Perkins' defense fuels win over Columbian

PERKINS TWP. — Perkins turned to its defense when the Pirates needed it most. Tied midway through the third quarter, Perkins kept Columbian off the board the final 4:34 of the quarter, building a 10-point lead. Once the Tornadoes made a run in the fourth quarter, the Pirates again leaned on their defense. Perkins didn't allow any points the final 2:21 of the game, scoring the final nine points in a 63-55 Sandusky Bay Conference Lake Division win Saturday. "They went on a spurt, but we rebounded awesomely," Pirates coach Andy Hoying said. "A little adversity, but you like to see your kids respond to that. I thought we did that tonight and in the fourth quarter. "They play tough and gritty basketball and that's what it is going to be every night in the SBC. We have to match that energy every night." Blake Tucker scored with 2:22 left to put Columbian up 55-54. Perkins (4-0, 1-0 SBC Lake) wasted clock away until Bryce Davie drove to the hoop and scored. He absorbed the foul and scored the free throw with 1:28 to play. Columbian (3-2, 0-1) came up empty on the other end and that led to a three-point play by Levi Groot. The Tornadoes missed a 3 before Groot was fouled again. He split the two free throws, giving Perkins a 61-55 lead with 33.4 seconds left. "(Columbian) got a couple good stops and we made a few mistakes where they took the lead," Groot said. "But down the stretch, I knew I was getting downhill and getting to the hole. I kept doing the same thing I was doing the whole game." Sam Schweinfurth made two free throws with 21.6 seconds remaining for the final score. Groot scored eight of his 12 points in the fourth quarter. "He's been phenomenal," Hoying said. "He does everything you can ask a kid to do. He's a great kid off the court, but he's really coming around on the court. I'm glad to see him have a great game. He knocked in a couple clutch free throws at the end, which is great to see from a senior." The Pirates led 28-25 at halftime and Kellen Glass added a three-point play off an offensive rebound to give the Pirates a 44-34 edge after three quarters. "When we get into the locker room, we really look to what we're doing bad and what we're doing good," Glass said. "Coach Hoying really wanted us to focus on inside scoring and that's what we did. My teammates always look for me." Glass had just four points and three rebounds at halftime, but tallied 18 points and 11 rebounds on the evening. "He's been great for us all year," Hoying said. "He really came around in the second half and rebounded the ball well when we were struggling. He's that dominant force for us right now. Hopefully he continues to go." Columbian surged in the fourth quarter. DaShawn Russell scored before Logan Gooding drilled a 3-pointer. Later with Perkins ahead 52-44, Gooding canned another 3. Blake Miller then connected on a triple before Gooding stole the inbounds pass. He scored, was fouled and made the free throw for a 53-52 lead. "Here's the deal: We weren't ready to play," said Columbian coach Jac Alexander, a 2020 Oak Harbor graduate. "We weren't ready to play right from the rip. I don't know how you couldn't be ready to play against a freaking undefeated team. I thought we had them dialed in, but we just weren't ready to play." Gooding finished with 21 points while Tucker had 12 points and nine rebounds. Miller scored 11 points. "They killed us on the offensive glass in the third quarter," Alexander said. "We stressed that all week. We know they're big, long, athletic and strong. We didn't go hit them and grab the ball. We didn't make the winning plays." Davie and Schweinfurth each scored nine points for Perkins. Schweinfurth added nine rebounds. "Coach Alexander does a great job over there," Hoying said. "The whole game they were up in us, pushing us out of our stuff. It's going to be like that every night." It won't take much for Perkins to get motivated for its next game. The Pirates host four-time defending league champion Sandusky next Friday. "It's better to be 1-0 than 0-1," Hoying said. "We have a really tough one coming in next week with Sandusky. We're really looking forward to that game. It's going to be a great environment and a tough, gritty environment." COLUMBIAN (3-2, 0-1) Owen Hickey 0 0-0 0, Blake Miller 4 0-0 11, Logan Gooding 6 7-7 21, DaShawn Russell 3 0-0 7, Blake Tucker 5 2-3 12, Nolan Miller 2 0-0 4. TOTALS 20 9-10 55 PERKINS (4-0, 1-0) Kellen Glass 7 4-6 18, Sam Schweinfurth 3 2-2 9, Kash Koch 0 4-4 4, Bryce Davie 4 1-1 9, Levi Groot 4 4-5 12, Kaden Legando 3 0-0 6, Grant Kuhnle 1 0-0 3, Ty Obergefell 0 2-2 2. TOTALS 22 17-20 63 Columbian 14 11 9 21 — 55 Perkins 17 11 16 19 — 63 Three-point goals: Columbian 6 (B. Miller 3, Gooding 2, Russell); Perkins 2 (Schweinfurth, Kuhnle)