Undefeated SMCC pulls away from Northwood

SANDUSKY — Defense and depth can win a lot of basketball games, as St. Mary Central Catholic has demonstrated this season. The Panthers, undefeated and ranked No. 5 in the state in Division VII by MaxPreps, did not shoot the ball well Friday at the Kinzel Center but ran away from Northwood, 48-28. SMCC improved to 7-0 overall and 5-0 in the SBC River Division with non-conference rival St. Paul coming to town Saturday. The Panthers led by five points at halftime before starting the second half with a 10-0 run. Meanwhile, Northwood couldn't find the basket. The Rangers (2-9, 1-5) missed their first 20 shots of the second half and finished the game shooting 18 percent from the field. "I wasn't really happy with our execution offensively and maybe some of our shot selection, but I am happy with the way we defended," SMCC coach Kyle Hammond said. "We typically hang our hat on the defensive end and we did enough defensively to come away with a win, but we've gotta clean some things up on offense and hopefully shoot better." SMCC's depth made a difference in the second half. Ten Panthers got playing time in the game's first five minutes and Hammond substituted in waves. "We have a really deep, athletic team and we want to take advantage of that," Hammond said. "Early, I didn't think we played the pace we want to play. We talked about that and tried to push it a little bit more and I think it had kind of a cumulative effect in the second half." SMCC didn't scored its first points of the game until Cullen Dillard drove the baseline for a basket with 3:58 left in the first quarter. Bryan Gibson's steal and layup with two seconds left in the first gave SMCC its first lead at 11-9. SMCC led 26-21 at halftime before 3-point baskets by Elijah Conway and Dillard put the Panthers ahead 36-21 late in the third quarter. SMCC, which shot only 37 percent for the game, extended its lead early in the fourth quarter with an 8-0 run to put the game away. Blake Finneran's layup got it started. Cayden Wikel's steal and layup was followed by a Finneran 3-pointer that gave the Panthers a 43-23 edge with 5:10 to play. Northwood, which has lost five straight games, scored just seven points in the second half. Eleven players scored for SMCC and not one reached double figures. Finneran led the way with nine points and five rebounds and Dillard came off the bench to score eight points. Northwood outrebounded SMCC by one in the first half, but the Panthers had a 25-19 edge on the boards in the last two quarters. Jackson Grimm had eight rebounds for the Panthers. "We try to wear on people a little bit; we can rotate a lot of bodies," Hammond said. "Sometimes the other guys get tired legs. I thought we did a good job defensively and rebounded much better in the second half." Brayden LaGrange led Northwood with 11 points and seven rebounds. SMCC's game Saturday against St. Paul is the Panthers' second of three straight home games. The Flyers ended SMCC's 2024-25 season with a 53-41 win in a Division VII district final. "It's a great group of kids; they're easy to coach. This is what they've been working for," Hammond said. "This is something we thought we were capable of, but we gotta continue to focus on the next game. "We've got St. Paul (Saturday) night. That's always a tough challenge. They ended our season last year so we wanna be ready to go on our home court." NORTHWOOD (2-9, 1-5) Aaron Torres 1 2-2 5, Mason Hurley 1 0-0 3, Valyric Goings 0 0-0 0, Brayden LaGrange 5 1-2 11, Tyler Osley 1 3-4 6, Gabe Hicks 1 0-0 2, Brett Reichow 0 1-2 1. TOTALS 9 7-12 28 SMCC (7-0, 5-0) Bryan Gibson 3 0-0 6, Cayden Wikel 2 0-0 5, Blake Finneran 4 0-0 9, Leo Will 2 0-0 4, Gabe Burch 0 3-4 3, Jack Davis 2 0-0 4, Elijah Conway 1 0-0 3, Cullen Dillard 3 1-2 8, Sam Lawrence 1 0-0 2, Trace Smith 1 0-0 2, Crew Trumpower 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 20 4-6 48 Northwood 9 12 2 5 — 28 SMCC 11 15 10 12 — 48 Three-point goals: Northwood 3 (Torres, Hurley, Osley); SMCC 4 (Wikel, Finneran, Conway, Dillard)