'Locked-in' Margaretta picks up big league win at Willard

WILLARD — Hayden Wiley hadn't scored since a blistering first half when he caught the ball midway through Friday's fourth quarter, open at the top of the arc. The left-handed junior has heard his coaches and teammates, over and over, implore him to have confidence and keep shooting, and that messaging was for a moment like this, leading by four in a huge game. Wiley didn't hesitate in letting fly. For a moment, Wiley thought he'd left the shot short, as he took a few steps to follow up a potential miss. But it was pleasantly short for Margaretta, dropping through while just nicking the front rim on the way down. Running back down the floor, Wiley reached behind his back to grab an imaginary arrow and let that fly, too, with an imaginary bow. "Last year, coach told me just to have fun out there," Wiley said. "I watch a lot of NBA stuff, and I see a lot of celebrations, and I kind of just want to let my emotions go." Wiley's four 3-pointers and 15 points total keyed Margaretta's 69-60 win at Willard in a big SBC Bay Division clash. The Polar Bears improved to 10-3, including 5-1 in the Bay, one game behind Huron. Jake Leibacher led Margaretta with 18 points and five assists. Ben Palomo added 17 points and six rebounds. Cameron Sosa contributed 10 and Nathan Schaefer added nine. "We didn't want to give up 60 points," Margaretta coach Steve Keller said. "But fortunately, offensively we did some good things tonight." Willard fell to 6-5, 2-3. The Flashes were led by 20 points from Trey Paxton and 19 from Max Dawson, and they will return to action with a visit to Tiffin Columbian on Saturday. "It's the way it used to be when you go back to back," Willard coach Joe Bedingfield said. "That's the nice thing about basketball versus football. You don't have to wait a week. You can go right back at it… The kids will have to bounce back. That's a good lesson in life. You can't stay down for very long." There wasn't much talking on the Margaretta bus ride to Willard, Leibacher said. The Polar Bears didn't have to talk about what was at stake. They knew that a win was almost a must-have to keep their league title hopes alive with Huron holding a one-game edge and playing at Edison. The Polar Bears have a rematch with the Tigers next Friday, but first they had to get past the Flashes. "We were locked in completely," Wiley said. "We knew how big a game this was. We really needed this one." With Willard focused on stopping Leibacher early, Wiley took advantage. He made a lefty hook shot, then nailed a 3-pointer from the left wing to go up 9-4. Wiley added a free throw shortly before swishing a 3-pointer from straight on to go up 16-6 late in the first quarter. "We knew (Wiley) could shoot it," Bedingfield said. "You have to pick your poison with a team like Margaretta. They're pretty well-balanced." Leibacher, Margaretta's leading scorer, didn't get on the board until a transition layup gave the Polar Bears a 28-19 lead. But then he took over for a short stretch, adding a strong offensive rebound putback, a right elbow pull-up and a kick out for a Schaefer 3-pointer, all in consecutive possessions. "Obviously, Jake's a special player," Wiley said. Margaretta took a 35-28 lead to halftime, but Willard pushed back. Dawson grabbed a steal for a layup to open the second-half scoring. Dawson added another bucket shortly after, and Cole Weiss scored three times to pull even, tying the game at 39 on a three-point play. The next few minutes of the third quarter featured scintillating high school basketball. Leibacher hit Palomo in transition for 2. Paxton converted a tip-in three-point play at the other end. Leibacher pulled up from the elbow. Paxton faded away to nail a 3. Sosa had a putback for two. Leibacher pulled up again to go up three. "That pull-up game (Leibacher) had in the second half was really, really good," Keller said. Then Paxton drilled a 3-pointer to tie the game at 48, and after Sosa drove to go up 50-48, Cam Robinson answered with a lefty finish to tie it at 50. "That's really fun," Leibacher said. "Both teams wanted to get out in transition. When it goes like that, it's a fun game." Palomo's offensive rebound and lay-in at the third quarter buzzer started a Margaretta 9-2 run. It included two Leibacher free throws, a Leibacher backdoor cut for a bucket off a feed from Palomo, and finally Wiley's fourth 3-pointer of the night. Wiley's celebration that followed is more than just his way of having fun on the court. It also fires up his teammates, and they used that final jolt to close out the win. "This year we're really trying to have more energy," Leibacher said, "so him doing that really gets us fired up." Willard pulled within five down the stretch, but then Leibacher found Palomo for a bucket to go up 61-54 and the Polar Bears pulled away again. "When they tried to scramble us late, we did a good job," Keller said. The bus ride back home for Margaretta would certainly be more animated. The Polar Bears went into a tough road environment and picked up the win they needed to get. They won't play again until next Friday, the rematch with Huron that'll take place in Castalia. That means a week for Margaretta to get ready for the biggest game of their regular season, one they're already looking forward to. --- MARGARETTA Cameron Sosa 3 2-2 10, Nathan Schaefer 4 0-0 9, Jake Leibacher 8 2-4 18, Ben Palomo 8 0-0 17, Hayden Wiley 5 1-4 15. TOTALS 28 5-10 69 WILLARD Trey Paxton 9 2-3 22, Cole Weiss 3 1-1 7, Max Dawson 7 4-4 19, Aiden Slone 1 0-0 2, Cam Robinson 5 0-1 10. TOTALS 25 7-9 60 Margaretta 16 19 17 17 — 69Huron 9 19 22 10 — 60 Three-point goals — Margaretta 8 (Wiley 4, Sosa 2, Schaefer 1, Palomo 1); Willard 3 (Paxton 2, Dawson 1)