Westerville North sophomores Tai Perkins and Micah Young have a bond that extends beyond basketball

WESTERVILLE, Ohio – Whenever they’ve needed an extra emotional boost as members of the Westerville North boys basketball team this winter, sophomores Tai Perkins and Micah Young have known they could rely on each other.

Their bond, though, goes beyond just being a part of the same AAU program or that they’ve attended the same schools for several years.

The dynamic backcourt duo which has helped the Warriors emerge as one of central Ohio’s biggest surprises share one other important aspect - they live in the same house as stepbrothers.

Perkins’ father, Terrance, married Young’s mother, Sheila, when the two were in third grade.

“It’s bigger than basketball,” Young said. “Even if we have a bad game, we just tell each other we can do better. It’s like a love relationship.”

Westerville North was the No. 12 seed for last year’s Division I district tournament and lost 65-52 to Westerville South in a district semifinal to finish 17-7.

There were four starters among a five-member senior class that were lost from that team, leaving the Warriors with one returning starter in senior Carter Reese, a key backup in Young and unproven players in most other roles heading into this season.

Despite that uncertainty, North got a big early season win when it beat Westerville South 53-50 on Dec. 9, defeated defending district champion Gahanna 57-47 on Dec. 12 and then earned a 55-53 home victory over South on Jan. 27.

Heading into their game Feb. 3 against Canal Winchester, the Warriors are 15-2 overall and first at 9-1 in the OCC-Capital Division.

The district tournament drawing is Feb. 5, and North figures to have a mostly empty bracket to choose a spot on.

The last time the Warriors were in a district final was in 2018 when they lost to eventual state semifinalist Pickerington Central 59-57. Their last district championship was in 1998.

“We lost four starters from last year and five seniors who had a lot of input in terms of how our season went last year,” Westerville North head coach Shan Trusley said. “We knew we had good young kids last year, but we also knew those kids wouldn’t have had a lot of experience at the varsity level.

“We thought we had kids who were skilled but just lacked experience. The seniors did a great job leading last year. It’s a great group of kids and we didn’t know we’d be 15-2 at this point, but we thought we’d have the ability to win some games.”

Reese, who was North’s leading scorer at 12.1 per game while earning first-team all-league honors last year, is a 6-foot-3 wing player who averages 12.4 points, five rebounds and three assists.

Young, meanwhile, was honorable mention all-league last season when he averaged 8.3 points but has emerged as one of the area’s top players in his class.

During the second victory over Westerville South, the game was tied at 53 with seven seconds left when Young stole the ball and drove in for a layup that was blocked as he was fouled. He made both free throws to help North earn a season sweep of its sister school.

Young averages 13.6 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.5 assists while serving as a key ball-handler along with Perkins, who averages 10.4 points and 4.2 assists after spending much of last season on the junior varsity.

“It’s been fun just knowing we can play together,” said Perkins, whose given first name is Tai’Ree. “We’ve known each other most of our lives. We already know what each other is going to do and we have good chemistry, which helps us out on the court.”

Junior forward Na’Varion Adams, a move-in from Walnut Ridge, has settled in to average 6.7 points and 5.3 rebounds. Senior forward Rex Mbouge averages 6.9 points and 3.8 rebounds and senior Simon Ebbrecht and junior Eyon Robinson also are key contributors.

Perkins and Young are part of a sophomore class that also includes guard Ronald Jackson, who is the son of former Ohio State quarterback Stanley Jackson. Ronald Jackson and Young both were key football players last fall for North, which recently named Stanley Jackson as its new head coach.

Tai Perkins turned 16 last October and Young will be 16 in April.

Young missed much of last summer because of an ankle injury.

“It’s always hard to tell how young kids are going to adjust to new roles,” Trusley said. “We’ve known Tai and Micah are talented from middle school, but now you’re playing against kids who are two or three years older than you.

“Ever since they were little guys, they’ve understood each other and have known where each other is going to be on the floor. They have a chemistry that a lot of other teammates don’t have because they’ve played together on the same team since they were little guys. They know each other’s strengths and how to play off of those strengths, so it’s fun to watch them play when they’re out there.”

Terrance Perkins, who grew up in Cleveland and played semipro basketball for two years, has been involved in basketball training for several years.

Not surprisingly, the sport played a role in creating the current family unit that also includes another boy, eighth-grader Tyson Perkins. Tyson, who attends Genoa Christian, also is a talented player who likely will enroll at North next year according to Terrance.

Both Micah and Tai attended Genoa Christian as well and have played for the Nova Village AAU program together for several years.

“(Sheila and I have) been married for seven years,” Terrance Perkins said. “I actually met Micah when he was 6 years old while I was training Tai’Ree at the YMCA and (Sheila) came up to me and said, ‘Can you help my son?’ So it’s kind of a loving-basketball kind of story. I started training Micah and I saw who he was off the bat. We ended up seeing each other in AAU tryouts and these guys were playing together all year. It was God who connected us in the right place and the right time.

“(Their success has) been an awesome privilege and an honor. They’ve been groomed for this type of play and have been playing nationally since they were in the second grade together. They work hard, are gym rats and they’re good kids who are students first. They lock in in the gym and this is what they do. They love the competition.”

North won the OCC-Buckeye Division title in 2018 for its first league title in five years and could be on the verge of accomplishing that feat again.

The Warriors close the OCC-Capital schedule Feb. 7 at Big Walnut, Feb. 10 at home against Worthington Kilbourne and Feb. 17 at Dublin Scioto before beginning the 49-team district tournament Feb. 21 or 24.

"It's just the little things," Young said. "We need to work on rebounding and taking care of the ball, and we've just got to keep talking and communicating on defense to really get locked in."