Koch's shot pushes Perkins past Bellevue in 2 OT

BELLEVUE — When Kash Koch is cold in warmups, he knows it is going to be a good night. The Perkins senior maybe didn't know what was in store Thursday, though. Hot throughout the first half, when Perkins needed the biggest shot of the night in the second overtime, Koch was there to deliver. Koch hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 30 seconds to play, then Division IV No. 4 Perkins fended off Bellevue 64-61 in a massive Sandusky Bay Conference Lake Division contest. "I hadn't missed yet, so I was confident," Koch said. "I thought it was the best shot to get up. I was 100 percent confident in it going in." The Pirates (10-0, 4-0 SBC Lake) fell behind with less than a minute to go in the second overtime. Tied at 59, Bellevue's Sam Bollinger drew a foul. He made both free throws, giving the Redmen (9-3, 3-1) a two-point lead with 41.7 seconds left. Perkins kept its final timeout and trusted Koch with the shot. His corner 3 splashed through, giving the Pirates a 62-61 advantage. "That was huge from a senior," Perkins coach Andy Hoying said. "He's been grinding since the summer. I feel like it means a lot to him. I'm really happy he hit that. He's been really working hard in the summer and fall putting time in and the effort. It's wonderful he hit that shot tonight." Bellevue moved the ball up the court and used a timeout with 21.2 seconds to play. Out of the timeout, Kellen Glass forced a turnover for Perkins. Ty Obergefell, who left the game injured midway through the first overtime, was fouled. He made both free throws with 16.5 seconds left. After a Perkins timeout, the Redmen had a chance to draw up a play to force a tie. Ike Brown got the ball, but was swarmed by defenders. He rose up and got a good look at a 3, but it missed. Reid Claus grabbed the rebound, but his desperation turnaround at the buzzer was short, giving Perkins the wild road victory. "We were hitting them on flares all day, so we were trying to get that," Bellevue coach Ed Rich said. "We knew it was going to be tough because they were going to take away Ike and Sam. We were going to try to flare it for our other shooter in the corner, JJ. They blew it up a little bit. When there's 14 seconds left, you're trying to get whatever you can there." Perkins seemed in cruise control, taking a 47-37 lead on a Koch 3 early in the fourth quarter. Bellevue battled back, but still trailed 54-50 after Levi Groot split two free throws with 15.1 seconds to play. The Redmen scrambled trying to get a shot as the final seconds ticked away. Claus got off a shot in traffic at the top of the arc. He was fouled as the shot went through. The officials correctly ruled Claus' foot was on the line, making it a two-point bucket. Bellevue used a timeout, drawing up an opportunity for Claus to miss the free throw and be able to grab the offensive rebound. Claus did just that. Brown skied for the rebound, hauled in and got up a shot, but was fouled. With 1.9 seconds to go, Brown made both free throws to suddenly tie the game at 54. Obergefell just missed a shot from beyond half-court, sending the game to overtime. "It's always tough to tell a guy to miss a free throw," Rich said. "That's hard to do. It hit the rim, but Reid did an excellent job. If anyone can do it, it's going to be Reid. We got the board and got fouled. That was pretty cool." Bellevue went up first in overtime, taking a 56-54 lead on a bucket from Bollinger. Perkins quickly responded as Glass scored 20 seconds later. That was the last score of the first overtime. Both teams had opportunities in the final 30 seconds. Perkins turned the ball over with 39.9 seconds left, but Bellevue gave it back on an offensive foul with 13.9 seconds left. A 3-pointer from Levi Groot at the buzzer was short, sending the game to a second overtime. "It was a lot of grit," Hoying said. "That was the first time I really felt like we had a lot of adversity hit us in the mouth. Credit to Bellevue. They played tough. Ike Brown and Bollinger had great games for them. They really punched us in the mouth there in the second half. We came back and responded." Perkins led 11-10 after one quarter and pushed the lead to 32-24 by halftime. Bollinger and Brown each scored 24 points. Bollinger added 10 rebounds while Brown had eight. "They've been doing it the last couple games," Rich said. "If it's not Sam, it's Ike. Or it's both of them. Tonight it was both of them. Sam was talking to us earlier in the game that his legs were dead. We gave him a break in the third quarter with two minutes to go and I thought he looked fine after that. Those two can ball." Koch tallied 16 points and 10 rebounds while Sam Schweinfurth had 13 points. Glass finished with seven points, seven rebounds and eight blocks defensively. "We battled. It was a great freaking game," Rich said. "It sucks losing it, but it was fun. I'm not going to be the guy that says I don't think many people gave us a chance. But I don't know if anyone really did think we could compete. "That's what I'm going to go with. It was great competing with one of the better teams we'll play this regular season." Bellevue is back in action Saturday when it hosts Ashland Crestview (3-6). "We have competitors," Rich said. "We have Ashland Crestview coming in Saturday and then we have almost a whole week off before Sandusky. Then we go to Clyde and go to Lexington. We have our hands full." Perkins returns to the court Saturday against Lexington (4-5). Bellevue and Perkins will rematch Feb. 13 at Perkins. "It was great to see," said Hoying of the atmosphere. "Every time we go into a SBC game, I hope there's a great crowd out there. The student sections were going tonight. I love playing in those kinds of environments. They have to play at our place too and we'll bring out the fans. We'll bring out the same atmosphere." PERKINS (10-0, 4-0) Kellen Glass 2 3-6 7, Sam Schweinfurth 5 0-0 13, Kash Koch 5 3-6 16, Bryce Davie 2 1-4 5, Levi Groot 2 1-2 5, Kaden Legando 2 1-2 5, Grant Kuhnle 1 0-0 3, Ty Obergefell 2 5-5 9. TOTALS 21 14-25 64 BELLEVUE (9-3, 3-1) Sam Bollinger 7 10-12 24, Ike Brown 8 4-5 24, JJ Vogel 1 0-0 3, Reid Claus 4 0-1 8, Elijah Turinsky 0 0-0 0, Caden Lindsey 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 21 14-18 61 Perkins 11 21 10 12 2 8 — 64 Bellevue 10 14 11 19 2 5 — 61 Three-point goals: Perkins 8 (Koch 4, Schweinfurth 3, Kuhnle); Bellevue 5 (Brown 4, Vogel)