SMCC takes care of business against SJCC

SANDUSKY — You never know what to expect. St. Mary Central Catholic got a bit of a late start to the season after the football team's run to a Northern 8 championship. The Panthers finally got on the floor Tuesday. They looked in midseason form. SMCC forced 28 turnovers from Fremont St. Joseph Central Catholic and never trailed in the 65-16 Sandusky Bay Conference River Division contest. "First game, you just don't know what to expect as far as jitters and execution," SMCC coach Kyle Hammond said. "The thing that I did think we could count on that showed up was our athleticism defensively. We can get up and defend some people. I thought the kids did a really good job of executing what we talked about." The Panthers were the last area team to play their opener. SMCC (1-0, 1-0 SBC River) led 21-5 after one quarter and 46-8 at halftime. "As of last week, it was getting rough just continuing to practice," Hammond said. "We were ready to play a game and play in front of our crowd. We had a good crowd tonight. We want to continue to have that the rest of the way. I think we're going to be a fun team to watch." The Panthers forced the tempo against the Crimson Streaks (0-2, 0-1). SJCC had nine turnovers in the first quarter and 11 more in the second quarter. "That's just the way we want to play," Hammond said. "(SJCC is) inexperienced and they're going to get better as the season goes on, but we wanted to come out and execute the way we want to play this year." The lead was just 6-5 for the Panthers more than three minutes in when Cayden Wikel knocked down two free throws. Elijah Conway scored off of an offensive rebound, Cullen Dillard hit a 3 and Jack Davis split two free throws. Leo Will then scored on a putback, Davis nailed a triple off of a SJCC turnover and Will scored again as the Panthers scored the final 15 points of the first quarter. The run reached 30 straight points as SMCC kept the aggressiveness up in the second quarter. In one stretch, Trace Smith, Sam Lawrence, Jackson Grimm and Conway scored in a 54-second span. Conway dropped into another bucket off of a SJCC turnover before Wikel connected on another 3-pointer. Grimm's offensive rebound and score gave the Panthers a 36-5 lead with 5:19 to go until halftime. Hammond's ability to go to the bench and have SMCC not miss a beat was key. "We're a pretty deep team with pretty athletic kids," he said. "We don't lose a ton when we sub. We want to try to do that and wear on teams a little bit." SMCC added the final eight points of the first half and first 11 points of the third quarter to surge ahead 57-8 at one point. Will led the Panthers with 14 points while Wikel scored 12 points. Burch scored eight points while Grimm, Conway and Davis each chipped in six points. "I think that's the kind of team we have," Hammond said. "That's what we talked about in the preseason. We have guys that can have a great night and go off for 20 points. Then, it can be somebody else's night the next night. We have to buy into that. "I thought our kids did a good job of moving the ball and making unselfish plays. We have to continue to do that if we're going to be successful." Bryan Gibson grabbed a game-high nine rebounds for the Panthers, who outrebounded SJCC 46-19. SMCC hits the road to take on Gibsonburg (1-1, 1-0) on Friday. The Golden Bears opened with a loss to Eastwood before defeating Danbury on Tuesday. "We have to come back and be ready to work," Hammond said. "Like I told the kids, Gibsonburg has been a thorn in our side. They've beat us every year that I've been here. We have to be ready to go because they have some really good guards and some big players. We have to refocus and be ready to go." FREMONT SJCC (0-2) Zach Ohms 0 0-0 0, Liam Thiessen 2 0-0 5, Owen Tooman 1 0-0 2, Elijah Rash 2 1-2 6, Luke Jenkins 1 0-0 3. TOTALS 6 1-2 16 SANDUSKY SMCC (1-0) Bryan Gibson 0 0-0 0, Cayden Wikel 4 2-2 12, Blake Finneran 0 0-0 0, Leo Will 7 0-1 14, Gabe Burch 4 0-0 8, Sam Lawrence 1 0-0 2, Cullen Dillard 2 0-0 5, Jackson Grimm 3 0-0 6, Elijah Conway 3 0-0 6, Jack Davis 2 1-2 6, Trace Smith 1 0-0 2, Crew Trumpower 2 0-0 4. TOTALS 29 3-5 65 SJCC 5 3 2 6 — 16 SMCC 21 25 13 6 — 65 Three-point goals: SJCC 3 (Thiessen, Rash, Jenkins); SMCC 4 (Wikel 2, Dillard, Davis)