Brookville basketball: Senior guard fuels Blue Devils

In its quest for an elusive Southwestern Buckeye League title, Brookville High School boys basketball coach Jeff Davidson likened his program to “a little fish in a big pond.”

Opponents are the ones needing a bigger boat. Brookville owns the SWBL’s biggest fish.

Senior Jacob Gudorf, a 6-foot-3 point guard with 81 career varsity games and 61 starts, is a vital part why the Blue Devils, ranked No. 6 in the Division III state poll, are alone atop the Southwestern Division standings. Brookville, 12-1 overall and 6-1 in the SWBL, last won a league title in 1990.

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“He’s a matchup nightmare and if he’s making his perimeter shot he’s nearly unguardable,” Davidson said. “He’s as versatile a player as I’ve coached.”

Gudorf ranks in the top three in the SWBL in total points (194), rebounds (89) and steals (39). It’s his lead in assists that’s extraordinary. He averages a league-best 7.5 per game. Preble Shawnee’s Samuel Agee is second at 4.9.

“He’s almost too selfish by being too unselfish,” Davidson said of Gudorf. “He errs on the side of being a pass-first guy and sometimes to his fault. He’s working through that, though, and he makes the right decision almost all the time. I can’t give him total credit, but he’s really, really good out there.”

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“I’m always trying to make the right play,” Gudorf said. “That’s what you need from the point guard position. I know I have a lot of guys on my team that can make plays – it’s not just me. If I can drive the lane and pick up an extra defender and then drop it off for a lay-up – I’m going to do that every time.”

Gurdorf has done that more than anyone in Brookville history. He became the program’s all-time assist leader with eight in the Blue Devils’ lone loss at Monroe to surpass the previous record of 369 shared by Ritchie Moody and Steve Hinton. Gudorf has 707 career points.

“He has the best vision of any player we’ve had,” said Davidson.

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Gudorf was MVP of the 56th annual Jet Holiday Tournament at Franklin Monroe in December when he had 47 points, 17 assists, 14 rebounds and 12 steals in wins over Mississinawa Valley and FM. In Tuesday’s 75-36 defeat of Eaton, Gudorf recorded his first triple-double (14 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists). He narrowly missed triple-doubles with nine points, nine assists and 12 rebounds against Carlisle and 13 points, nine assists and nine rebounds against Tri-County North.

NCAA Division III and NAIA schools have shown recruiting interest.

“I think any team in the state would be lucky to have him as their point guard,” senior Devvincq Hartman, Gudorf’s teammate since elementary school, said. “He has a fantastic basketball IQ. He was pretty far ahead of us in third grade, and he’s stayed there.”

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Influenced by his father Dan (who starred at Northmont and coached his son’s Dayton Metro AAU Team), Gurdorf played in 21 games as a freshman as Brookville went 2-10 in the SWBL.

The last three seasons he’s been a starter on teams that have gone 48-14. The 2017 squad won the program’s first sectional title in two decades.

“He’s experienced the highs and the lows,” Davidson said. “This is his story-line.”

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Holding a two-game lead in the SWBL, road trips to Franklin and Oakwood and rematches with Bellbrook and Monroe stand between Brookville and history.

“We’re striving for that (league title) every day,” Gudorf said. “We’re going to stay hungry.”

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