You may still be stuck in a corner, licking your wounds over the shocking loss by the Ohio State basketball team to No. 15 seed Oral Roberts in the NCAA Tournament, but don’t fret. We’re here to tell you that there is help on the way next hoops season.
That assistance and upgrade in talent comes in the form of Akron St. Vincent- St. Mary forward Malaki Branham. That’s right, the same school that produced LeBron James is sending a player to Ohio State, and he’s a good one. Branham is currently ranked as the No. 29 overall prospect in the 2022 class according to the 247Sports Composite Rankings, and he offers a unique skill set that should get him on the floor immediately in Columbus.
But before all of that, Branham had one more high school game to play, and it was a big one. His Vikings played Columbus St. Francis-DeSales in the Ohio state high school Division II championship game Sunday night, and Branham came to play.
In his final prep game, the 6-foot, 4-inch, 175-pound shooting guard put up 37 points and led his team to the title by a score of 72-50. What might be even more exciting for Buckeye fans is the fact that Branham put the team on his back once it really mattered. St. Vincent-St. Mary trailed in the contest midway through the third period before Branham took things into his own hands, scoring 16 points in a short burst to help his team pull ahead by twelve by the time the period was over.
Game over thanks to a killer instinct the OSU program could desperately use.
The MVP gets a whole net to himself @MalakiBranham @SpecSportsOH @SpectrumNews1OH pic.twitter.com/4kLaJgEfLD
— Tino Bovenzi (@TinoBovenzi) March 21, 2021
In a season where OSU seemed lost as to what to do, and who to put the ball in the hands of at the end of games, a player of Branham’s caliber could be the medicine Ohio State needs to turn around some late-game fortune next season.
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