Sandusky goes on the road, beats Columbian

TIFFIN — For most of the game, Sandusky struggled to contain Tiffin Columbian guard Logan Gooding. Gooding zigged and zagged through the Blue Streaks' defense all night either looking for his own shot or trying to find an open shot for his teammates. For three of the four quarters, TC outscored Sandusky, but a 24-14 third period in favor of the Blue Streaks was the difference. In that quarter, Sandusky buckled down defensively, rebounded the ball and got out in transition to build a lead. Plus, the Blue Streaks limited Gooding to just six points in the quarter. In the end, the Tornadoes gave everything Sandusky it could Friday, but it wasn't quite enough as the Blue Streaks fended off Columbian for a hard-fought 77-71 Sandusky Bay Conference Lake Division victory. "At halftime, we really talked about picking it defensively because we were giving them way too many easy looks," Sandusky coach DeMar Moore said. "Our focus was to play defense and rebound, which I think we did a good job of that in the second half." A big problem for the Tornadoes was the inability to rebound, plus the assertiveness of Sandusky (5-4, 2-1 SBC Lake) big man Kymirr Hunter in the paint. Hunter overpowered the smaller Tornadoes for a team-high 25 points. "Kymirr is getting better and better as we go," Moore said. "All week and every day in practice he's working on his post moves, so when we have a chance to feed him down there, we want to as quick as we possibly can. He was finishing tonight. He was finishing well tonight, he was rebounding… he was a load tonight on the inside for us." It was a close, well-played game for the first 16 minutes of action as Sandusky trailed 19-18 after one quarter. Columbian hit four triples in the quarter. Then, the Tornadoes came out on fire in the second quarter, nailing three more triples – three in a row – as Gooding dropped in two and Blake Miller sunk a trey from the left corner. It was 28-20 Tornadoes in front early in the second before Moore called a timeout. But after that point, Columbian (3-6, 0-3) didn't make another 3 all game. Gooding started to get inside the paint and wreak havoc, but the Blue Streaks withstood the flurry of TC points and got within 36-33 at the half. "That's our problem right now. We play a good two or three quarters or jump out to a good lead, but can't sustain it," TC coach Jac Alexander said. "The biggest stat that jumped out to me was the rebounds, which was 31-19. Every time they got a shot off the glass or through one up … they didn't shoot it well at all tonight, but they had 31 rebounds to our 19. You don't win games unless you're at least even on rebounds." TC's Blake Tucker started the third quarter with a bucket to give it a 38-33 advantage, but then the Blue Streaks really got going with a 17-4 run to race out to a 50-42 edge. Sandusky led 57-46 with under a minute left in the third, but Gooding made a pair of free throws and then DaShawn Russell did the same to get TC within 57-50 with one period left to go. The Blue Streaks led 62-54 early in the fourth, but a crucial 8-2 spurt got the Tornadoes back in it, but they never could catch Sandusky down the stretch. TC got within 68-66 and then 70-68 with two minutes left, but couldn't complete the comeback. "With this team being so inexperienced, any win is a good win," Moore said. "To pull out a win like we did tonight where it could've went either way, I thought our guys showed some resiliency and our guys showed some growth tonight." Ahmaj Woolfork had 18 points, Dale Johnson added 15 points and Camrion Jones ended with 10 points for Sandusky. "We were able to pick up the pressure defensively, which gave them some problems, but that's a heck of a team," Moore said. "They can shoot it. We were concerned with how well they can shoot the 3, so I was happy with how we ran them off the line for the most part tonight." SANDUSKY (5-4, 2-1) Anthony Redding 3 0-0 6, Dale Johnson 6 3-4 15, Ta'Varieon Myers 1 0-0 3, Ahmaj Woolfork 7 4-5 18, Camrion Jones 4 0-0 10, Kymirr Hunter 11 3-7 25. TOTALS 32 10-16 77 COLUMBIAN (3-6, 0-3) Owen Hickey 1 0-0 3, Nolan Miller 2 0-0 5, Blake Miller 1 0-0 3, Jax Diamantopoulos 0 2-2 2, Logan Gooding 12 8-8 35, DaShawn Russell 3 9-10 16, Blake Tucker 3 1-2 7. TOTALS 22 20-22 71 Sandusky 18 15 24 20 — 77 Columbian 19 17 14 21 — 71 Three-point goals: Sandusky 3 (Jones 2, Myers); Columbian 7 (Gooding 3, Hickey, N. Miller, B. Miller, Russell)