Margaretta finishes Midwest Live with 4-0 record

SANDUSKY — Down, but not out. Margaretta watched on as Holland West Ottawa from Michigan knocked in six first-half 3-pointers, building an 18-point lead. But, the Polar Bears dug deep and got within seven points late in the first half. Margaretta carried that momentum into the second half and finished strong, picking up a 57-48 win Saturday at Midwest Live at Cedar Point Sports Center. It finished up an undefeated 4-0 two-day trip for the Polar Bears, who defeated Delphos St. John's 56-48 in the first game Saturday. "I thought our effort got better," Margaretta coach Steve Keller said. "That was our fourth game in two days. I thought we played with nice urgency after the second timeout. They started to miss some shots. I thought our defensive effort picked up and we contested better. "That allowed us to do what we needed to." Margaretta clawed within 33-25 at halftime after trailing 30-12 at one point. The Polar Bears used an 11-0 run to get back in the game. Tyson Bailey scored, Julian Washington made two free throws and Bailey scored consecutive buckets. Judah Keller knocked in two free throws before a bucket from West Ottawa pushed the lead to eight at halftime. Washington started Margaretta's scoring in the second half in a big way with a one-handed dunk over Darien Stewart, a 6-foot-7 sophomore for West Ottawa. Bailey and Keller scored later to get within one point and Margaretta took its first lead since early in the first half when Bailey scored. The Polar Bears didn't trail again. West Ottawa tied the game at 46, but Margaretta ended the game on a 11-2 run. Bailey and Washington scored to make it 50-46. Kale Bailey knocked in a pair of free throws before Washington canned a 3. After West Ottawa scored, two free throws by Keller sealed the win. "The coaches got on us," Washington said. "Most teams would probably pack it up and be done. That's not our mindset. We want to go out and win every game. We want to give it our best and go out and compete." After giving up 33 points in the first half, the Polar Bears limited West Ottawa to 15 points in the second half. "We changed things up defensively," coach Keller said. "I thought most importantly, we defensive rebounded better. I thought that's where we did work. At times, we've shown that we can come out and guard. We have to make sure we hang our hat on that every game. We did that in the second half." Keller led Margaretta with 18 points while Tyson Bailey scored 14 points. Washington added 13 points and Kale Bailey chipped in eight points. "We were down and coming back was hard," Tyson Bailey said. "We knew our shots would fall eventually. We had to keep playing defense." Margaretta opened the day with a thrilling win over the Blue Jays, who were Division VII regional finalists this past winter. DSJ is led by a quartet of brothers, captained by senior Cam Elwer. The Division I recruit pumped in 28 points and nearly led the Blue Jays to the win. "It was a fun time," coach Keller said. "We have a good relationship with the Elwers and Delphos St. John's. I thought we really competed in that one, which might have led to our start in the second game." The Polar Bears led wire-to-wire, but it was far from easy. It was 13-all in the first half when Kale Bailey and Tate Bailey each scored. Keller made it 19-13 and later, buckets from Tate Bailey and Kale Bailey pushed the lead to 23-14. Margaretta limited Elwer to seven points in the first half, but he got hot in the second half. The Polar Bears had to match him shot for shot and they did. Margaretta opened a 39-25 advantage when Kale Bailey scored. Elwer answered with the next four points and kept DSJ within striking distance. A 3-point play by Washington kept the Polar Bears up 48-39. Later, Elwer canned a triple to cut the lead to 52-46. Free throws down the stretch allowed Margaretta to finish off the victory. "Our goal is to get better," coach Keller said. "Lord willing, we'll stay healthy, which we did. It's nice to see that really good competition. This is an environment that you can't get in very often. I think it's an environment that is like the tournament." Washington led the way with 17 points while Tate Bailey scored 13 points. Kale Bailey added 11 points and Keller had eight points. "It means a lot," Washington said. "This being my last year here, I wanted to go 4-0. Last year, we went 1-3. It's definitely a bounce back year for us and I'm very proud of our team." Margaretta wraps up the summer with a record of 30-1. The Polar Bears' lone loss came to Harvest Prep in a tournament at Mount Vernon. "Fortunately, we've been able to have success," coach Keller said. "Summer success doesn't mean season success. We have to stay healthy and keep working. I shared that with them hopefully to spur them on to be even more hungry. "We have to work even harder to get better." Midwest Live draws big crowds, coaches The baselines were filled. Moveable bleachers were packed from end to end. The annual Midwest Live drew over 220 college coaches from the top programs in Division I all the way down to Division III. Ohio State basketball coach Jake Diebler was present, including for Margaretta's win over Wheeling Central Catholic from West Virginia on Friday. He was joined by younger brother Jon, who is an assistant coach at Butler under former OSU coach Thad Matta. They were joined by Keith Diebler, who retired from coaching basketball. Keith is still the volleyball coach at Danbury. There were 160 teams from five states in the field. Joining teams from Ohio was Michigan, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Indiana. Delphos St. John's, who lost to Margaretta on Saturday, went 3-1 on the weekend. They defeated Tri-Village and Steubenville on Friday before picking up a win over Indian Lake on Saturday. The Toledo-area was represented well. Genoa, who has lost to Margaretta the last two years in a district final, finished with a record of 3-1. The Comets, who are led by Walter Plantz, beat Kalamazoo Central (MI) 59-39 and lost to Goshen 53-46 on Friday. Genoa bounced back with wins over Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy (61-55) and Minster (52-39) on Saturday. Elsewhere, St. Francis, Whitmer, St. John's and Central Catholic, who Margaretta will play at Tourney Tune-Up in late January, all competed. Fremont Ross went 0-2 on Friday with losses to Wheelersburg (60-46) and Massillon Jackson (59-53). The Little Giants went 1-1 on Sunday, topping Brooklyn (42-41) in the final game of the weekend. Ross is coached by John Cahill, who was the coach of Clyde's girls team for many years. After coaching three daughters, Cahill is coaching his son now, 6-foot-5 freshman Jake Cahill, who started for Ross.