Thorbahn follows commitment with career night

PORT CLINTON — It didn't take long for Adam Thorbahn to know this was his night. In the first quarter, the Port Clinton senior drilled a 3-pointer from the right corner to force a timeout. Then out of the stoppage, he was money from the top of the key. Thorbahn had already entered Saturday night's game with an updated, aggressive mindset, and after those makes it was clear the approach would pay immediate dividends. "I was like, 'Yep, I'm on now. Let's go,'" Thorbahn said. Thorbahn didn't cool down until the game, a 64-25 Port Clinton win over St. Mary Central Catholic, was well in hand. He finished with a career-high 35 points on 12-for-20 shooting from the field, including 5-for-11 from beyond the arc, along with 6-for-10 at the foul line. Thorbahn added nine rebounds, a pair of steals and a block. It provided a needed bounceback for PC (7-7) after dropping Friday's game to Willard, and it capped an exciting week for Thorbahn. He committed to play tight end at NCAA Division II Findlay on Wednesday and announced the news Friday afternoon. "Committing gets so much weight off me, and not thinking about that I can just go play basketball," Thorbahn said. To score 35 points in a 32-minute game — and it was really 28 minutes before Thorbahn was pulled, with a running clock before that — requires a confluence of positive factors. The first was the rigors of the recruiting process being complete. Thorbahn, who also had an offer from Walsh and heavily considered Notre Dame College, built a great relationship with the Findlay coaches, two of whom attended Saturday's game. "It is stressful," Thorbahn said. "You don't want to hurt anyone. Everyone wants you, and everyone wants you to go to their school, and everyone wants you to play for their team. Ultimately you've got to make a decision with one team. It's hard making a decision. Notre Dame was a great school, too. I wouldn't say it was particularly easy, but it was still a no-brainer for me. Findlay was home." After that, PC coach Ryan Hicks needed to have a chat with his star. Thorbahn wasn't shooting enough, the former Redskins state finalist said. That might've been OK if Port Clinton was winning, but the Redskins entered Saturday on a four-game skid with three games ending in fewer than 50 points scored. "We had a heart-to-heart this morning just about, if the ship is gonna sink, let's do it with him behind the wheel," Hicks said. "Let's not go down without him being the guy that's leading the way for us, shots-wise especially, regardless of how many guys they're putting on him. He needs to stay aggressive, because that's when we're at our best." Thorbahn certainly listened, and it's his program-great talent that combined a weight lifted and a heart-to-heart conversation into a career night. He started with a floater in the lane, then a left-handed drive turned spin move into a fadeaway jumper for two more. "He's got the best footwork of any big man that I've seen in quite some time," SMCC coach Chris Ceccoli said. "He's very economical with what he does with the basketball." Then Thorbahn hit the two 3-pointers, and he was off and running. "I know that (Hicks) has my back," Thorbahn said, "but to have that conversation was just reassuring to know that I can just go out and do my thing, play basketball and have fun and do what I love to do." The 6-foot-4 senior followed with a make from the right block and a layup in transition to complete his personal 14-0 run as Port Clinton jumped out to a 16-0 lead in 3 minutes and 23 seconds. After missing his first shot, Thorbahn made his next six to put together that spurt. "He's athletic enough to get around you," Ceccoli said. "He's a great shooter as we saw tonight." Thorbahn hit the glass for his next hoop, grabbing an offensive rebound, missing the putback, then snatching his own miss and making it the second time. It turned into an 18-point first quarter when Thorbahn made a right-handed hook shot from the right baseline. Thorbahn started the second with a pair of free throws, then hit two more 3-pointers before the halftime horn. The second was a ridiculous, contested stepback from the left wing. "I know a lot of teams put a lot of guys on him and things like that, but he needs to shoot the ball for us to be the best version of ourselves," Hicks said. A number of fans strolled outside the gym at halftime to check on PC's single-game points record — 44 by Tracy Colston in 1977. The game didn't stay close enough for Thorbahn to quite challenge that. Instead, PC's supporting cast blitzed SMCC out of halftime with a 19-0 run. James Crowe hit a 3, followed by triples from Cam Gillum and Jackson Beasley. Thorbahn made a lefty layup, then fed Beasley for another 3. Thorbahn followed with another 3-pointer, then made two free throws to complete the run. "They just followed Adam's lead a little bit with how well he played in the first half," Hicks said. "We definitely wanted to emphasize to them not to just plan on giving the ball to Adam and just watching. We don't want to get stagnant like that, so it was good to have some other guys come out and use Adam as a screener and get the guys some good looks to try to get our confidence up." Thorbahn tallied his final two points at the line in the fourth quarter as he didn't force, especially against an SMCC defense that threw two or three players at him. Beasley had an under-the-radar solid outing, finishing with 10 points, 13 rebounds and five assists. Thorbahn concluded the evening with 1,257 career points. That puts him third in PC history, one behind Lee Horne (1,258) for second place. The program record holder Paul Colston (1,342) is now less than 100 points away for Thorbahn, and eight games still remain in Port Clinton's regular season. If Saturday night was any indication, another celebration of Thorbahn's contributions to PC might come sooner rather than later. His aggressiveness is up, and he's moving through life a little looser after his commitment. Saturday night could be just the start of a strong finishing run to a prolific career. "We just really need him to be aggressive, and that's gonna make everybody's life a lot easier," Hicks said. "... We need him to be the best player on the court." --- SMCC Lance Powell 3 1-2 7, Sedric Cook 2 1-3 5, Dylan Myers 0 1-2 1, Kyle West 2 0-0 4, Charlie Kaftan 1 3-4 6, Nathan Wehner 1 0-1 2. TOTALS 9 6-12 25 PORT CLINTON Nolan Chambers 1 0-0 3, James Crowe 1 0-0 3, Jackson Beasley 3 2-2 10, Owen Auxter 2 1-2 5, Sy Nickloy 0 1-2 1, Cam Gillum 1 0-0 3, Adam Thorbahn 12 6-10 35, Gabe Koskela 0 2-2 2, Jason Salyers 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 21 12-18 64 SMCC 11 9 4 1 — 25Port Clinton 25 14 19 6 — 64 Three-point goals — SMCC 1 (Kaftan 1); Port Clinton 10 (Thorbahn 5, Beasley 2, Chambers 1, Crowe 1, Gillum 1)