Abe Morrison's late layup makes Clyde seniors happy

CLYDE — The chest-bump train began with senior Shane Hohman and junior Andrew Kauble. Jaden Cook and Abe Morrison bumped next, then Kauble and Caden Berger, then Berger and Morrison. All five Fliers played key roles in Clyde's 60-59 win over Perkins on Thursday night at Clyde High School. With 13 seconds remaining, Berger threaded a bounce pass to a cutting Cook, who found Morrison for the go-ahead layup with 3.7 seconds remaining. Berger swatted Perkins forward Jayden Rowe's lob attempt on the ensuing possession, which triggered the Fliers' celebration. "We've never been out of a game this season," Clyde coach Ryan Fretz said. "Our seniors were not going to let it happen on Senior Night." Fretz's senior class is not large. Hohman and Berger, along with the absent Johnny Marshall, were the only seniors honored before the game. But both left their mark on their final regular-season game. Hohman set up the Fliers' final possession by taking a charge against Rowe (who led Perkins with 16 points). Berger helped close the job with his hockey assist and defensive effort. But it was Morrison — a sophomore — who provided the late scoring burst. Entering the third quarter, Morrison had not scored. He scored seven in the fourth, including Clyde's final five. His 3-pointer with 1:20 remaining cut Perkins' lead to 59-58, and his go-ahead layup sent the seniors home happy. "He was playing with a little lackluster energy," Fretz said. "He was down on himself after the first three quarters. For him to respond the way he did speaks a lot about his character." The Fliers trailed by as many as 10 points in the third quarter. Perkins opened the third on a 13-3 run capped by a Drake Venerucci layup after he and Sam Siegel trapped Hohman into a turnover under his own basket. Clyde responded with a 10-3 run to close the quarter. Jarrin Bulger cut the Pirates' lead to 44-39 after a strong finish-and-foul with 2:00 left in the third. Hohman, who finished with 12 points, cut it to 46-43 with an off-balance bank shot to close the quarter. Brady Wilson tied the game with a 3-pointer to start the fourth, and the Fliers, as they often have, found a way to close. Kauble made a 3-pointer with 4:12 remaining to give Clyde its first lead of the fourth. Perkins coach Scott McVeigh found himself on the wrong side of a Clyde comeback for the second time in 12 days (Clyde beat Perkins 57-56 on Feb. 6). "We were one rotation away," McVeigh said. "Credit to them, they clawed back into it. They executed like crazy at the end." The Pirates led 29-28 at halftime thanks to a strong defensive second quarter. With 7:23 to play in the second, Hohman canned his third 3-pointer of the first half to put the Fliers up 22-15. After that, Clyde didn't score again for five minutes. In between, the Pirates took advantage of the Fliers' shooting drought. Siegel gave Perkins a 23-22 lead with a pull-up midrange jumper at the 3:49 mark. Sam Oddo sank a free-throw-line jumper 20 seconds later, and Rowe swished a floater to give Perkins its largest of the half with 2:25 to play. The Fliers briefly regained the lead when Wilson found Cook for a short jumper with 30 seconds left in the half, but Kyle Knupke responded with a strong baseline finish at the other end (he earned a bloody finger for his troubles). The eighth-seeded Pirates begin sectional play on Tuesday at fifth-seeded Toledo Scott, which gives them four practice days for the first time since December. McVeigh would prefer not to enter the tournament on a three-game losing streak, but he felt much better about his Pirates on Thursday night than he did after Wednesday's 44-36 loss to Huron. "From 24 hours ago, our whole demeanor was 100 times better," McVeigh said. "Effort, attitude, sharing the ball – we were much better across the board tonight. Much more unselfish." Sixth-seeded Clyde will host 11-seed Toledo Woodward that same night. "We're feeling good about how we're playing," Fretz said. "But our second season starts now. "It's time to buy in." PERKINS (7-11, 5-7) Sam Siegel 4-5-14, Kyle Knupke 1-0-2, Drake Venerucci 4-0-9, Sam Oddo 3-0-8, Jayden Rowe 6-4-16, Tyler Yingling 4-2-10. TOTALS 22 11-14 59 CLYDE (9-9, 6-5) Jaden Cook 4-8-16, Shane Hohman 4-1-12, Andrew Kauble 1-0-3, Brady Wilson 3-0-8, Abe Morrison 3-0-7, Caden Berger 3-1-9, Jarrin Bulger 1-1-3, Grant McMaster 1-0-2. Total: 20 11-13 60 Perkins 12 17 17 13 -- 59Clyde 19 9 18 17 -- 60 Three-point goals -- Perkins 4 (Oddo 2, Siegel 1, Venerrucci 1); Clyde 9 (Hohman 3, Berger 2, Wilson 2, Kauble 1, Morrison 1)