Streetsboro’s (left to right) Charles Ivory, Jackson Gula and Jack Batten have led a talented senior class to many special memories on and off the court.
Tom Nader/Portage Sports

By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

The final moments are staring back at a talented group of senior boys basketball players at Streetsboro.

A group that has shared many special moments on the court together, but a longer list of special moments together as best friends.

The Rockets, newly crowned champions of the Metro Athletic Conference this season, begin tournament play on Friday when they host Villa Angela-St. Joseph in a Division IV sectional final.

It marks the beginning of the final chapter for Charles Ivory, Trevor Murray, Miles Kobie, Jackson Gula, Jack Batten and Preston Laryea.

In their four-year career, the Rockets have won 58 games (an average of 14.5 wins per season), but it was really in their sophomore years that they all were thrust into heavy rotation, with the program graduating a significant class from its 2021-22 league-championship team.

As sophomores, they cut their teeth and posted a 7-15 overall record and 7-7 MAC record.

It was a growth year and set the stage for the group to 34-14 (23-5 in the league) over the next two seasons.

And while the wins, league titles and individual accolades have been fun for the group to stockpile, conversations repeatedly lead back to the friendships and brotherhood they have created along the way.

Moments, bonds and emotions that trophies and banners can’t replace.

“We have spent our entire lives together,” senior standout point guard Charles Ivory said. “All 12 years in school together. We know each other so well, and it is special for us to be able to share all of this together.”

Head coach Nick Marcini, who won his 200th career game this season, believed in the group early and is not surprised by the success that has followed them.

“Winning the championship this year was really like a three-year title, but you love to see when a plan comes together,” said Marcini, referencing the senior class’ start on varsity as sophomores. “This senior class, they bought in very early on and have worked tirelessly. I am so proud of them.”

Starting as third-graders, the group was coached by Jamie Batten, Dave Murray and Vince Gula, who are not part of Marcini’s current varsity staff, but he still genuinely credits for the impact the senior class is having on the program today.

Statistically, the numbers reflect their versatility, with Batten, Ivory and Gula all landing in the top half of multiple categories amongst Portage County’s leaders.

“Those three guys, and all the families, really, developed really skilled players that could do just about anything on the basketball court,” Marcini said. “When they got to the high school, they all could dribble and shoot, they understood the game … you add that in to their athleticism and coachability and you have a great group of smart kids, great group of players, great group of families that have made my job as a basketball coach really, really fun.”

The smiles have been apparent, but they always have been.

Everywhere the group has gone.

Summers for Gula and Batten traveling across the country for baseball tournaments.

In the classrooms or hallways when the group can pull forward the personality of the typically reserved Ivory.

At summer-league basketball games and open gyms when Gula would arrive after grueling football practices, knowing that everyone would understand if he missed basketball, but yet he still made it a priority to put in work with his teammates. The friends he didn’t want to let down.

“We have a special connection together,” Batten said. “We are brothers. We care for each other. We are excited for each other when we do something good, and we are there to pick each other up when they need it. That is just what we have always done.”

Gula summed it up: “We are best friends.”

And there is nothing better than that.