Columbian uses 20-0 run to pull away from Norwalk

NORWALK — Norwalk was hitting on all cylinders in the second quarter, taking a 13-point lead with 31 seconds left until halftime. By the break, more than half of it was gone. Columbian ripped off nine points in the final 30 seconds and carried that momentum into the second half, topping the Truckers 55-42 in Sandusky Bay Conference Lake Division play Friday. "We had some really, really poor turnovers in the second quarter where we just weren't strong with the basketball," Norwalk coach Adam Kreischer said. "We got into the right spots and had guys open. The people with the basketball just didn't find them." Norwalk (3-3, 1-1 SBC Lake) led 27-23 at halftime but couldn't get going what worked so well in the second quarter. Zach Shawberry and Brady Gooding picked steals and scored to tie the game for the Tornadoes (5-0, 2-0). Another turnover by Norwalk led to Shawberry scoring again to take the lead. "That little run got us back in the game because it was starting to get a little ugly," TC coach Travis Kinn said. "That was huge. My favorite part was the guys were not happy even though we were making a run going into halftime." After a Truckers timeout, Columbian pushed the lead to 34-27 after two free throws by Gooding. A triple by Dalton Chapin finally ended the 20-0 run by the Tornadoes. "At the beginning of halftime, we talked about some of the things we didn't do well, but we ended halftime by rebuilding their confidence and getting them in the right spots," Kreischer said. "We had to understand that we had to handle it in the second half. "The fact was for as poorly as we handled the end of the half, we still had a four-point lead," he added. "If you would've told us going into the game that we'd have a four-point lead at halftime, we would've taken that." Columbian was able to push the lead to 40-32 after three quarters, but the Truckers had one more push in them. Mason Gamble scored and knocked down two free throws to slice the deficit in half. Norwalk was within 42-38 and 44-40, but couldn't quite come all the way back. Logan Gooding knocked down a corner 3 with 3:39 to play for Columbian. Bryce Roggow split two free throws, Shawberry scored on a putback and Roggow's tally down low gave the Tornadoes a 52-40 lead with 1:13 to play. "We got in a position where we didn't do a good job of sitting down and guarding people one-on-one," Kreischer said. "Therefore, we had to come out and scramble a bit defensively and try to make some things happen that we weren't able to do." After a 10-10 first quarter, Norwalk really got to working in the second quarter. Chapin scored on back-to-back possessions and Gamble pushed the lead to 20-10. After Logan Gooding scored for the Tornadoes, Jordan Parriott's consecutive buckets and a 3 from Garrett Demuth made it 27-14. "I don't think we rebounded," Kinn said. "I don't think we were engaged. I thought we took a lot of bad shots. We were not patient." But, Columbian snatched the momentum. Brady Gooding made a 3 before picking a steal. He was fouled on the layup he made and knocked in the free throw. The Tornadoes forced another Norwalk turnover and Gooding's 60-foot thrust at the buzzer found nothing but net to cut the Truckers' lead to four at halftime. Gamble topped Norwalk with 19 points while grabbing eight rebounds. Chapin added 12 points and Ben Rothhaar grabbed 11 rebounds. The Truckers are right back in action Saturday at home against Olmsted Falls. "When we go proper game plan and have execution on the defensive end, we're difficult to score on," Kreischer said. "We were that the entire night tonight. The problem is when you turned the basketball over like we did or we got down enough that we have to be spread out, now the game plan goes out the window." COLUMBIANBrady Gooding 5 5-7 17, Zach Shawberry 4 0-0 8, Bryce Roggow 4 1-3 9, Mitch Stephey 0 0-0 0, Isaac Garcia 6 1-3 14, Logan Gooding 2 2-2 7. TOTALS 21 9-15 55 NORWALKMason Gamble 8 2-3 19, Landon Ferkel 0 0-2 0, Dalton Chapin 4 2-2 12, Garrett Demuth 1 0-0 3, Ben Rothhaar 2 0-1 4, Jordan Parriott 2 0-2 4. TOTALS 17 4-10 42 Columbian 10 13 17 15 -- 55Norwalk 10 17 5 10 -- 42 Three-point goals: Columbian 4 (B. Gooding 2, Garcia, L. Gooding); Norwalk 4 (Chapin 2, Gamble, Demuth)