“It’s something I did not look forward to every day,” he said. “But it’s got us in shape. And now we can play full games and not even be tired.”
Five starters playing nearly every minute has been the formula for the Alter Knights this season. Head coach Eric Coulter, in his ninth year since replacing mentor Joe Petrocelli, has the Knights playing a run-n-fun offense not seen before at Alter.
The Knights (25-2) are ranked No. 2 in Ohio and will show the state their fast pace at 5:15 p.m. Friday in UD Arena against No. 1 Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary (21-4) in a Division II semifinal.
Chew is the point guard and one of the peskiest on-ball defenders around. But Coulter’s five starters all have point guard skills: juniors Anthony Ruffolo, Gavin Geisel, A.J. Leen and 6-foot-9 senior Jacob Conner. Yes, Conner, too. He was the Knights’ point guard as a sophomore on a team that had final four potential before COVID-19 canceled the season.
“They like it, and it is faster paced,” Coulter said. “My mentor, I don’t remember me coaching under him when we played this fast, but it suits our personnel.”
Coulter says he has players on the bench who are capable and have contributed in important ways this year. But the starting five all have a full skill set of being able to drive the ball to the basket, shoot 3-pointers and be a point guard. Altering the lineup means altering the offense.
“I’m happy with how the offense flows,” Coulter said. “It’s a lot harder for teams to match up, they can’t really help off anybody and that’s what makes it so effective.”
The three juniors were ready to join the starting lineup last season, but it wasn’t until August of 2020 that the iron five was complete. Chew had been a two-year starter for Bellbrook, but he knew a lot of the Alter players. He played with and against Conner since fourth grade and against Ruffolo.
Chew and Conner further connected at an open gym event in August 2020 in Dayton that gave college coaches a chance to scout players because the AAU summer season was limited. They played on the same team and Chew threw two alley-oop passes to Conner for dunks.
“I told my dad that me and Jacob had like a good dynamic duo going,” Chew said.
The next day or so their dads talked at the grocery about their sons and basketball. Chew’s dad came home and asked him about going to Alter. Transferring meant he would sit out the second half of the season by state rule.
“He texted me while he was going through registration and said I’m coming to Alter,” Conner said. “I was like, ‘OK, we can get something done then.’”
The assist man
“Chew’s one of the guys that you might not be open, but he’ll pass you open,” Conner said. “So you gotta be ready for it.”
Chew averages 5.5 assists a game and enters the state tournament with 148. He needs four assists to surpass Jeff Collins’ total in 1993. The great John Paxson holds the single-season record with 169.
“I like getting points for my fellow teammates because I know they can score the ball and it takes a lot of pressure off me because at Bellbrook my sophomore year I was the main scorer,” Chew said.
The 3-point shooter
The light to shoot from the 3-point line is always green for the starters. Ruffolo takes the most advantage and set the Alter single-season record with 67 makes while shooting 41.6%. The previous record of 61 was held by Dave Herbenick in 1994 and Brian McGeady in 1995.
Coulter saw it coming after Ruffolo made 44 last year and told him to run to the corners in transition and be ready to catch and shoot.
“I can hit shots, but I’ve got these two guys,” he said, pointing at Chew and Conner, “drawing the defense and kicking to me wide open play after play. I soon realized that the ball gets there.”
The shot blocker
Conner played on the perimeter as a sophomore in a taller lineup. Now he guards the basket in the Knights’ matchup zone. Instead of swatting shots into the seats, he took the advice of assistant coach Brian Rex and learned to block shots with a purpose, keeping them inbounds and turning them into outlet passes.
Conner averages 3.3 blocks a game and is the career leader in blocks in the Greater Catholic League Co-ed. The league tracks only regular-season stats, so Conner’s final total on that list is 183. He surpassed Fenwick’s A.J. Braun, who finished his career in 2021 with 161 and now plays at Wright State.
Tournament games included, Conner’s total is 192. He’s second on the Alter single-season list with 87. Grant Lothes blocked 108 shots in 1993.
“It’s definitely fun,” Conner said. “These guys do a great job keeping the ball out of the middle, but when it does get there, and guys try to get shots, it’s fun to send it back to them.”
BOYS BASKETBALL
STATE TOURNAMENT
UD ARENA
Division III
No. 4 Columbus Africentric (23-5) vs. No. 2 Ottawa-Glandorf (24-2), Friday, 10:45 p.m.
Cleveland Heights Lutheran East (16-9) vs. No. 9 Cincinnati Taft (17-8), Friday, 2 p.m.
Championship game, Sunday, 10:45 a.m.
Division II
No. 2 Archbishop Alter (25-2) vs. No. 1 Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary (23-4), Friday, 5:15 p.m.
No. 8 Waverly (23-4) vs. Gates Mills Gilmour Academy (22-5), Friday, 8:30 p.m.
Championship game, Sunday, 2 p.m.
Division IV
No. 3 Richmond Heights (23-4) vs. No. 10 Berlin Hiland (23-4), Saturday, 10:45 a.m.
No. 5 Tri-Village (25-3) vs. No. 3 Antwerp (28-1), Saturday, 2 p.m.
Championship game, Sunday, 5:15 p.m.
Division I
No. 5 Pickerington Central (24-2) vs. Lakewood St. Edward (21-5), Saturday, 5:15 p.m.
No. 1 Centerville (26-0) vs. Cleveland St. Ignatius (17-11), Saturday, 8:30 p.m.
Championship game, Sunday, 8:30 p.m.
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