersburg
Drew Spradlin- Wheelersburg
Both could fill it up in a hurry and with efficiency

PJ Rase-Chesapeake-Unbelievable high efficiency shooter that still has one of the best FT shooting % in State History.

Dante Jackson-McLain- Nobody was slowing him down.

Kyle Ondera-Oak Hill-Nothing fancy, just really solid across the board.

Evan French-Warren. Could score in bunches.

Anthony “Humpty” Hitchens-Chillicothe-athletic guard who was tough to defend and deal with.

Ray Chambers-Chillicothe-super strong center who could play with anyone on the list.

There’s many more but this should be a pretty solid list.

Joe Burrow (Athens)...not sure but I believe he opted to play football in college instead.

Gonna try to keep it in the 2000’s

I remember thinking Nick Aldridge got robbed of Southern Conference Freshman of the Year, because he averaged around the same points and way more rebounds than the freshman from Davidson…who happened to be Steph Curry lol

Dante Jackson would have to be at the top of any list, especially for his post HS career at Xavier.

Brigham Waginger was the best on ball defender I’ve ever seen in HS, at least as far as this area goes.

Humpty Hitchens, Drew Spradlin, PJ Rase, Dennis Gagai, Andrew Burleson, Tyler Evans, Dustin Pfeifer, Cam Thoroughman, Tim Congrove and I’m sure I’m missing a lot too.

2010’s would have a great topic of their own

Some fun things I found when looking for names that I may have forgotten:

In 2001, South Webster’s Justin Lower averaged 30.7 PPG

RJ Buecler almost put up a 50 piece to take Eastern Brown to the Final Four in 2002

Kyle Vulgamore was All-Ohio at both Eastern Pike and Piketon

It had to such for Fostoria when the Diebler’s left for Upper Sandusky

Bellaire’s Nate Davis (received some Heisman votes at Ball State) averaged 38.9 PPG in 2006 and didn’t lead the state in scoring

Never saw him play, but Fort Frye’s Tyler Engle made a ludacrious amount of 3’s in HS

Other notables:
Bill Cullom, McClain
Anthony DiLimpo, Chesapeake
Chris Skaggs, Southeastern
Jeff Smallwood, Washington
Brett Buecler, Eastern Brown
Nathan Cozart, Eastern Meigs
Nick Morey, Belpre
Jeremy McLeod, Western
Kraig Unger, North Adams
Josh Kellough, Huntington
Kyle Miller, Piketon

Lower was from South Webster, not South Point.

transplant wrote: ↑Mon Feb 05, 2024 8:52 am Lower was from South Webster, not South Point.

I assumed that, but just went with I saw on the OHSAA website. I guess I should’ve thought more since there were a ton of misspellings or flat out wrong names in the All-Ohio lists as well.

Best guards i can remember playing against in the early 2000’s:
Nathan Cozart (Eastern) - lit us up. Was too tall for us guards to defend & too quick for our bigs
PJ Rase (Chesapeake) - pretty sure he still hasn’t missed a 15 footer
Brigham Waginger (ironton) - so good defensively. Almost felt like he’d let me drive by him so he could steal it from behind
Thornhill (belpre) - great shooter
Craig Randolph (southern) - could score in a variety of ways
Never played against Dustin Pfeifer but I remember watching him at the Convo & being very glad we didn’t.

Good lists by all above, but I did not see much about the Portsmouth Trojans. Here's some that come to mind:

Dion McKinley (2012)......First team All-Ohio, D3 State Runnerup, 1,096 points for his career.
Wayne Evans (2012).......D3 State Runnerup (2012), 1,096 points for his career, made winning shot with 4 seconds to play in 2011 regional final vs. Chesapeake (69-68).
Kendal Reynolds (2018)...1,341 points for his career, 4th all time in PHS history. 69 wins in 4 years, and a regional final.
Matthew Fraulini (2020)...1,096 points for his career, scored a school record 46 points vs. Rock Hill.
Anthony Williams (2009)...averaged 18 PPG and 15 RPG.
DeAndre Berry (current)......has scored 1,087 points for 10th place all time in PHS history. Set to move into 7th place with 10 more points.
Jayllen Carter (2013)..........scored a total of 25 points in the 2012 D3 State Tournament (2 games).
Zaide Noel (2012).............led the Trojans in scoring with 16 points in 2012 State Championship game.

Two players from Ironton stand out......Trey Fletcher and Zac Carter. Both played on the Fighting Tigers' 2013 D3 state tournament team. Also from Fairland 6-8 Collin Van Horn, who went on to have a very good career at Cedarville. Luke Thomas was also a standout with Van Horn on that 2017 Fairland team that made the D3 Final 4. Chase Copley of Valley is currently have a great senior season for the Indians, averaging over 25 PPG.

Didn't Todd Mayo of South Point play in the early 2000's? I believe the Pointers were undefeated but lost early in the tournament.

My top 2 in the SE in the 2000's would be 1. Dante Jackson and 2. Anthony Hitchens.

Think Mayo was class of 2011.

Blake Yates - Valley (SSU)
Kretzer - Waverly (Akron)
Austin Loop- SW (Marshall)

Nice era of SOC hoops

Dante Jackson is the best in my opinion. Would lead his team in points, assists, rebounds, steals, blocks and then guard the other teams best player. Not a state tournament win but dominating Upper Sandusky at OSU in 07 has to be one of the best wins ever for a team out of the southeast. A game in which Dante controlled/dominated

BallDontLie wrote: ↑Mon Feb 05, 2024 2:59 pm Dante Jackson is the best in my opinion. Would lead his team in points, assists, rebounds, steals, blocks and then guard the other teams best player. Not a state tournament win but dominating Upper Sandusky at OSU in 07 has to be one of the best wins ever for a team out of the southeast. A game in which Dante controlled/dominated

That was one of the worst statistical job I’ve ever seen, dude had an easy triple double and they jobbed him on assists in that game. One of the best performances I’ve ever seen out of a high schooler and it was on a big time stage.