Sandusky's 'crazy pressure' maintains perfect Lake mark

BELLEVUE — Two minutes into the second quarter, Bellevue's Ryan Mohr finished inside for a one-point lead. Sandusky scored the next 18 points. The Blue Streaks' full-court press amped up from their usual solid standard to near-impossible to break, and that made all the difference. "That was crazy pressure," Bellevue coach Ed Rich said. "They were freaking all over the place. They had our guys a little spooked there… It was like there were eight of them on the floor. A lot of credit to them." All told, Sandusky outscored Bellevue (5-7, 2-4 SBC Lake) by 17 points in the final six minutes of the first half, and that made up the entire margin in a 68-51 win on Tuesday night. The Blue Streaks maintained a perfect 5-0 mark in the SBC Lake Division and moved to 8-3 overall. Sandusky's balanced scoring, in which 11 players scored, was led by 13 points from DeMar Moore Jr. and 12 from Israel Fletcher. The Blue Streaks, who forced 32 turnovers, now hold a two-game edge in the loss column in the Lake after Norwalk won in Tiffin on Tuesday. "One game at a time," Sandusky coach DeMar Moore Sr. said. "We can't get ahead of ourselves. We have to play as if every game's a championship game, and we just focus in on the game that we're playing and nothing further." When these teams met earlier in the season, Sandusky held off a late Bellevue charge to win by a single point, and that seemed the way it would be Tuesday, too, at least at the beginning. The 6-foot-7 Mohr posed problems for Sandusky in the first quarter, scoring seven quick points, including two separate and-1s. Bellevue led 12-9 after one. "(Mohr) did a nice job," Rich said. "Played extremely well." Sandusky took the lead 15-14 early in the second quarter with a Fletcher floater putting the Blue Streaks ahead. Mohr answered with another bucket, as nine of his 15 points came before the break. But when Fletcher scored a simple left-handed bucket to respond to Mohr and take the lead back, it started Sandusky's surge. Malaky Johnson scored next, turning a steal into a righty flip off glass. Then Fletcher scored off a feed from PJ Brown. "Israel played great," Moore Sr. said. "This is one of the best games I've seen Israel play, and I've been coaching him since he was in third grade." Darrion Durham finished in transition, then Johnson on a short jumper. Brown pulled up for two, then Jarrie Alexander dished to Moore Jr. for two more. "We were just playing hard," Moore Sr. said. "We were flying around. Our guys were getting after it. That's the way we practice. That's the way we envision our team playing." Sandusky went from down one to up 17, holding Bellevue scoreless for five and a half minutes before a Tyler Ray free throw to end the first half. "Our defense created our offense," Moore Jr. said. "We were just playing very hard defense and forced them to have a lot of turnovers." Maybe the Blue Streaks' biggest issue in the early going this season has been watching big leads evaporate in the second half. For one short stretch, Bellevue ate into an advantage that had ballooned to 21 to get within 14. But Moore Jr. drove strong with his left hand before finishing with his right to end the third quarter and put Sandusky back up 46-30, and the Blue Streaks wouldn't look back from there. "We talked at halftime, let's continue to do what got us the lead," Moore Sr. said. "Versus the other way, playing the cool ball is what I call it. We just kept playing hard, kept being aggressive, and we didn't let up." The fourth quarter provided Moore Sr. a chance to utilize much of his bench. It's one of Sandusky's biggest weapons, a deep squad that forced Rich to make a 10-player deep scouting report when he usually stops at seven or eight guys. Moore Sr. went even deeper than that to close out Tuesday's game. Josh Garrett got on the scoresheet. So too did Jaylin Dorsey, who nearly threw down a tomahawk with his right hand but managed three other points anyway. Britton Lanning added a free throw, and that set the stage for the final substitute excitement. Moore Sr. brought Samarion Newell into the game. A junior, Newell's number wasn't even in the book, prompting a technical foul. With all his teammates encouraging him to shoot, Newell airballed his first attempt from the left wing. But he got one more try. Newell drove left from halfcourt with the clock ticking inside 10 seconds. He kept going, left and left and left some more, before finding himself caught under the rim. Newell extended his right arm to the far side of the basket and spun the ball off glass and in, right as the buzzer sounded, for his first varsity points. "He doesn't get very much time on varsity," Moore Jr. said. "But he's the hardest worker on our team. He does everything right. We were very excited for him." The bucket prompted the largest Sandusky celebration in a night that included many. Nate' Abbott carried Newell off the floor as if he'd just hit a buzzer beater. After all, winning is fun. Newell was just the final proof of that. "It's fun," Fletcher said. "It's almost like winning a championship when it feels like that." --- SANDUSKY (8-3, 5-0) Jarrie Alexander 4 1 9, Darrion Durham 3 2 8, PJ Brown 3 0 6, Israel Fletcher 6 0 12, Malaky Johnson 3 2 8, DeMar Moore Jr. 6 1 13, Josh Garrett 0 1 1, Jaylin Dorsey 1 1 3, Britton Lanning 0 1 1, Samarion Newell 1 0 2. TOTALS 27 9 68 BELLEVUE Tyler Ray 3 1 8, Deegan Horn 1 1 3, Ryan Mohr 7 1 15, Jackson Martin 1 0 2, Ashton Martin 1 2 2, Ethan Stewart 1 0 2, Mason Treat 2 1 5, Ryan Stombaugh 1 0 2, Mason Bova 2 0 6, Joel Ray 1 1 4. TOTALS 20 7 51 Sandusky 9 26 13 22 — 68Bellevue 12 5 13 21 — 51 Three-point goals — Sandusky 0; Bellevue 3 (Bova 2, T. Ray 1)