Clyde edges Port Clinton in SBC crossover action

CLYDE — Chase Castle saved his best for last. One of six Clyde seniors, Castle scored a game-high 18 points while grabbing seven rebounds Thursday. The Fliers needed all of that and more to fend off a career night from Port Clinton's Grayson Jones. Clyde made the biggest defensive stop of the night to finish off a 68-64 Sandusky Bay Conference crossover win over the Redskins. "It meant a lot," Castle said. "I felt like that was my best game I played in high school. It was great. I've been playing with these guys since fourth grade. It was great to finish it off with a W." Clyde (10-11) took a 15-point lead into the fourth quarter, but Port Clinton (14-8) got back in it behind a career-high 38 points from Jones. Michael Scruggs split two free throws with 33 seconds to go to put the Fliers up 67-64. Out of timeouts, Port Clinton had to go. The Redskins milked some clock, but couldn't find a great look. With about six seconds to go, Jonny Peck shot an off-balance 3-pointer. It missed and Max Swander grabbed the rebound. He was fouled with 3.5 seconds left, splitting the pair. "We were able to get what we wanted," Redskins coach Jared Rhode said. "Didn't execute it perfectly. We were trying to run a bit of a ghost screen and put them in a bind up top with Castle. We didn't execute properly and their ball pressure got to us a little bit." Scruggs got the rebound and was able to waste away the rest of the clock, finishing off the win for Clyde. "We are battle-tested," Fliers coach Jared Shetzer said. "These kids have been through a lot. We have played some very, very tough basketball teams and we have been resilient at times. At other times, we have struggled. This tonight, for me, was huge. "It speaks volumes of the adversity we have faced and what we have been able to overcome as a group." It was the final home game for Jon Lantz, Oscar Webb, Aric Kauble, Scruggs, Castle and Kaidence Cooksey. "I think we all really work together as a team, the seniors especially," Castle said. "We play a pretty dominant senior lineup. We start four or five seniors a night. We know that our hour glass is dwindling away and we have to make the most of it." Jones was big throughout for Port Clinton and scored nine straight points to give PC a 29-25 lead late in the second quarter. Karcen Garner answered with a 3 for Clyde before JeCori Roberts scored on a driving layup. Roberts then drilled a triple to give the Fliers a 33-29 lead at halftime. Clyde carried that momentum into a huge third quarter. Roberts opened the scoring and a three-point play from Castle made it 38-32. Roberts scored again before buckets from Scruggs and Castle extended the advantage to 45-36. Roberts followed that up with a score and 3-pointer. Later, Webb drilled a wide-open 3 and Kauble scored near the buzzer to put Clyde ahead 59-44 after three quarters. "We were able to get into our tempo game with (Roberts) on the floor," Shetzer said. "We were able to get into rhythm and he was feeling it. We have a philosophy that when somebody gets hot, you ride the hot hand." Jones and the Redskins didn't go quietly. Zach Speer connected on a pair of 3-pointers as PC got within 63-53. Jones scored the next eight points to cut the deficit to 63-61 with 3:04 to play. "When you scout people, you know what to expect," Shetzer said. "Jones is an an all-conference player. You game plan, but once you get out there between the lines, you just have to figure it out. He had a great game and it is probably a huge confidence booster for him going into the tournament." That score remained until Scruggs split two free throws and Webb made two, giving Clyde a 66-61 lead with 1:15 remaining. Martez Wilson hit a corner triple in response, cutting the Redskins' deficit to 66-64 with 1:05 left. "We had some good looks late, I thought," Rhode said. "We had a couple 3s that didn't go down and we had a nice post touch where we didn't score. The free throw line, we've not been good from there all year. We were 10 of 16 tonight. That's not incredibly awful, but it's also not good. Timely misses. That might be a game we could pull out." The Redskins are off until next Thursday when they travel to Otsego for a Division IV tournament opener. "Make no mistake. They got a lot of length and they're a big team," said Rhode of Clyde. "Castle is a load inside. We were essentially playing without (Landon) Leis. He has the flu. He tried to gut it out, not making any excuses. Heck of a performance by Jones. I am super glad he's our point guard the next two years." Clyde will have a quick turnaround when it travels to Tiffin Columbian on Friday. The Fliers lost 66-57 to Columbian on Jan. 16 at home. "I'm hoping this is what we needed — I think it is — to flip the switch for the tournament," Shetzer said. PORT CLINTON (14-8) Grayson Jones 14 7-8 38, Martez Wilson 2 0-0 5, Jonny Peck 3 2-2 8, Landon Leis 0 0-0 0, Zach Speer 3 0-2 9, Derek Abernathy 0 0-2 0, Tre Armendariz 0 1-2 1, Danny Baker 1 0-0 3. TOTALS 23 10-16 64 CLYDE (10-11) Jon Lantz 0 0-0 0, Oscar Webb 2 4-4 10, Aric Kauble 1 0-0 2, Michael Scruggs 5 3-8 17, Chase Castle 8 2-3 18, JeCori Roberts 6 0-0 14, Max Swander 1 2-4 4, Karcen Garner 1 0-0 3. TOTALS 24 11-19 68 Port Clinton 13 16 14 20 — 64 Clyde 17 16 26 9 — 68 Three-point goals: Port Clinton 8 (Jones 3, Speer 3, Wilson, Baker); Clyde 9 (Scruggs 4, Webb 2, Roberts 2, Garner)