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Blanchester basketball star moves up OHSAA all-time scoring list as he finishes prep career
Brayden Sipple has had one of the best careers ever by a high school basketball player in Ohio, and he will take his talents to Cedarville University next fall. (Courtesy: Brayden Sipple)

Blanchester basketball star moves up OHSAA all-time scoring list as he finishes prep career

BLANCHESTER, Ohio (BVM) — When opposing defenses are tasked with guarding Blanchester senior Brayden Sipple, they know they’re in for a long night. Sipple has scored well over 2,000 points in his high school basketball career, and continues to climb the OHSAA’s all-time scoring list.

Joining his family in a love for basketball, Sipple began playing around age 5. Through his youth, he began looking up to a local high school basketball player who has since gone on to make a pretty big name for himself.

“One person that I have looked up to for a while now and loved watching play basketball was Luke Kennard,” Sipple said. “I enjoyed going to watch him in high school and I got to go watch him play college basketball in person.”

Like one of his childhood role models in Luke Kennard, Brayden Sipple has become a pure shooter and scorer on the hardwood. (Courtesy: Brayden Sipple)

Kennard is a graduate of Franklin High School who starred at Duke and is now in his fourth season in the NBA. Like Kennard, the 6-foot-4 Sipple is also a guard who is a pure shooter. For his opponents, it didn’t take long to find that out.

During his youth, Sipple competed locally, often playing up a year against more evenly-matched competition. He also quickly became an AAU player, and competing at that level has been a beneficial experience for the now 18-year-old.

“AAU has a lot of great talent all around the world so you are always getting to play against very talented and very skilled players,” Sipple said. “The competition that AAU has is what has gotten me ready to play basketball at the next level.”

For Sipple, playing at the next level will come at Cedarville University. The basketball standout first began receiving college interest as a sophomore, and that is also when he started talking with the Yellow Jackets. 

While he had offers from Detroit Mercy and Fairmont State as well, the coaching staff at Cedarville is what sealed the deal.

“I chose Cedarville because Coach Pat Estepp has been with me since the very first time we talked,” Sipple said. “Coach Estepp and the entire coaching staff made me feel wanted at Cedarville and they made it feel like home.”

During his time at Cedarville, Sipple has aspirations of winning a national championship on the court. Off the court, he will study business with hopes of owning his own entity someday.

But Sipple also hopes to play basketball as long as he is able, and playing professionally would certainly fulfill a lifelong dream.

“I want to play basketball as long as I can,” Sipple said. “My dream ever since I was a little kid was always to play professional basketball.”

While it takes a lot to play the game professionally, Sipple has certainly shown elite flashes while playing at Blanchester High School that have put him into the OHSAA record books.

Despite other college interest and offers, Brayden Sipple will be taking his game to the next level with Cedarville University in the fall. (Courtesy: Brayden Sipple)

Coming in as a freshman, Sipple admits it took some time to adjust to the speed of the high school game. However, Blanchester’s team that season rostered nine seniors. Although the squad would finish just 8-15, being able to learn from so many upperclassmen was a huge benefit for Sipple.

“Coming in my freshman year, we had nine seniors on the team so they already knew what varsity basketball was about,” he said. “Having them to go up against in practice every day helped me adjust to the speed change.”

It didn’t take long for Sipple to adapt. After a solid sophomore season, the 6-foot-4 guard further broke out in his junior campaign, helping the Wildcats to an impressive 21-1 record. Individually, Sipple was named a first-team all-league, first team all-district and second-team all-state player. One of his proudest accomplishments would also come that season, as he broke the all-time scoring record at Blanchester.

While Sipple has continued his impressive play as a senior, the season has had a much different feel. There was obvious uncertainty that he would even play this winter, and perhaps the greatest impact has been the lack of fans who are able to attend games.

“There were a lot of doubts about whether we were going to get to play this year or not,” Sipple admitted. “Covid has definitely made it different this year. Last year we had so many sold out home games and now this year there are only so many people allowed per game.”

Blanchester has played around a .500 level this season. But for Sipple, the personal accomplishments have not stopped. Earlier in the year, he became the first player in Wildcats’ history to reach the 2,000-point mark.

Brayden Sipple has had a historic senior season at Blanchester, becoming Clinton County’s all-time leading scorer and jumping into the top-15 of the OHSAA all-time career scoring list. (Courtesy: Brayden Sipple)

“It was a very special moment,” Sipple noted. “I am proud to be the only one in Blanchester history to do that.”

Perhaps more impressively, Sipple recently broke the all-time scoring record in Clinton County of 2,408, previously held by former Cincinnati Bearcats’ star Jarron Cumberland. With his strong finish to the season, Sipple has also moved into the top-15 of the OHSAA’s all-time scoring list.

“It’s very special to have my name up there with some of the greatest players to ever play the game,” Sipple said. “Just passing Jarron Cumberland for leading scorer in Clinton County was special as well. I used to go watch Cumberland in high school and got to watch him a few times in person at UC and growing up 25 minutes down the road from him is special.”

With how much he has accomplished, Sipple remains very humble. Also a three-year varsity starter at quarterback for the Wildcats, he hopes what he has ultimately left in the Blanchester community is a role model for younger kids to look up to, just as he did when he was young.

“I want to be the person that people look up to,” Sipple said. “I want to be able to impact little kids in the Blanchester community just like my role models impacted my life. I want to share my love for the game with all the kids in the Blanchester community.”

Through his incredible high school career, Sipple has undoubtedly done just that. There’s no telling how far this star’s talent will take him as he heads off to Cedarville next fall.