PERRY TOWNSHIP — Bath put its speed, athleticism and depth on display Tuesday night when the Wildcats paid a visit to Perry at the Leonard Volbert Gymnasium.
The Wildcats were in control from the opening tip and never let up as they coasted to a dominating 89-52 win over the Commodores.
Bath (14-3) showed its speed when it opened the game in a full-court man-to-man press that caused Perry numerous problems and led to the Wildcats hitting 8-of-12 2-pointers in the opening quarter as they grabbed a quick 21-9 lead.
Worse news was to come for Perry (5-10) as the Wildcats heated up from the 3-point line in the second period when they connected on 5-of-9 treys. As a result, Bath grabbed an insurmountable 46-22 lead at the halftime break.
“They are a great basketball team with so many weapons; you can’t play off on anybody or they will hurt you,” Perry coach Matt Tabler said. “I thought we started out a little awe struck and intimidated, you can’t simulate their speed in practice and we had trouble taking care of the ball early.”
Bath continued to pull away in the third period as they outscored the Commodores 22-13 to take a 68-35 lead to the final period of play.
With the starters done for the night, all five Bath substitutes scored in the fourth quarter to give the Wildcats 10 players in the scoring column for the night.
Bath got 13 points from Logan Rockhold, Taren Sullivan and Doug Sanders while Conner Rockhold finished with 11 and Hayden Atkins ended with 10 for the Wildcats.
Perry got a strong performance from Bruce Hodges, who finished the contest with a game-high 30 points on 12-of-23 shooting. Hodges had one trey in the game and the rest of his baskets came on drives to the basket.
“We got a chance to play everybody some quality time and that could be beneficial down the road,” Bath coach Doug Davis said. “We are looking forward to competing for the Western Buckeye League title and a high seed in the tournament; those are our goals and we will practice hard and play hard to try to reach them.”
Bath shot 48 percent from the floor for the night as they connected on 35-of-72 from the floor while the Commodores struggled to a 22-of-63 effort that was good for 34 percent.
Perry was forced into 22 turnovers in the contest while the Wildcats committed only 11 in the game.
