SBC LAKE BOYS: Has gap between Streaks, rest of Lake narrowed?

Sandusky has had a stranglehold on the Sandusky Bay Conference Lake Division title in recent years. The Blue Streaks have won four straight league championships, capped by a Division III state semifinal appearance last season. With the graduation of all five Sandusky starters, the league seems as open as its been in awhile. None of the All-SBC first team picks return and Bellevue's Ike Brown and Columbian's Logan Gooding are the lone returning second team selections. Can Clyde, under second-year coach Jared Shetzer, make a run? Perkins was the only team to beat Sandusky in league action last year. The Pirates have a new coach. Is it their time? A look at the six Lake teams in alphabetical order: Bellevue The Redmen were 16-7 last season, 7-3 in the Lake and were a play or two away from advancing to a Division IV district final. Bellevue graduated a wealth of talent including first-team league honoree Joel Ray, who tallied a team-high 11.2 points and 3.9 assists per night. Also gone is Cooper Moyer (8.6 points, 7.3 rebounds), Alex Lovins (7.6 points, 5.3 rebounds) and Nolan Smith (6.1 points, 2.1 rebounds). The Redmen will lean on Brown. The junior captain for Bellevue averaged 10.5 points and 6.4 rebounds per game last season. "I'd say we are at our best when we are executing our sets on offense and communicating on defense," Redmen coach Ed Rich said. "We have some nice athletes who are committed to defense and who are looking to run the floor on offense. As for our weakness, we need to develop some secondary ball-handlers and play for great shots, not just open shots. Scoring the basketball when we have the opportunity to has been our biggest weakness during our scrimmage season. "Our biggest strength has been the players' no-quit mentality. We are going to grind games out, no matter how we are playing offensively." Clyde The Fliers were up and down in Shetzer's first season at helm, finishing 12-11 overall and 3-7 in league play. Clyde wasn't afraid to light up the scoreboard, averaging 70.2 points per game. The Fliers let the 3-point shots fly, shooting 668 3s in 23 games. Clyde's top two scorers — Brayden Olson (19.3 points per game) and Brennan Wilson (14.6) — graduated. Olson added 5.7 rebounds a night while Wilson chipped in 5.1 rebounds and 2.6 assists per contest. Oscar Webb was third on the team with 8.3 ppg and he returns. Price Carter graduated after putting up 8.1 points a night. The Fliers have a core group of seniors returning while mixing in talented freshman JeCori Roberts. Clyde hasn't won at least 15 games in a season since going 17-7 in 2017-18. "We are returning a a few key contributors from last season with Oscar Webb, Michael Scruggs, Chase Castle and Aric Kauble," Shetzer said. "This is a very tight-knit group who are very focused on playing for each other. They are a fun group to coach and have a chance to continue to build upon the foundation set by last year's class." Norwalk After going a combined 23-23 in Adam Kreischer's first two seasons, the Truckers finished 7-15 last year (1-9 in the Lake). It will be a new-look Norwalk team this year after its top four scorers either graduated or aren't playing. Mason Gamble (13 points, 7.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists) and Brock Kuhl (12.9 points, 7.6 rebounds) both graduated. Ben Rothhaar put up 11.3 points a night in the first 10 games last year before going off to Rutgers on a football scholarship. Jordan Parriott tallied 9.7 points and 4.4 rebounds a contest, but opted not to play this season. "A strength for our team will be that our guys will be coachable and continue to work hard to get better throughout the season," Kreischer said. "With no seniors and no returning lettermen, obviously our weakness will be experience and lack of leadership from any player who has been there and done that." Perkins Andy Hoying takes over at the helm of the Pirates after Eric Kochendoerfer guided Perkins to 46 wins in three seasons. Perkins was 16-8 last year, including a 5-5 record in league play. The Pirates' first order of business is finding someone to take over for Joey Diederich at point guard. The hard-nosed Diederich averaged a team-high 14 points and 5.7 assists per game while grabbing 4.7 rebounds per contest. Also gone to graduation is Tim Boals, who averaged 11.9 points and 8 rebounds. Perkins does return its next four scorers in Sam Schweinfurth (9.1 PPG), Kash Koch (7.8), Levi Groot (7.2) and Kellen Glass (6.7). "I think we have a deep and talented roster this year," Hoying said. "We have a number of players who can create, score and stretch the floor. Defenses can't key in on just one guy. We can have a lot of versatility in our lineups and any one of our guys can have a big game on any given night, which makes us a tough scout for opponents." Sandusky The Blue Streaks have dominated the Lake Division the last four years under head coach DeMar Moore. Sandusky was 19-8 last season and won the league title with a 9-1 mark. The Blue Streaks are 83-17 in Moore's four seasons and have posted a 41-3 mark in league play. Sandusky will almost start from scratch after graduation hit the Blue Streaks hard. All-Ohio first team pick Jason Henlon averaged 16.9 points, 5.1 rebounds, 4.7 assists last season. Others who graduated included Kobe Brown (13.4 points, 4.5 rebounds), Amir Aaron (11 points, 3.5 rebounds), Aa'Zoriyon Bonner (7.5 points, 6 rebounds) and Azarieon Arrington (7.1 PPG). Sandusky's top returner is Dale Johnson, who averaged 6.5 points and 4.3 rebounds per contest and seemed to improve as the tournament wore on. Shifty guard Cam Jones (3.4 PPG in 19 games) will likely play a much bigger role for the Blue Streaks. "I think for us to be successful this year, we all have to be on the same page and our inexperienced guys have to figure it out rather quickly because they will be thrown into the fire immediately," Moore said. "I think we have all the pieces to be a really good team, but we have to put those pieces together and play unselfishly. So far this preseason, I have been pleasantly surprised with how far along we are. "We have a group of guys who love the game of basketball, want to be good and they work their butts off." Tiffin Columbian The Tornadoes will have their third coach in as many seasons as Jac Alexander takes over. The Oak Harbor graduate replaces Ryan Fretz, who went 10-13 last year with a 5-5 league record. Columbian has to find a replacement for Zach Shawberry, a first team league pick who averaged 15.5 points and 12.2 rebounds per game. The Tornadoes will look to Gooding, who put up 13 points, 4.8 assists and 3.6 rebounds a night. Columbian will also have DaShawn Russell returning after he averaged 8.3 PPG. Returning All-SBC Lake selections First team None Second team Ike Brown, Bellevue Honorable mention Logan Gooding, Tiffin Columbian; Sam Schweinfurth, Perkins