Student vs. teacher at Power Shootout

By Lance Cranmer, lcranmer@nncogannett.com Gazette Sports Writer

It's not exactly a Darth Vader vs. Obi-Wan Kenobi situation, but when Gary Kellough and Chad Allen due battle on the hardwood of Zane Trace High School at 1 p.m. today, it will be a student versus teacher scenario -- probably without the light sabers.
"Chad's a really outstanding young man," Kellough, Zane Trace's head coach, said. "He played on our 1989 league and sectional championship team. He was a really good point guard for me."
The team from Allen's senior season of 88-89 had four future prep basketball coaches on its roster, including current ZT girls coach Joe Dunkle.
"That class of 88-89 was really special," Kellough said. "Today will be a reunion of a lot of those kids coming back to watch Chad coach."
"For me it's going to be a lot of fun," said Allen, the coach of Middletown Madison, Zane Trace's opponent in the opening game of the Power Shootout. "We'll get to play in front of a lot of my family members who don't really get to see my team."
It will also be Allen's first shot at butting heads with his former coach.
"It's exciting to see how much we are familiar with each other," Allen said. "As soon as we knew we had an opening in our schedule, we jumped on the chance to play here."
Since his days with the Pioneers, Allen has had an extensive resume of coaching experience.
His first job came as an assistant at Miami Trace High School in Washington Court House.
After that he went on to be an assistant at Fairborn, before landing his first head coaching gig at Mansfield Madison and then moving on to Middletown Madison.
Looking back at his playing days, Allen has fond memories of coach Kellough and what he was able to learn from him.
"Gary does a great job of teaching fundamentals and teaching the team how to play the game the correct way," Allen said. "And, of course, his love for the game."
For his homecoming performance, Allen brings with him a 4-4 squad with plenty of size and talent.
Jake Hall is the team's workhorse. The 6-foot-3 senior is averaging 16 points and 12 rebounds a contest this season.
He will be flanked by 6-3 center Mike Clark, a 260-pounder, averaging 15 points a game and Grant Evans who averaging 13 a contest.
The team will be a bit short handed though after losing one player to a Christmas Eve broken ankle injury and another who's out with a sickness.
Hall will play, but Allen said he has been slowed lately by the flu.
"He's going to play," Allen said. "But how much and how well we don't know."
At full strength or not, Allen knows what he can expect from the Pioneers (3-5).
"We expect lots of quickness and lots of pressing," he said. "I'm very impressed with some of their players."
Ex-Pioneer returns as head coach
"For me it's going to be a lot of fun. We'll get to play in front of a lot of my family members who don't really get to see my team."
Middletown Madison coach Chad Allen