Bailey cousins help Margaretta rebound

CASTALIA — Tate and Tyson Bailey let their play do the talking. On Saturday night, Margaretta needed the cousins to be extra loud, and they delivered. "There's a lot of chemistry," said Tate, whose freshman brother Kale also gets varsity time. "It's really fun to play with them. I love it." Tate, a junior, led the way with 21 points as the Polar Bears rallied past Oak Harbor to win, 69-64. Tyson, a freshman, had 15 points and 11 rebounds. A night after Margaretta (17-3) fell by 38 points to Willard, it was back into the win column for the Polar Bears thanks to the Bailey tandem. "We just tried to get right back at it," Tate said. "We don't like losing. When we lose like that, it just gives us the motor to play harder all the time, and that's what we did." A bounceback was even a bit more difficult than just rebounding mentally. Margaretta was shorthanded. Leading scorer Julian Washington sat out with a left ankle injury, and second-leading scorer Judah Keller spent much of the night on the bench in foul trouble. The Polar Bears mostly treaded water in the first half. Jaxson Overmyer hit two 3-pointers to start the night, then Carson Slates added one, a brief flashback to the nightmare Friday night when Willard shot 16-of-23 from beyond. After that, Oak Harbor star junior Ethan Stokes put up 12 of his 24 before the break — those were 12 of the last 15 points the Rockets took to the locker room, and Oak Harbor led, 26-25. "The thing about Ethan Stokes is he can create shots all the time," Keller said. "He's big. He's got a little lean to his shot. He can just get to his spots and shoot over you... Ethan made tough shots all night. That's what we wanted him to have to do." Tate scored 15 of his 21 in the second half. Tyson added 10 of his 15. For Tate, it was just a matter of necessity. With Washington and Keller mostly on the sideline, Margaretta needed its talented junior to step up. "It's just gotta make plays," Tate said. "Nothing changes with the mindset." Tate swished a 3 and a couple midrange jumpers while also finding his way into the paint and to the line. "Tate's got tremendous abilities," Keller said. "When he plays with a mindset and confidence, he can be very good." Tyson did his damage near the blocks. Maybe 6-foot-2, the stocky freshman gets his weight low to the ground to win position on the interior anyways. "Tyson's a big, strong kid," Keller said. "He's strong, physical and uses his body. Tonight, he was very important. He played all 32 minutes and really battled well." Tyson helped ice the game late with a smooth up-and-under move, which he followed by chasing down a missed shot for a putback and a six-point lead in the final minute. "You've just gotta prepare mentally before the game," Tyson said. Tate's 3-pointer gave Margaretta a 39-37 lead, and the Polar Bears didn't trail again. It grew to seven points when Gage Bodey swished a 3 of his own en route to 12 points. "Gage is our leader, and he led," Keller said. Oak Harbor got back within two with two minutes left, but fresh off the bench Keiygan Morris swished a jumper to stop the run. "He wanted that shot, and he knocked it down," Keller said. Washington's return is still to be determined after he landed on Max Dawson on Friday night to roll his left ankle. "Ankles are just about getting that swelling down," Keller said. "He's working on icing it a lot, and we'll see where he's at." By the time the final buzzer sounded, coach Keller was as animated as he's been all season. He gave full-on chest bumps to each of his players as they headed to the locker room, then delivered an impassioned postgame speech in the locker room. A night earlier, he had spoken about how most of what Margaretta focuses on is how to respond to adversity. The Polar Bears faced plenty of it on Saturday night, and led by the Bailey cousins, they answered with authority. "This was just a really huge win for us," Keller said. OAK HARBOR Jaxson Overmyer 5 0-0 14, Michael LaLonde 1 0-0 2, Carson Slates 3 2-4 10, Ethan Stokes 9 3-3 24, Carson Steinbrick 1 0-0 2, Dan Allen 4 4-6 12. TOTALS 23 9-13 64 MARGARETTA Kale Bailey 1 0-0 2, Tate Bailey 7 6-6 21, Keiygan Morris 1 2-2 4, Nolan Wiley 3 1-4 8, Judah Keller 3 0-0 7, Gage Bodey 3 4-6 12, Tyson Bailey 7 1-1 15. TOTALS 25 14-19 69 Oak Harbor 14 12 18 20 — 64Margaretta 14 11 25 19 — 69 3-point goals — Oak Harbor 9 (Stokes 3, Overmyer 4, Slates 2); Margaretta 5 (Bodey 2, Keller 2, Wiley 1, Ta. Bailey 1)