Kuhnle has hot hand in Perkins' 78-39 win

FREMONT — Grant Kuhnle had his own personal 3-point shooting contest Tuesday. He won. Kuhnle, a 6-foot-3 junior, scored 17 of the Pirates' 30 points in the second quarter to lead the way in a 78-39 rout of Vermilion in a Division IV district semifinal at Ross High School. Kuhnle made 7 of 8 from 3-point range, some of his attempts coming off screens and with defenders in his face. "I was feeling it in warmups today," Kuhnle said. "It just felt good coming out of my hand, from the first one to the last one. "I would say I'm pretty good at coming off screens and shooting when people are kind of in my face. I'm kind of used to it. I've been a good shooter all my life." Kuhle finished with 25 points and, like the rest of Perkins' top seven in the rotation, did not play in the fourth quarter. All but one minute of the second half was played under a running clock in a game that took only 56 minutes to play. "I thought we were great and did all the little things we needed to," Perkins coach Andy Hoying said. "We rebounded, defended hard and got out in transition." And Kuhnle? "Grant Kuhle was scorching it. He was phenomenal tonight," Hoying said. "He just came out ready to play. He was red hot from the start and we kinda let him rock and let him go. Phenomenal performance." Kuhnle's only mistake turned into three points for Perkins. It certainly was his night. Late in the first half, Kuhnle missed a layup, but Kellen Glass grabbed a rebound, scored and made a free throw after he was fouled. The traditional three-point play gave the Pirates a 49-20 lead with 16 left in the second quarter. "I really wanted to dunk that one, I'm not gonna lie," Kuhnle said. "I missed a layup, but Kellen got an and-one, so it's OK." Glass, who finished with 15 points and seven rebounds, also wanted to dunk. "I was telling him to throw it off the glass," Glass said. "I wanted an alley-oop there, but it's alright." Said Hoying: "(Glass) did a good job of playing through contact. Really hit the glass hard. Even when he missed he pogoed back up and got his own rebound and put it back in." Perkins, the No. 12-ranked team in the state in Division IV, dominated in all phases to improve to 22-2. The Pirates had only two turnovers in the game and shot 55 percent from the field. "This is the best we've played all season," Glass said. "Vermilion was coming off a big win over Bellevue and we showed them they weren't better for us. We were prepping for it all week." Perkins won the opening tip and scored eight seconds in on a Sam Schweinfurth 3-pointer. Schweinfurth added another 3 with 6:07 left in the first quarter and Perkins was on its way. The Pirates closed the first quarter on a 9-0 run to take a 21-9 lead. After Vermilion's Drake Hooks scored to start the second quarter, the Pirates scored 19 points in 4 1/2 minutes. Kuhnle hit five 3s in that stretch. "When he gets hot, he doesn't miss," Glass said. "I'm fine with him taking it. If he misses it, I'll get an offensive rebound. He can shoot whenever he wants." Perkins ended up making 10 of 22 3-point attempts. "We knew going in (Kuhnle) could shoot the ball," Vermilion coach Kurt Habermehl said. "We just didn't do a good job of finding him. We knew who their shooters were. To start the game their shooter (Schweinfurth) banged one on us. We didn't go out and cover it. That's the frustrating part." Levi Groot scored for Perkins 48 seconds into the second half to give the Pirates a 55-20 lead, triggering a running clock. Eleven Pirates scored in the game. Luke Richardson came off the bench to lead the Sailors with 10 points. Mason Cooper added seven. Vermilion, the No. 7 seed in the district, finished its season 10-14. The Sailors never led and had five shots blocked in the first half. "We were really tight to start the game and that's been a little bit of an issue for us, but we've always fought back, especially the last month of the season," Habermehl said. "Once we got tight and fell behind I thought we panicked a little bit and started shooting some tough shots and not picking up people in transition." The top-seeded Pirates, who have won six straight games, will play Shelby in a district final at 2 p.m. at Mansfield Senior High School. It will be the second game in 19 days between the two teams. Perkins won 60-47 in Shelby on Feb. 17. "Tough matchup," Hoying said. "We gotta go down to Mansfield and it'll be more of a home game for them. Hopefully our fans come out. (Shelby senior Brayden) DeVito's really good and they have pieces around him." VERMILION (10-14) Brock Meyers 2 1-4 5, Adam Gerber 1 0-0 3, Mason Cooper 3 0-2 7, Luke Habermehl 0 0-0 0, Drake Hooks 1 0-0 2, Jerimiah Lopez 1 0-0 2, Noah Penton 1 2-2 5, Luke Richardson 4 2-2 10, Batu Aksoy 1 0-0 3, Trent Garcia 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 15 5-10 39 PERKINS (22-2) Kellen Glass 7 1-4 15, Sam Schweinfurth 3 0-0 8, Kash Koch 1 0-0 2, Bryce Davie 1 1-4 3, Levi Groot 4 0-0 8, Kaden Legando 2 0-0 4, Grant Kuhnle 9 0-0 25, Ty Obergefell 1 0-0 2, DJ Johnson 2 0-1 4, Carter Koch 2 0-0 4, Logan Wadsworth 1 0-0 3. TOTALS 33 2-9 78 Vermilion 9 11 8 11 — 39 Perkins 21 30 14 13 — 78 Three-point goals: Vermilion 4 (Gerber, Cooper, Penton, Aksoy); Perkins 10 (Kuhnle 7, Schweinfurth 2, Wadsworth)