VINCENT - Parlez-vous francais?
In basketball language, Evan French let his play on the hardwood at Chillicothe High speak for itself last Friday night.
All No. 4-ranked Warren's talented, 6-foot-3 sophomore did was torch the Cavaliers for a varsity- and career-high 40 points on 14 of 21 field goal attempts and four of four from the foul line. From behind the arc, he drained eight.
"The people at Warren and the people that know Evan know he's capable of that," said Warren head coach Blane Maddox after the contest. "He's the John Diebler of southeast Ohio."
Diebler of course played his college ball at The Ohio State University.
French actually is no stranger to the 40-point mark in one evening as last season he accomplished the feat against Logan as a freshman on Dec. 29, 2010. It took the-then 14-year-old two games to do it, though, scoring 28 points (including six straight triples) in two quarters of play in the JV game, and then following that up with 12 markers (on six of seven shooting)in the ensuing varsity contest.
In both games, Warren beat the Chieftains handily.
The only downside to such a memorable offensive outing last Friday night, though, was that French's team, the Warriors, dropped a 65-56 decision to their nemesis Chilli.
The loss was also Warren's first of the winter, after eight consecutive wins. Last season, the Warriors won their first seven before being beat by the Cavs.
Safe to say, French would trade all of those points in for a royal blue and white victory.
Now, the question begs, what does French do for an encore?
Well, at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Warren fans will find out when the Warriors (8-1) host Jackson in a Southeastern Ohio Athletic League game.
After four consecutive away games, Warren is back at the friendly confines of the Vincent gym, where it is 4-0 this season. Except for the last game (vs Chilli), it was a good road run with wins against Waverly, Logan and Fort Frye.
Warren hasn't played at home since defeating Portsmouth 61-56 on Dec. 16.
While Jackson is not Chillicothe or even Portsmouth by any stretch of the imagination, it is a good, dangerous .500-like team that could present problems for the Warriors.
Along with French, Warren is also expected to start Tyler Ward, Jeremy Hastie, Josh Windland and Jace Knost.
Parlez-vous francais, again?
Maybe.
One thing for certain, Warren fans haven't heard the last of Evan French.
Ron Johnston is the Marietta Times sports editor and can be reached at 376-5441 or at rjohnston@mariettatimes.com
