Bellevue rallies past Clyde in Route 20 Rivalry classic

CLYDE — Bellevue was almost down and out. Almost being the key word. Down 10 points with 6:30 to go in the fourth quarter, Elijah Turinsky and JJ Vogel nailed big 3-pointers for the Redmen. Bellevue rode that momentum the rest of the way, getting big free throws down the stretch to knock off Clyde 66-63 in Sandusky Bay Conference Lake Division action Thursday. It was another great installment of the Route 20 Rivalry. "We talked to the kids in one of the timeouts and basically told them we had to get nasty," Bellevue coach Ed Rich said. "We had to get freaking nasty and play tougher. There was a two-minute stretch where our guys were all over the floor. It means a lot to them and I knew it did. Clyde was just banging shots." The two triples brought the Redmen (11-4, 4-2 SBC Lake) within 56-52 with 6:03 left. Karcen Garner answered for the Fliers (6-8, 1-5), but Ike Brown scored and made two free throws. After an empty possession from Clyde, Vogel tied the game on a driving layup. Bellevue never trailed again, going up 61-58 on a 3 from Bollinger. Michael Scruggs responded with one of his four triples to tie the game at 61 with 3:08 to play. With the game even at 63, Scruggs drew an offensive foul with 1:52 remaining. After a pair of timeouts from Clyde, the Fliers committed their only fourth-quarter turnover. Bellevue missed a shot, but Reid Claus snatched the offensive rebound. Turinsky was then fouled, but missed both free throws. The rebound trickled out of bounds off of Clyde, keeping possession with the Redmen. Claus drew a foul and made both free throws with 39 seconds left. After a Bellevue timeout, Clyde missed a shot and Bellevue snatched the rebound. Turinsky split the two free throws with 15.2 seconds left. Bellevue used a foul to give with 9.6 seconds left. Needing a 3 to tie it, Oscar Webb and Aric Kauble each missed good looks, giving Bellevue the wild win. "They got some kids that went at us," Clyde coach Jared Shetzer said. "They were able to make a couple timely 3s and get to the basket. When they did that, they hit their free throws and then got us out of position. Hats off to them." Bellevue was a woeful 1 of 14 from 3 in the first half, but made 6 of 14 attempts in the second half. A triple from Bollinger at the end of the third quarter brought the Redmen within 52-44 with eight minutes to play. "We shot it better in the second half," Rich said. "We have that no quit mentality. We've been done. We were down big at Eastwood and came back. I was nervous, but we have guys that aren't going to quit on me. It was a big win." Freshman JeCori Roberts hit a 3-pointer to give Clyde an early 11-4 lead. The Redmen responded, going up 18-17 after one quarter on a Owen Hancock putback. The Fliers got back to the way they played early, using a 8-1 run over the first 5:02 of the second quarter to seize a 25-19 lead. Kauble hit a 3 and Scruggs scored to extend the Clyde advantage to 30-21. "We were able to control the pace of the game," Shetzer said. "We made some shots. We forced them to take some difficult shots. It's a little easier in the first half to play defense because you can coach it when you're down there. You can talk through possessions and keep them aware of what is coming. In the second half, we didn't talk as much and the game slowed down." After being down 33-26 at halftime, Bellevue got within four on a 3 from Vogel. But, Clyde responded with a 7-2 run, going up 43-31 after four straight points from Chase Castle. The physical senior finished with 13 points and eight rebounds. "That's the same thing he did the first game," said Rich of Bellevue's 69-59 win on Dec. 10. "He destroyed us the first game. He knocks down his free throws. We put him on the line on purpose. I'd say he's around a 50 percent shooter from the line and he goes 5 of 6. He's a load in there." Shetzer said one thing stood out of the most about this meeting. "We wanted to get up in them and press them," he said. "We're in great shape, but it's a physical game. Sometimes it wears on your legs. I think it hurt them in the first half with us pressing because they were short on a lot of their 3s. That told me the press was good." Clyde is taking care of business in the games it is supposed to win. The Fliers are still looking for a significant win. "We're still right there, just waiting to turn the corner," Shetzer said. "I got on our guys a little bit tonight about holding each other accountable and holding themselves accountable. We have to play defense. We did that a lot tonight, but in crunch time, we weren't able to do it. That's happened to us a few times this year." Scruggs topped the Fliers with 16 points while Roberts added 14 points and 10 rebounds. The 6-foot-4 Roberts was a concern for Rich, as he didn't play in the first meeting. "He's a load," Rich said. "He can beat you inside or out. He loves the outside shot and he's got such a quick release. That's the scary thing about it. When he wants to go inside, he can bang inside. I thought Ike did a pretty good job on him. I thought early we let him get too many open looks." Turinsky led Bellevue with 15 points while Bollinger (eight rebounds) and Brown each chipped in 14 points. "He was huge for us tonight," said Rich of Turinsky. "He got our game MVP and he'll wear the chain tonight and tomorrow. He got to the rack and he was all over the glass early. He just keeps playing." BELLEVUE (11-4, 4-2) Sam Bollinger 5 2-2 14, Ike Brown 4 6-6 14, JJ Vogel 3 0-0 8, Reid Claus 1 3-4 6, Elijah Turinsky 4 6-10 15, Caden Cramer 1 0-0 2, Hudson Smith 2 0-0 5, Owen Hancock 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 21 17-22 66 CLYDE (6-8, 1-5) Oscar Webb 3 2-2 10, Aric Kauble 2 0-0 6, Michael Scruggs 5 2-2 16, JeCori Roberts 6 0-0 14, Chase Castle 4 5-6 13, Karcen Garner 2 0-2 4. TOTALS 22 9-12 63 Bellevue 18 8 18 22 — 66 Clyde 17 16 19 11 — 63 Three-point goals: Bellevue 7 (Bollinger 2, Vogel 2, Claus, Turinsky, Smith); Clyde 10 (Scruggs 4, Webb 2, Kauble 2, Roberts 2)