Pirates defend home court, top Sandusky

PERKINS TWP. — January was a long month for Perkins. Eliminating Sundays, the New Year's holiday and two days of frozen weather, the Pirates played 11 games in 24 days. Perkins lost three of its last four games of the month, but the calendar flipped to February on Saturday. The Pirates started the month off right, beating rival Sandusky 72-58 in Sandusky Bay Conference Lake Division play. "It feels wonderful," Perkins coach Eric Kochendoerfer said. "I've been coaching for about 20 years and this ranks up there toward the top of the wins. It's really because of what it means for our program, our culture and our team. Our team has been grinding and we've been pushing hard. We've been in close games with Sandusky, especially at their place. "To really be able to really keep control of the game the entire game and play consistently for 32 minutes, as a coach, that's what it's all about." It is the first win for Perkins (11-8, 4-4 SBC Lake) under Kochendoerfer and first over the Blue Streaks (11-6, 7-1) since a 57-55 win Jan. 28, 2021. "It's a great feeling," Perkins senior Joey Diederich said. "It's the first time we've gotten them in a while. That always feels good. We know it's a big rivalry. It was a big game for us. We've been struggling recently. It was good to come out here and get a win against a big team. A statement win." The loss brings an end to Sandusky's 27-game SBC Lake winning streak. Despite the loss, the Blue Streaks are still just a win away from the league championship outright. "Any given night you can come out and lose a game if you don't play well," Sandusky coach DeMar Moore said. "Nights like this happen. We still have a share of the title right now. No need to hang our heads. We'll get back in the gym Monday and get back to work." The difference for Perkins was the second half. The game was tied at 28 at halftime and at 30 just over two minutes into the third quarter. From there, the Pirates skyrocketed. Diederich and Levi Groot scored before Sam Schweinfurth hit a 3. Schweinfurth then split two free throws before Aa'Zoriyon Bonner scored for Sandusky. Schweinfurth answered with a 3 and Kellen Glass scored to finish off a 13-2 run by the Pirates. Sandusky battled back and got within seven, but Schweinfurth drilled another one of his six triples to make it 50-40. Schweinfurth made the six 3s on just seven attempts. "That second 3 — the deep one — that I made, that's when I knew I was on fire," Schweinfurth said. "I just wanted to keep chucking it. We've haven't beaten them since I've been in high school. Getting this first win feels amazing." The Blue Streaks drew as close as six points after a Dale Johnson bucket, but the Pirates used another body blow to really put Sandusky away. Kash Koch made two free throws to give Perkins a 52-44 lead after three quarters. Diederich opened the fourth quarter with a bucket before consecutive tallies by Tim Boals made it 58-44. Diederich made two free throws and Boals scored again. That wrapped up a 12-0 run by Perkins that gave the Pirates a 62-44 lead with 4:40 to play. Sandusky wasn't quite its normal offensive self, especially in the second half. The Blue Streaks committed 14 turnovers on the night, but eight of them came in the second half. Sandusky was just 12 of 32 from the from the field in the final two quarters and connected on 5 of 13 free throws on the night. "First off, they were the better team tonight," Moore said. "They wanted it more and they out-toughed us for all 32 minutes. I think we had a half a quarter there in the first quarter where we played really well. After that, they refused to lose. Give Perkins a ton of credit." The Blue Streaks were rolling early, opening a 11-2 lead more than five minutes in following scores by Bonner and Kobe Brown. Perkins got within 13-9 after eight minutes following three free throws by Diederich and went up 19-16 after a Diederich score. The teams went shot for shot and the game was tied at 28 at halftime. "You can't play much better than we did tonight," Kochendoerfer said. "We still have a lot of stuff we need to clean up. We've had 25 practices in our first 17 games. A lot of teams have that before the first game of the season. There's still a lot of things we need to continue to work on and get better." Jason Henlon paced Sandusky with 18 points while Amir Aaron scored 14 points. The Blue Streaks have a second chance to clinch the outright league title Friday at Tiffin Columbian (9-10, 4-4). "We settled for a lot of jump shots and we weren't getting stops," Moore said. "When you put those two things together along with not making shots, it's tough to beat a team like that. They were doing everything right." Schweinfurth led all scorers with 20 points while Diederich added 15 points and five assists. Boals had 12 points and nine rebounds while Boals grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds. "I couldn't be prouder for Sammy Schweinfurth coming out here," Kochendoerfer said. "Joey Diederich once again was a leader for us on the floor. But our three bigs I thought played huge tonight. T-Boals was out there like a man in the middle. Levi Groot might've only had five points in the scorebook, but I challenged him before the game to get me 10 rebounds. "I haven't seen that all year. What did he have tonight? Ten rebounds." SANDUSKY (11-6, 7-1)Jason Henlon 7 3-5 18, Amir Aaron 6 1-3 14, Aa'Zoriyon Bonner 4 1-5 9, Kobe Brown 4 0-0 10, Dale Johnson 1 0-0 2, Camrion Jones 2 0-0 5. TOTALS 24 5-13 58 PERKINS (11-7, 4-4)Sam Schweinfurth 6 2-4 20, Kash Koch 0 6-6 6, Joey Diederich 3 9-12 15, Tim Boals 6 0-1 12, Levi Groot 2 1-2 5, Kellen Glass 4 0-0 8, Kaden Legando 3 0-1 6. TOTALS 24 18-26 72 Sandusky 13 15 16 14 — 58Perkins 9 19 24 20 — 72 Three-point goals: Sandusky 5 (Brown 2, Henlon, Aaron, Jones); Perkins 6 (Schweinfurth 6)