Sandusky defeats Bellevue, clinches share of Lake title

BELLEVUE — There was a lot of talk before the season about Sandusky's chances of winning a fifth straight league championship. For the Blue Streaks, talk is all it was. With a chance to clinch a share of the Sandusky Bay Conference Lake Division title, Sandusky put an emphatic stamp on things, defeating Bellevue 70-44 on Wednesday. "If you could only see where we were our first day of practice, our kids truly deserve this," Streaks coach DeMar Moore said. "They grinded the whole season. Two months ago, we had three or four guys going crazy at practice and we had to end practice because of attitudes. "To see these guys come out and play like we did tonight? I don't even have words for it." The Blue Streaks improved to 14-7 overall and 9-1 in league play. Perkins (19-2, 8-1) will have a chance to clinch a share of the league title as well Friday at home against Norwalk (1-20, 0-9). "This means a lot to us," said Sandusky junior Cam Jones, who tallied a game-high 26 points. "They were saying we were different and couldn't get it done. We proved everybody wrong." Sandusky set the tone in the second part of the first quarter. Down 7-6 after an Ike Brown offensive rebound and score for Bellevue (12-9, 5-5), the Blue Streaks used a 15-1 run the rest of the quarter to take the advantage. Ta'Varieon Myers, who made his first start of the season in place of an injured Anthony Redding, scored before Jones nailed a 3. Bellevue then committed a turnover and that led to Jones scoring again. A bucket from Ahmaj Woolfork increased the Streaks' lead to 15-7. After Brown split two free throws for the Redmen, Myers scored and Woolfork added a three-point play. Jones made one of two free throws to give Sandusky a 21-8 lead after one quarter. "We can't score. Two feet away and can't put the ball in the basket," Bellevue coach Ed Rich said. "That's it. That's really it. We had a six-minute span where we played scared to death like we had never seen them before. We get some decent looks and we couldn't put it in the basket." Bellevue showed a little fight in the second quarter, but didn't have enough. Down 26-10 following a Jones triple, the Redmen got a bucket from Owen Hancock and triple from Caden Lindsey. Lindsey then scored on a putback and Hancock followed to get Bellevue within 29-20. The teams exchanged tallies from there and Sandusky went into halftime up 33-22. "(Myers) played extremely well. He hit a lot of shots," Rich said. "He hit shots I didn't think he could hit. Give him a lot of credit for them. Cam Jones played an outstanding game. We lost him a couple times and he's going to make you pay when you lose him." The Streaks added a 18-15 edge in the third quarter before laying down the hammer early in the fourth quarter. Ahead 51-37, Daishun Brown opened the fourth quarter scoring with a three-point play. Later, Jones knocked down a jumper before Kymirr Hunter scored on a behind-the-back pass from Dale Johnson. Jones added a triple to make it 61-40. Sandusky only made four 3-pointers on the night, but Jones had three of them. "For some reason, they gave him a lot of open looks," Moore said. "Cam is a type of kid that when he sees a couple go down, he gets on fire. I think that's what happened tonight. He got a couple early and after that, he was on fire." After a Bellevue timeout, Jones turned a steal into a layup. Brown followed suit, turning his layup into a three-point play. Suddenly, Sandusky led 66-40 with 4:24 to go in the game. "After the third quarter, we talked about having eight minutes left until a championship," Moore said. "Our guys were resilient in going and out and executing the game plan. Shout out to my assistant coaches. They put together a heck of a game plan tonight and the guys executed it." Brown finished with 14 points for the Redmen, who travel to Willard (18-3) in SBC crossover play Friday. "We're in a bad slump right now," Rich said. "It started in the third quarter against Perkins and it rode almost all the way through tonight. I thought the second quarter we played well. We fought back and grinded it out a little bit. It was the little things where we'd get a stop and turn it over right away." Myers added 13 points for Sandusky. He was able to quickly gel in with the rest of the starting lineup. "It's something he's done all year," said Moore of the junior. "We just haven't played him in long enough stretches to see the rewards of it in a long-term game. He played a heck of a game tonight. We see it every day in practice. He's one of our better defenders and shooters. "Tonight, he came on strong defensively and was knocking them down offensively." Woolfork registered 11 points and Hunter had eight points and seven rebounds for the Streaks. SANDUSKY (14-7, 9-1) Ta'Varieon Myers 6 0-0 13, Ahmaj Woolfork 4 3-3 11, Cam Jones 10 3-4 26, Kymirr Hunter 4 0-0 8, Dale Johnson 3 0-2 6, Raymond Peake 0 0-2 0, Daishun Brown 2 2-2 6. TOTALS 29 8-13 70 BELLEVUE (12-9, 5-5) Sam Bollinger 3 0-0 6, Ike Brown 4 5-7 14, JJ Vogel 0 0-0 0, Reid Claus 0 0-0 0, Elijah Turinsky 3 0-0 9, Owen Hancock 2 2-2 6, Caden Lindsey 4 0-0 9. TOTALS 16 7-9 44 Sandusky 21 12 18 19 — 70 Bellevue 8 14 15 7 — 44 Three-point goals: Sandusky 4 (Jones 3, Myers); Bellevue 5 (Turinsky 3, Brown, Lindsey)