ANALYSIS: Ohio high school scoring leader sits atop a spectacular ladder

BARBERTON — Ohio has a new high school basketball scoring king.

Hillsdale got an up-close look at Quinn Kwasniak on Tuesday night in Barberton, when his Willoughby Cornerstone Christian team eliminated the Falcons at the Division VII regional semifinal.

Kwasniak goosed his career scoring total to 3,245 points in the Patriots’ 81-59 Sweet 16 victory.

Just reading about Kwasniak, nicknamed “The Turtle,” passing Upper Sandusky graduate Jon Diebler sent me rushing to the state record book — one of my favorite rabbit holes.

The 6-foot-2 gunner averages nearly 38 points per game, and is also the state’s career 3-point leader. He’ll take his perimeter proficiency to Army next year.

Kwasniak erupted for 53 points to break the state scoring record against Western Reserve during last weekend’s 84-44 district championship game victory.

Vaulting to the top of the Ohio prep scoring ranks is a significant achievement, and in the past was celebrated across the state.

My father was in attendance in 1985 when John Glenn standout Jay Burson broke the record set 30 years earlier by Rex Leach of Vienna Matthews. John Glenn High School handed out circular wooden disks in the shape of a basketball to commemorate the moment.

Leach was also in attendance to pass the torch.

In turn, when Jon Diebler broke Burson’s record, the former Buckeye made a point of being in the audience at Upper Sandusky on that February night in 2007.

“It was a great atmosphere with great fans,” Burson said at the time. “It was unbelievable. It made me think of 22 years ago … He’s a heck of a player and I enjoyed watching him.”

Former Ohio State basketball All-American Bill Hosket, and Diebler’s future Buckeye coach Thad Matta were also in attendance.

“I was so impressed with this crowd tonight,” Hosket told the Toledo Blade. “Jay Burson walked in during the JV game and they gave him a standing ovation.

“For a guy who likes basketball as well as I do, I thought that was very touching.”

Kings have that kind of aura.

Diebler’s mark stood for 18 years, and set a standard that has seen several come close with the advent of the three-point shot in 1987, but no one eclipsed him until The Turtle.

Kwasniak has drilled 559 treys in his career for the new state mark. This year he passed Zach Rasile, of McDonald (2016-2020), who had 485 in his career.

The argument can be made that without the arc, which Burson, Leach, and everyone who concluded their career prior to 1986 did not have, the scoring ladder would look significantly different.

While the names on the rungs would change, the historic nature of achievement remains the same — it’s astounding.

We’ve done a number of stories in Richland, Ashland and Knox County regarding youngsters who have cracked the 1,000-point barrier, and it is a true accomplishment at the varsity level.

Now multiply those four figures by three and you get a sense of the numbers Kwasniak, and Diebler registered.

Maybe even more impressive are the names on the list behind Kwasniak. Diebler (3,208) and Rasile (3,013) are the only Ohio boys players in the 3,000-point club.

Luke Kennard from Franklin sits fourth with 2,977 points. Kennard is in his ninth NBA season, currently playing for the Memphis Grizzlies, after spending two years at Duke. He’s widely considered the best 3-point shooter in the NBA, sorry Steph Curry fans.

Burson is fifth, followed by Geno Ford of Cambridge and Paul McMillan IV, of Cincinnati is seventh. Then some guy named LeBron James is eighth with 2,646 points.

That’s right, the all-time professional scoring champion with more than 50,000 points combined in regular season and playoff action at the NBA level isn’t even top five in Ohio high school annals.

Savannah’s Larry Huston is 13th with 2,492 points. I have a special affinity for the former Buckeye. I had a chance to interview him as part of the All-Century team we put together at the Mansfield News Journal in 2000.

The OHSAA was unaware of some of Huston’s records, including his single-season high school rebounding total of 683 in the 1954-1955 campaign, still the No. 1 mark in Ohio prep history. Huston is the all-time scoring king among north central Ohio boys basketball players.

Hall of Famer Jerry Lucas ranks 15th (2,460), with the Bellaire bomber Allan Hornyak 22nd (2,385). Lima’s two-time Mr. Basketball Greg Simpson is 27th with 2,346 points.

Ohio’s high school scoring leaders’ list includes the all-time NBA scoring king, multiple Hall of Famers, numerous NBA champions, collegiate players of the year, NCAA Tournament national champions and Olympians.

Just looking at the top 25, it’s also impressive to note some of the best players I’ve seen who aren’t there.

Ohio State’s national player of the year Jim Jackson of Toledo Macomber is 31st with 2,328 points. Neither Big Ten MVP Clark Kellogg, of Cleveland St. Joseph’s, nor two-time Mr. Basketball O.J. Mayo of Cincinnati North College Hill, are among the 37 names listed at the Ohio High School Athletic Association website.

A bit before my time, but no less spectacular was eight-time NBA champion John Havlicek from Bridgeport, who also didn’t make the list.

Eligibility issues kept Wellsville’s Bevo Francis off the scoring chart. But he became a national sensation for his point-production prowess at Rio Grande College in the 1950s.

A 1968 Olympian “Easy Ed” Ratleff led the state’s greatest high school basketball team for three years at Columbus East High School. The Tigers registered a 70-1 record and won two Class AAA state championships from 1966-67 through 1968-69.

But his superb teammates, including collegiate scoring champion Dwight “Bo” Lamar and future Illinois star Alonzo “Nick” Conner helped Ratleff with the scoring load at Columbus East.

Those are the kinds of names Kwasniak is flirting with in ascending to his perch.

Well done, young man. Well done.