THURSDAY, MARCH 23, 2000

Harvey, Breyman earn state hoop honors

Two area senior baseball players had one more award to collect from their roundball days as Calvert's Joe Harvey and Seneca East's Mike Breyman were named All-Ohio.

Harvey, a 5-11 guard, was selected as honorable mention in Division IV while Breyman, a 6-2 post, made honorable mention in Division III.

Harvey led Calvert to a 22-3 record and a district championship. The Senecas, who have won back-to-back MAL titles, were beaten in the regional finals by Fort Jennings, 67-61, at Toledo's Savage Hall Friday.

Harvey averaged 18.5 points, 2.7 assists and two steals per game. Harvey hit 36 percent from behind the 3-point line and 75 percent from the foul line.

"Joe displayed a terrific work ethic," Calvert coach Tony Mass said. "I think he was disappointed with how far we went in the tournaments last season (district semifinals), and he was driven by that and was focused all year on going deeper into the tournament.

"He was dedicated, he had a great year and he was one of the most important parts of this team. He's got some skills, and he's a very strong, well-built kid."

Breyman pitched in 14.6 points and grabbed 8.6 rebounds per game. He shot 61 percent from the floor. The Tigers collected 14 wins and went 8-2 in the MAL, tying for second place. It was the best finish in the MAL for Seneca East.

"I was surprised by it, and I know he and his parents were surprised by it too," Seneca East coach Doug Mason said. "He's only the second basketball player from here to be All-Ohio, so he's in pretty select company.

"Obviously between this and the baseball, Mike has had a tremendous career at Seneca East athletically. I think him getting this award is a reflection on his classmates he played with and this team. These seniors played very well with each other and really turned around our program."

Gibsonburg's Jeremiah Diebler and Marion Catholic's Edward McCants share the player of the year award in Division IV. Diebler, a 6-foot-1 senior, and McCants, a 6-4 senior, were selected based on the recommendations of a state media panel.

Both scored more than 30 points a game, Diebler hitting for 33.2 and McCants for 30.4. McCants, who hit 53 percent of his shots from the field including 42 percent of his 3-point tries, capped a big comeback after missing almost all of his junior season with a broken kneecap.

The coaches of the year were Tim King of Berlin Center Western Reserve and two men who will be on opposing sides this week in the state tournament, Worthington Christian's Ray Slagle and Al Summers of St. Henry.

Top-ranked Worthington Christian (26-0) takes on No. 7 St. Henry (23-2) at 6 p.m. Thursday in the first Division IV semifinal, followed by No. 10 Fort Jennings (22-3) against second-ranked Berlin Hiland (25-1) in the nightcap. The championship game is Saturday at 2 p.m. at Ohio State's Value City Arena.

Worthington Christian's Sam Smith, a 6-5 senior who averaged 20.7 points a game, joined Diebler and McCants on the first team.

Also on the squad were: Matt Plunkett of Tipp City Bethel (6-3, Jr., 21.9); Western Reserve's Matt Orr (6-5, Sr., 17.0); Rick Kroll of New Matamoras Frontier (6-4, Sr., 23.9); Franklin Furnace Green's Chris Williams (5-9, Sr., 21.6); and Chris McGraw of New Boston Glenwood (6-4, Sr., 20.5).

Worthington Christian also placed a player on the second team, Jason Weakley (5-10, Sr., 14.1), and Hiland was represented by two players, Kendall Schlabach (5-11, Sr., 15.3) and Matt Miller (5-10, Sr., 14.5).