Fliers roll behind Roberts' double-double in debut

CLYDE — JeCori Roberts has arrived. The 6-foot-4 freshman made his season debut Monday and did it in a big way. Roberts splashed in six 3-pointers, finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds and led Clyde to an 81-63 Sandusky Bay Conference crossover win over Lakota. "He really can do a little bit of everything," Fliers coach Jared Shetzer said. "To be a 14-year-old kid and come in and produce right away like he did is very impressive. It says a lot about how much he cares about basketball. He's faced some adversity, but has gotten through that. "He helps us on the floor, but I think the other thing is he's a student of the game. He really studies it. He's bought into the team." Clyde (3-3) jumped out to an 8-2 lead early after a Roberts 3, only for the Raiders (5-1) to come back and tie the game at 8. The Fliers then rocketed off with a 23-2 run. Consecutive triples from Karcen Garner gave Clyde an 18-8 lead. King Beard scored for Lakota, but Max Swander drained a 3 and Michael Scruggs tallied a three-point play. "They went on a big run and I'm going to take some blame for that," Lakota coach Adam Gnepper said. "I should have gotten us a timeout and gotten us settled in. I didn't. I was trying to sort of let our guys figure it out on their own and play through it. "In this situation and atmosphere, I should have gotten a timeout and got us settled down." That gave the Fliers a 25-10 lead after one quarter. Roberts hit two triples early in the second quarter to extend the lead to 31-10. Clyde took care of the ball well throughout, but especially in the first half. The Fliers didn't commit a turnover until there was less than 90 seconds to go in the first half. That allowed Clyde to extend the lead as big as 40-14 on a bucket from Swander. "I tell the guys everything starts on defense," Shetzer said. "Let that defense translate into our offense. If we get stops, we can score the ball. We have to get stops and we were able to do that tonight." Lakota played tough to keep itself in the game. Grant Scherger canned a 3 and Beard scored as the Raiders scored eight straight points. A tally from Garner pushed the Fliers ahead 42-22 at the break. Clyde looked like it was going to put the game in running mode in the third quarter. Roberts hit a 3 to make it 45-24 and consecutive tallies from Chase Castle boosted the margin to 51-26. Oscar Webb then picked a steal and threw a pass off the backboard for Roberts, who flushed it for two more points. "They present a lot of problems, including their size," Gnepper said. "Physically and size-wise, they could match up with us better than anybody else we've played. Their pressure and their shooters are tough, too. If you turn the ball over or take bad shots against them, they're out in transition and running." "We wanted to finish off of two feet and kick out for inside-out 3s when they are available." Lakota kept fighting though, getting within 60-41 after three quarters. The Raiders ended up winning the second half, outscoring Clyde by one point. Lakota got to the foul line 31 times in the game. "One thing is I'm proud of our guys," Gnepper said. "We got down early and they didn't quit. They kept fighting, so I'm proud of our guys for not stopping. We were trying something a little bit differently to see if it could get us going offensively. We wanted to play a little faster and get to the rim." The 5-0 start to the season for the Raiders was the best since the 1984-1985 team started 6-0 under Paul Gnepper, Adam's father. Clyde finished 12 of 41 from 3. The amount of attempts came as no surprise to Gnepper. "They were getting 3s," he said. "We told our guys they were going to shoot a lot. We were hoping we could contest enough where they don't hit a high percentage. They made too many tonight." Beard finished with 25 points for the Raiders while Nick Elchert had 12 points and 15 rebounds. Avery Shilling added 11 points for Lakota. "In the offseason, you want to schedule really, really tough non-conference games," Shetzer said. "The double-edged sword of it is our conference is so tough. You try to mix and match different teams. That's a good Lakota team. It really is. They're doing very well. Beard is a handful down there and so is Elchert. They have guys that can shoot it too." Lakota is off until Jan. 3 when it hosts Lake (5-1), a team that topped Clyde on Dec. 3. "We'll have some practice time then enjoy Christmas break," Gnepper said. "It's well-deserved. We've had three road games in a row that were pretty tough. We'll get back to work. We have to get better. Lake is going to be good." Garner backed Roberts' big night with 18 points. The Fliers will enjoy Christmas time this week as well before hosting Toledo Waite (0-6) next Monday. "It's family first and always will be for us," Shetzer said. "I'm from here and I'm going to be with my family. The kids will be with their families. We'll get in tomorrow and get our work in before taking a couple days off. "After Christmas, we'll get back after it again." LAKOTA (5-1) Avery Shilling 3 4-5 11, Colten Kelbley 0 1-2 1, King Beard 11 3-5 25, Nick Elchert 3 6-11 12, Grant Scherger 2 0-0 6, Jack Widman 0 0-2 0, Josh Dibble 1 0-0 2, Ruger Kelbley 1 2-2 5, Connor Claburn 0 1-2 1. TOTALS 21 17-31 63 CLYDE (3-3) Oscar Webb 3 2-2 9, Aric Kauble 2 0-0 5, Michael Scruggs 2 1-1 5, JeCori Roberts 7 1-2 21, Chase Castle 4 0-0 8, Kaidence Cooksey 2 1-2 6, Karcen Garner 7 2-3 18, Max Swander 2 2-4 7, Jonathan Lantz 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 30 9-14 81 Lakota 10 12 19 22 — 63 Clyde 25 17 18 21 — 81 Three-point goals: Lakota 4 (Scherger 2, Shilling, R. Kelbley); Clyde 12 (Roberts 6, Garner 2, Webb, Kauble, Cooksey, Swander)