SMCC title hopes take a hit with loss to Calvert

TIFFIN — There was no love lost in Senecas Country on Saturday. Tiffin Calvert likely shut the door on St. Mary Central Catholic's hopes of a Sandusky Bay Conference River Division title for the season as the Senecas defeated the Panthers 71-63. "I was proud of our fight and this isn't an easy place to try and win," SMCC coach Kyle Hammond said. "It's a tough environment and I thought our kids showed a lot of composure coming back." Calvert controlled the pace and tempo of the game for nearly three quarters. "In the third quarter, we had a brief moment where we lost focus, but our boys executed and played hard," Senecas coach Jon Otterbacher said. "We made all of our free throws down the stretch and that's what helped us win." The Panthers (16-4, 10-3 SBC River) capitalized on the brief loss of focus from the Senecas (12-7, 8-4). Blake Finneran followed a Cullen Dillard basket to convert his basket into a three and the score 46-45. Calvert's response was going to the charity stripe with Tucker Coleman. He split the pair and tied the game up at 46. Sam Lawrence knocked down a buzzer-beating basket putting the Panthers ahead for the first time all game, 48-46. On the opening possession of the fourth quarter, Ritzler drew a foul and knocked down both of his shots, tying the game at 48. SMCC's response came from Cayden Wikel as he scored in the paint on a layup. Grady Otterbacher then saw an opportunity to put the Senecas back on top with 5:19 on the clock as he nailed a triple making it 51-50. Ritzler drilled a trey from the top of the arc right after a Senecas timeout. Grady Otterbacher then floated a 3-pointer putting SMCC back into a hole, 57-50, with 4:10 remaining. The Senecas made seven more trips to the free throw line, and didn't miss any of the 14 shots. Sixteen of the 25 points that the Senecas got in the quarter were free throws. In between Calvert's trips to the charity stripe is when SMCC scored their points for the quarter. The Panthers went to the free throw line eight times the entire game and made 12 of 15. "We knew that when we had that lead that they had to come get us, and they had to amp up their pressure," coach Otterbacher said. "We had to make sure we were solid in our plays and being disciplined fundamentally with the ball. "Nothing was going to come easy, especially with how they played defense with the ball and we knocked down enough to push the lead up and they weren't able to catch up." After Grady Otterbacher made his triple, Finneran shot a three-pointer from deep and sliced the lead 57-53 with 3:20 on the board. Wikel made a triple a little bit later with 2:15 left on the clock, and Finneran had one last three with 48.5 seconds and the score 65-58. Dillard made one last basket right after on a steal, cutting the lead down 65-60. "Finneran is one of those pesky little guards that it's hard to keep him out of the paint," said coach Otterbacher of the senior guard for SMCC. "He did a great job of attacking downhill and getting to the rim. When we started slacking off, he made a couple of threes which is huge for those guys to keep it close." Then, Finneran fouled out of the game for SMCC. "Blake did a great job for us offensively in the second half," Hammond said. "Cayden hit some big shots for us. I'm proud of how we executed some things and they did a good job of defensively taking away what we wanted to do and I thought our kids did well offensively." With 10 seconds left and one last Hail Mary, Wikel made the final triple of the game, to bring it within six points 69-63, but Ritzler made his last two free throws of the night. Ritzler knocked down eight-of-nine free throws of the night. The first quarter wasn't a pretty snapshot for the Panthers as Vincenzo Lyons got hot. He scored the Senecas' first seven points of the game between back-to-back baskets and converting a basket into two points plus one all within the first 90 seconds of the game. "I thought Lyons had a great night," Hammond said. "He finished around the hoop well and was the biggest difference in the game. We struggled to stop him." Grady Otterbacher then scored a triple to make it 10-0 with 5:39 on the clock. After a SMCC timeout, Lyons stole the ball from the Panthers and passed it to Grady Otterbacher, who made a shot, widening the gap 15-3 with 3:40 on the clock. By the end of the quarter, it was 19-11. The second quarter was better for SMCC as Wikel, Leo Will, and Gabe Burch all scored in the paint, slicing the lead down to one point (19-18) within the first three minutes. Lyons widened that gap back out on a four-point run and Coleman split a pair of free throws, making it 24-18. A little later, Wikel put a basket in and cut the lead down 24-23. The first half ended in a two point difference of 26-24 after Lyons got a bucket and Jackson Grimm knocked down a free throws. SMCC's defense was forced to work throughout as Grady Otterbacher ended the game with 24 points, Ritzler with 20 points, and Lyons with 19 points. Wikel was SMCC's top scorer with 20 points followed by Finneran with 15 points and 15 rebounds. While the loss likely knocks the Panthers out of the title running and places them in third behind Old Fort and Gibsonburg, it does add fuel to the fire to want to defeat the Golden Bears on Tuesday. "Gibsonburg has a two game lead on us now," Hammond said. "But we want to come out and play well in our home gym against them and it's a really great opportunity for us to get ready for tournament time." SMCC (16-4, 10-3) Jack Davis 1 0-0 2, Cayden Wikel 7 2-2 22, Blake Finneran 4 5-7 15, Sam Lawrence 1 0-0 2, Leo Will 1 0-0 2, Trace Smith 1 0-0 2, Cullen Dillard 2 0-0 4, Jackson Grimm 2 1-2 5, Gabe Burch 2 4-4 9. TOTALS 21 12-15 63 TIFFIN CALVERT (12-7, 8-4) Grady Otterbacher 6 8-11 24, Logan Ritzler 5 8-9 20, Tucker Coleman 0 2-4 2, Logan DeMoss 0 6-6 6, Vincenzo Lyons 8 3-3 19. TOTALS 19 27-33 71 SMCC 11 15 22 15 — 63 Tiffin Calvert 19 9 18 25 — 71 Three-point goals: SMCC 9 (Wikel 6, Finneran 2, Burch); Calvert 6 (Otterbacher 4, Ritzler 2)