Sandusky clinches outright Lake title

TIFFIN — There's no sharing the title this season, and Sandusky prefers it that way. For the fourth year in a row, the Blue Streaks captured the Sandusky Bay Conference Lake Division championship. "It feels good," Sandusky coach DeMar Moore said. "To be able to win it outright and not having to share it feels good." The SBC title being on the line was a motivating factor for the 75-57 victory over Tiffin Columbian on Friday. "We knew the championship was on the line," Moore said. "We knew it would be a championship caliber game, and we just wanted to come out and compete and play the best basketball that we can." Sandusky (12-6, 8-1 SBC Lake) took the lead early in the game, scoring the first six points from three buckets from Azarieon Arrington, Jason Henlon, and Amir Aaron, all within the first two minutes of the game. "It feels great to be the SBC champs," Aaron said. "It feels great to go back time and time again and win it." The Tornadoes (9-12, 4-5) only put seven points on the board in the first quarter. Zach Shawberry scored on a bucket and drew a Sandusky foul. He added the bonus on to cut the lead 6-3. While it was back-and-forth between the teams, the Blue Streaks were determined to make sure Shawberry couldn't get out of the gate hot and by the end of the first quarter, it was 15-7. "We came out really well, and then had a sizeable lead," Moore said. "Then we let them back in." For most of the second quarter, Sandusky managed to keep a double-digit lead, but once Shawberry warmed up, he hit a 3-pointer off a defensive rebound, and Logan Gooding scored four points on back-to-back possessions. Columbian was within 24-21 with 3:27 to go in the half. After Gooding hit a 3-point shot in response to Aaron's basket, it was 26-24. That was the closest the Tornadoes got to chasing the Blue Streaks. "We scrapped at it," TC coach Ryan Fretz said. "It wasn't for a lack of effort, but they (Sandusky) are SBC champs for a reason and they got us in transition a couple of times, and that hurts us. They got a couple of rebounds that hurt us, and against a team like Sandusky, you can't play that way. We had easy looks at the beginning, looks we wanted, but we couldn't capitalize on any of it." Sandusky got back to work in the third quarter. Kobe Brown scored seven points and built the lead further for the Blue Streaks. Shawberry made two free throws, but Sandusky was too strong. Brown hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to make it 49-35. "We were able to reel it back in for the second half," Moore said. "We executed down the stretch and the guys were sharing the ball. We were finishing around the basket, and by limiting them shot-wise, we knew we could win." The Blue Streaks knew who exactly to try and take out of the offense and defense of the Tornadoes. "We knew that Shawberry is one of their main guys and main shooter," Moore said. "We had to keep him from scoring." Aa'Zoriyon Bonner added a personal 9-0 run in the fourth quarter to put the game away. He put down a thunderous slam dunk in the final seconds to put a cap on a big night for Sandusky. For Sandusky, their top scorers were Brown with 22 points and Bonner with 21 points. The Tornadoes were led by Gooding's career-high 27 points. Shawberry added 19 points and broke the school record for rebounds in a season in the third quarter. As for Aaron, he has committed to Walsh University to play football, and as the postseason draws near, it has hit home that the end of the season is coming quickly. "I'm going all out for my team," Aaron said. "You just never know when it will be your last." SANDUSKY (12-6, 8-1) Azareion Arrington 3 1-2 7, Jason Henlon 3 1-6 8, Amir Aaron 2 1-2 5, Aa'Zoriyon Bonner 9 3-5 21, Camrion Jones 0 1-2 1, Dale Johnson 2 2-2 7, Kobe Brown 9 1-1 22, Anthony Redding 2 0-2 4. TOTALS 33 10-22 75 COLUMBIAN (9-12, 4-5) Owen Hickey 2 1-2 6, Zach Shawberry 7 3-3 19, Mitch Stephey 0 1-2 1, Logan Gooding 9 3-4 27, DaShawn Russell 0 1-2 1, Nolan Smith 0 1-2 1. TOTALS 18 10-15 57 Sandusky 15 14 20 26 — 75Columbian 7 18 10 22 — 57 Three-point goals: Sandusky 5 (Brown 3, Henlon, Johnson); Columbian 9 (Gooding 6, Shawberry 2, Hickey)