Perkins dominates to win first regional title

BOWLING GREEN — Kash Koch deserved it. The Perkins senior got the Pirates going, knocking down the first two buckets of Saturday's Division IV regional final. No. 7 Perkins tallied the first seven points of the game, never trailed and dominated No. 9 Jonathan Alder 47-30 at Bowling Green State University's Stroh Center. "It felt amazing," said Koch of the quick start offensively. "Honestly, I haven't been shooting the ball so well in the playoffs. I felt like they wouldn't be guarding me that tight and more focusing on Sam (Schweinfurth) and (Grant) Kuhnle. I knew if I got my chance, I could get going. "I got it going early and it was really nice." As his reward, Koch got to cut the final pieces of the net and swing it around in celebration as the Pirates advanced to the first state semifinal in program history. So how did that feel for Koch? "Amazing," Koch said. "We made history this afternoon. It's a great feeling. I'm glad to go home and celebrate." Perkins improved to 25-2 and will face No. 15 Cleveland Glenville (17-9) at noon Thursday in a state semifinal at Wright State University. The Pirates and Tarblooders haven't met on the basketball court, but split two high-profile playoff football matchups in 2023 and 2024. "We're just very happy to be down at Dayton," first-year Perkins coach Andy Hoying said. "It's very exciting for us, our first time in school history in the final four. I know it's going to be a dog fight. We'll get prepared and be ready to go." Koch scored and then hit a 3-pointer to give Perkins a 5-0 lead just 71 seconds in. After a couple empty possessions, Kellen Glass scored and the Pirates were up 7-0. Danny Bentley hit a triple for the Pioneers (21-6), but Glass answered with a 3 and Bryce Davie's bucket pushed Perkins ahead 12-5 and the Pirates led 12-7 after one quarter. Jonathan Alder got a score from Byron Byerly early in the second quarter, but tallies from Koch and Davie pushed the lead to 16-9. Koch finished off his dazzling first half with a 3-pointer with 1:08 to go in the quarter. That gave Perkins a 20-11 lead. "I thought we came out and did a phenomenal job," Hoying said. "Kash came out and had a great first half. He banged in a couple 3s in. Defensively, I thought we did a great job shutting them down all night. (Danny Bentley) is tough. The Bentley brothers are tough. We did a great job on those two all night." Alder sliced within 20-16 early in the third quarter, but again, Perkins had the answer as consecutive buckets from Glass extended the advantage back to eight points. Chase Muetzel and Brady Sweet then canned triples and suddenly Alder was as close as 24-22. But, as he's done numerous times in his career, Schweinfurth, a senior, came up with another massive 3-pointer. His shot helped Perkins take a 27-22 lead into the fourth quarter. "Every team is going to try to make a run at some point," Hoying said. "You just have to withstand it. Sam is a big shot maker. He's made big shots throughout the year. He's that guy. He loves the big moments. "That was a huge shot to get us the momentum shifted back our way. That propelled us." Perkins used that shift to help the defense play even better in the fourth quarter. The Pirates kept Alder off the scoreboard the first 4:29 of the quarter, surging ahead 37-22. Koch attributed the run and strong defense to the Pirates' depth. Alder rarely dipped into its bench while Perkins went seven or eight deep the entire game. "Our team is really long and athletic and we have a lot of subs, too," Koch said. "We're deep so no one is really tired. We play full-court defense and play some zone to mix it up. "It really messes teams up and I think we got in their heads a little bit. They didn't know what to do." Levi Groot opened the fourth-quarter scoring with a driving layup before Kaden Legando made it 31-22. Two free throw makes from Glass gave Perkins a 37-22 lead. The Pirates were able to be aggressive in the final quarter with the Pioneers trailing. Perkins got to the free throw line 18 times, making 12 freebies. "I think we've played at multiple paces throughout the year," Hoying said. "I think we're comfortable playing a slower pace and I think we're comfortable getting up and down a little bit. I thought in this case, a slower pace was what was needed. We sat back in a zone and got after it." Muetzel led Alder with nine points while Sweet and Danny Bentley each scored seven points. Trey Bentley was kept to five points on 2 of 6 shooting. The 47 points are the fewest Perkins has scored in a win this year. Alder's 30 points were the second-least the Pirates have given up this season. "You have to find where (Danny Bentley) is at at all times," Hoying said. "They have some good guys and their bigs are solid. They run a ton of good stuff. We tried to mix it up on them throughout the game. "We didn't want them to have easy looks after running set after set. I thought we did a good job on their bigs, walling them up down low." Glass topped Perkins with 16 points while Koch finished with 10 points and six rebounds. Legando had seven points off the bench and Davie contributed six points and six rebounds. Perkins had not played in a regional final since 2012, a loss to Elida at the University of Toledo. Now, Hoying and company will enter unchartered territory when they head to the state semifinals. "This is a phenomenal first year," Hoying said. "You can't ask for a better group of guys. They're talented and they're fun to be around. They're just great kids and they're good academically. You can't ask for a better group in your first year. "Then you win, too. It's amazing from that aspect." PERKINS (25-2) Kellen Glass 4 7-10 16, Sam Schweinfurth 1 0-0 3, Kash Koch 4 0-2 10, Bryce Davie 2 2-4 6, Levi Groot 1 1-2 3, Kaden Legando 2 3-4 7, Max Weller 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 15 13-22 47 JONATHAN ALDER (21-6) Brady Sweet 3 0-0 7, Trey Bentley 2 0-0 5, Danny Bentley 2 2-6 7, Garrett Bauer 0 0-0 0, Chase Muetzel 3 2-2 9, Byron Byerly 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 11 4-8 30 Perkins 12 8 7 20 — 47 Alder 7 7 8 8 — 30 Three-point goals: Perkins 4 (Koch 2, Glass, Schweinfurth); Alder 4 (Sweet, T. Bentley, D. Bentley, Muetzel)