PERRY TOWNSHIP – It was almost like Perry turned on a firehose and pointed toward the doors.
Perry’s press overwhelmed Elida with a 76-37 boys basketball victory Wednesday before a packed house of close to 2,000 fans at Perry.
Perry (8-1) forced 35 turnovers for the game and continually pressed, picked up turnovers and converted layups at the other end.
Elida is 3-6.
“That’s the game plan going into every game,” Perry coach Clay Tucker said. “Our goal is to wreak havoc and to cause as many turnovers as possible.
“Our goal is get turnovers and be efficient and effective in the full-court game. We want to run for layups if the 3-ball isn’t falling for us.’’
Ryan Yingst paced Perry with 24 points and 11 rebounds.
“We just wanted to do what Perry basketball is all about,” Yingst said. “We wanted to push the pace and
make it our game. We want to make everyone (on the other team) uncomfortable.’’
Tucker said of Yingst, “Ryan is a man. He loves to play physical. He’s a man amongst boys and he showed it tonight.’’
Perry’s Terry Riley had 14 points and two 3-pointers. Will Knight had 11 points and seven rebounds.
Joey Hoersten scored eight and Brady Yingst had eight points and 11 rebounds.
Perry was playing against its former coach Matt Tabler, now at Elida, who coached for 14 years at Perry and led it to seven league titles and a trip to the state tournament.
Yingst said, “No matter who is coaching (for the other team) you still have to play your style of basketball and play it well.’’
Tabler said, “Coach Clay is doing a fantastic job and they are playing at a different speed than they played at last year. Then, these guys (at Perry) our seniors, they’re hungry and they’re going to win a lot of basketball games.
“We aspire to be there. Our kids work hard and I’ll never fault their effort. I told them, don’t treat this as
demoralizing, treat this as a learning lesson because we’re going to be there someday.’’
Elida freshman X’zorion Island had 13 points and seven rebounds.
Both teams wound up their running games and the pace in the first half was full-throttle.
The problem for Elida was it couldn’t handle the Perry pressure man-to-man press.
Perry ran the court nearly at will and led 48-21 at the half.
Perry forced 10 turnovers in the first quarter and 21 for the half.
“That’s the speed of the game and our youth showed tonight,” Tabler said.
That helped Perry run out to a 13-4 early lead with seven quick Elida turnovers helping out the Perry running game.
Perry scored 10 baskets in the first quarter and nine came on layups.
Riley had eight points in the first quarter.
Ryan Yingst had 16 at the half.
Perry had 22 first-half field goals and 16 of those were layups.
Perry led 66-25 after three.
“Tonight mean a little more to them because we were playing against their ex-coach,” Tucker said. “They were more emotional and more physical than I’ve ever seen them.’’
Yingst said it helps the Commodores playing Western Buckeye League schools. Perry beat Shawnee78-58 on Dec. 14.
“It’s a matter of establishing that we’re not some small school in Lima, we’re one of the best teams in the city,” Yingst said. “And playing teams like Elida, Wapak and Shawnee, really helps us get ready for that (tournament) run.’’
High School
Boys Basketball
Kalida 55, Lincolnview 23
MIDDLE POINT — Kalida’s Justin Sienbeneck scoed 13 points and Drew Fersch, EJ Miller and Tyson Siefker all added eight points each. For Lincolnview, Ethan Crow scored 10 points.
Bluffton 56, Elmwood 39
BLUFTTON — Bluffton’s Trenton Donley poured in a team high 17 points and Kyler Kinn chipped in 14.
Wapakoneta 37, Liberty-Benton 34
WAPAKONETA — Wapakoneta’s Kaden Siefring scored a game-high 18 points and Braeden Goulet scored four points, dished out two assists and grabbed six rebounds. For Liberty-Benton, Cason Doolittle scored 12 points. Wapakoneta improves to 5-3.
Coldwater 59, New Knoxville 27
COLDWATER — Coldwater’s Kevin Fisher scoed 17 points and Jace Wood added 12 points. Rece Merscher scored 10 points.
Girls Basketball
Miller City 63, Lincolnview 41
MILLER CITY — Miller City’s Abi Lammers scored 27 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, dished out eight assists and made six steals and Carly Hermiller poured in 20 points. For Lincolnview, Kendall Bollenbacher scored 21 points.
Miller City improved to 7-1.
Continental 42, Maumee Valley Country Day 22
CONTINENTAL — Continental’s Jensen Armey scored 18 points and made 10 steals and Bryn Tegenkamp snared 10 rebounds and dished out four assists.
Continental improves to 2-6.
COLLEGE
Women’s basketball
Bluffton 66, Adrian 45
DRIAN, Mich. – The Bluffton University women’s basketball team went up 23-11 in the first quarter and never looked back in a 66-45 win at Adrian College on Wednesday. Bluffton improved to 4-4 with its second straight victory, while Adrian fell to 3-8 on the season.
Four free throws by Angel Schneider (Columbus Grove) and two from Ella Zaborowski (Toledo/Christian) put the Beavers up 6-0 just over a minute into the game. When Kayla Prigge (Hamler/Patrick Henry) drained a triple at the 5:33 mark, she made it 15-8 in favor of the good guys. Layups by Prigge and fellow freshman Olivia Zender (Fostoria/Hopewell Louden) pushed the spread to 19-8 less than two minutes later. Two buckets by Brianna Gillig (New Riegel) gave the Beavers a comfortable 25-14 advantage after period one.
Gillig continued to punish the Bulldogs with two more deuces early in the second quarter as Bluffton opened a 31-14 lead with 6:40 on the clock. Sophomore Sydney Cavanaugh (Mansfield/St. Peter’s) cashed in from deep and Morgan Smith (Forest/Arlington) followed with a pair of two-point conversions, giving Bluffton a 44-29 lead at the break.
A Sammy Shardo (Findlay/Liberty-Benton) trifecta spearheaded a 9-2 Beaver run coming out of the gate as Bluffton went up 53-31 just two and a half minutes into the second half. Both offenses struggled late in the third quarter, but Bluffton still held a commanding 56-33 lead heading into the final 10 minutes of action.
Four quick points by Gillig to start the final stanza put the game on ice as Bluffton led 60-33 with 8:59 to play. Freshman Breena Plank (Ashland) capped off Bluffton’s scoring with a jumper at the 3:22 mark and the Beavers closed out their second straight victory with a 66-45 win on Wednesday night.
Wrestling
ONU place hight at invite
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — Senior Jordan Hardrick (Dayton/Wayne), junior Logan Painter (Marysville/Early Colllege) and freshman Jacob Reed (Canal Winchester/Lancaster) each won individual weight class titles to lead the Ohio Northern wrestling team at the non-scoring Wilkes (Pa.) Invitational on Wednesday at the McHale Athletic Center.
The Polar Bears had 15 wrestlers place in the top six in their respective weight classes in the 8-team tournament.
Freshman Cael Vanderhorst (Covington) was 2-1 and placed second behind Reed at 141.
Freshman Jayden Jones (Ashland) also had a second place finish, reaching the finals at 149 pounds.
Senior Schuyler Caprella (Bluffton/Allen East) placed third at 157 pounds, junior Chase Sumner (Ada) was third at 149, freshman Nick Campbell (Brecksville/Brecksville-Broadview Heights) was third at 165 and freshman Dylan Le (Powell/Dublin Scioto) was third at 133.
Senior Connor Kwiat (Bloomville/Tiffin Calvert) was fourth at 174, junior Bailey Gibson (Elida) was fourth at 149 pounds and freshman Gavin Layman (Chesterton, Ind.) was fourth at 184 pounds.
Sophomore Jadon Brownlee (Powell/Olentangy Liberty) was fifth at Heavyweight, freshman Brandon Lee (La Plata, Md.) was fifth at 141 pounds and freshman Adam Myers (Springfield/STEM Academy) was fifth at 174.
