Richland Source will select one student athlete to be recognized as the Park National Bank Athlete of the Month during the 2023-24 school year. Nominations for Athlete of the Month are accepted from Athletic Directors and Coaches, but are ultimately chosen by Richland Source and are based on the student’s exceptional athletic performance, effective teamwork and achievement in their communities. Park National Bank is proud to support this initiative and is giving the athletic department of each school $1,000 in honor of each athlete chosen.
LUCAS — The history Logan Toms is chasing this winter isn’t his alone.
When Toms becomes Lucas’ career scoring leader in the coming weeks, the senior and four-year letterman will gladly share the spotlight with older brother Riley Gossom.
After all, the record Toms is pursuing should have belonged to Gossom.
A 2021 Lucas graduate, Gossom scored 952 points through his junior year and was on pace to eclipse 2020 grad Logan Niswander’s career mark of 1,335 when tragedy struck in October of 2020: Gossom was involved in a two-vehicle crash on Ohio 39 just outside of Lucas. The accident claimed the life of Aaron Carlson, the driver of the other vehicle.
Gossom sustained serious leg injuries and missed almost his entire senior season. He played in a handful of games in the second half of the year and finished with 967 career points.
“It was definitely a hard time going through that with our family,” Toms said. “(Basketball) was my brother’s sport and that is what he was planning his future around.
“Riley is a leader. He was our best overall player. It was a struggle seeing him go through that.”
The 2020-21 season was to be a special one at Lucas. Gossom, Logan and brother Corbin Toms, who graduated last year, almost certainly would have made up 60 percent of Lucas’ starting lineup that winter.
“We always thought about that when we were younger, playing all together,” Logan said. “It definitely sucked to see that season happen the way it did.”
Even without Gossom in the lineup that winter, the Cubs went 19-8 and reached the Division IV regional tournament for a second straight year. Logan Toms averaged 8.4 points a game as a freshman.
“Everybody basically had to take on a new role that they weren’t used to,” Toms said. “That year was definitely weird … but our character got us to that great season.”
It was the start of what has become a record-setting career. Unofficially, Toms has scored 1,274 points with six regular season games and at least one postseason game remaining. He needs 61 points to match and 62 to supplant Niswander as the program’s career scoring king.
“I’m not big on scoring, but definitely that motivates me,” Toms said of the chase. “It’s hard not to think about when it’s doing something for your brother. It’s something he would have done. He was pretty close so a lot of it is doing that for him this year.”
If recent history is any indication, Toms’ coronation ceremony will arrive sooner than later. He scored a career-high 40 points in last week’s 82-54 win over Loudonville.
Niswander owns the program’s single-game scoring record of 43.
“There was about a minute to go and we were up by 25 or so and … we were like, ‘Should we keep him in or pull him out?’ ” Lucas coach Taylor Iceman said. “I knew ultimately Logan wouldn’t care. That says something about who he is.”
Iceman coached Gossom and both Corbin and Logan Toms.
“Logan is by far the most different of the three. Corbin and Riley were more outspoken,” Iceman said. “Logan is extremely low-key.”
Lucas will host Mansfield Christian in a key Mid-Buckeye Conference game Friday. The Cubs (13-3, 8-0) can wrap up an outright MBC title — their sixth in a row — with a win over the Flames (15-3, 7-1).
The outcome of Friday’s game is also rife in tournament seeding implications. Lucas and Mansfield Christian are third and fourth, respectively, in the Division IV RPI rankings. Colonel Crawford and Seneca East hold down the top two spots.
“This weekend is really big because seeding is Sunday, but you have to have your games reported by 11:59 Friday night,” Iceman said. “We all play each other this weekend. Crawford plays Seneca East and we play Mansfield Christian. That will determine a lot for tournament season.”
For Toms, there is a greater sense of urgency to the postseason. The two-sports standout — he was a four-year starter in football, too — doesn’t plan to play a sport at the collegiate level. He will likely attend Ohio University to study finance.
He knows the clock is ticking.
“During my freshman year it was still COVID and I was like, ‘When is COVID going to end?’ Then you blink and we’re here. It has flown by,” Toms said. “It’s crazy when you think about all the time you’ve put in since you were a little kid. This year has been different because you have to think about it coming to an end.”
Before then, Toms would like to extend his basketball career for as long as possible.
“Our goals is to win a district championship. We haven’t done it in a couple of years,” Toms said. “We feel like we have a pretty good chance. We just have to keep working and finish the season strong.”