Basketball Resources

As soon as his junior season ended, Quinten Hunter went to work. At Union County, hard work also paid big dividends for the Patriots. Hunter provided a consistent presence for Richmond during his senior season with the Red Devils, while coach Mark Detweiler guided Union County to the top of the Tri-Eastern Conference and to the program's first sectional title since 1979. Hunter is the Palladium-Item's Player of the Year in boys basketball and Detweiler is Coach of the Year. With a large senior class and a successful season the year before, expectations were high for Union County. "This group, they seemed to embrace that from Day One," Detweiler said. Hunter, too, embraced his role as Richmond's go-to scorer. He led the Red Devils with 16.3 points per game, helped the rebounding efforts with 5 a game and routinely netted double figures. Hunter's increased offensive output was evident from Game 1 when he poured in 32 points against Northeastern in a season-opening 93-47 victory for the Red Devils. "He was a fantastic player all year long," RHS coach Joe Luce said of Hunter. "The most improved player I've ever coached from his junior to his senior year. He showed what dedication to the gym and hard work in the offseason can do. "He just really dedicated himself to being a guy who can put a team on his back, and he did." Lincoln's Zac Rea and Union County's Brad Hartman were also go-to players for their teams, with Rea dropping more than 20 points a game on opposing teams and Hartman leading the Patriots with 13.5 points to earn the Tri-Eastern Conference Player of the Year honor. Luce led Richmond to a 21-4 record, the Red Devils' best since 1993, and to second place in the North Central Conference. Josh Sagester guided Tri-Village to an Ohio sectional championship, while Josh Jurgens' Cardinals broke a school record for single-season wins in his first year as head coach at Seton Catholic. Hunter's on-court talents started to shine on the varsity level as a junior. He continued to work on his skills in preparation for his senior year. (Page 2 of 2) "It started a couple of weeks right after we lost that sectional game (to Pendleton Heights in 2011)," Hunter said. "We just got together and hooped every day. Every chance we got, we just played basketball. That's all we did." Hunter said he first realized just how strong Richmond could be when then-No. 1 North Central visited the Tiernan Center early in the year, and the Red Devils played them down to the wire. RHS lost three regular-season games, all by single digits. The Red Devils missed out on the NCC championship by three points to Muncie Central, but locked up sole possession of second place with a thrilling overtime win against state-ranked Kokomo. "(North Central) was a big momentum game," Hunter said. "It was a big confidence booster for us and opened up big doors for us later in the season." Hunter often provided a boost for the Red Devils with his ability to score and his court vision allowed him to get the ball to open teammates. "He put time in the gym shooting the basketball a lot," Luce said. "As much as anything, mentally, he was able to gain confidence in himself." Confidence was something Detweiler didn't lack in his Union County squad. The Patriots were expected to be a force this season, and they didn't disappoint. They ran through an undefeated TEC season for their first title since 1985, lost just twice during the regular season -- both times to Class 4A schools -- and gave eventual Class 2A state champion Park Tudor its closest game of the postseason. In 2011, Union County lost an overtime heartbreaker in the sectional final. But the Patriots kept faith. "Success might be just around the corner," Detweiler said he told his team after the 2010-11 season ended. "A lot of people give up just a little short of being successful. For us, success was just around the corner. "Our kids stuck with it and persevered. It was nice to see the growth." Detweiler has seen much growth in the Union County program in his 11 years there. Detweiler has had winning seasons in six of the past eight years, topping out at 21-3 this season. The Pats also set a school record for defensive average this season, and ranked among the state's best defensive teams, regardless of class. "You hate to see those seniors go, but we've got a good program in place," Detweiler said. "This group kind of set the bar and now we have young kids who will respond to that."