Shawnee’s Nick Pasion shoots against Perry during Tuesday’s game at Shawnee High School.
Richard Parrish | The Lima News
SHAWNEE TOWNSHIP – Perry came out like a runaway buzzsaw.
Six minutes into the game, the running Commodores led by nine.
That’s when Shawnee pulled it together and went on to post an 81-60 victory over Perry in a boys basketball game Tuesday at Shawnee.
Shawnee, which has won three in a row, is 3-3. Perry is 3-4.
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Perry opened the game with a 14-5 lead, before Shawnee closed the gap to 14-13 at the end of the first quarter.
“We had a slow start to start the game,” McBride said. “I think their aggression kicked us in the mouth to start the first quarter and we had to respond quickly. We can’t let that happen.’’
Added Shawnee coach Mark Triplett, “We came out flat and that’s the worst style of basketball you can come out against. Perry gets up for this
game and they came out and played extremely hard and beat us up and down the floor in transition. It was a frustrating start.’’
Shawnee led 35-30 at the half and 63-48 after three.
Shawnee guard Will McBride had 18 points and seven rebounds for the Indians.
“I thought he (McBride) played tremendous,” Triplett said. “He really fights for position inside. It’s good for our big guys to see we have a guard in there battling (for rebounds).’’
Austin Miller, fresh off a state championship in soccer, added 16 points and nine rebounds. He also hit three 3-pointers.
Nick Pasion had 15 points with three 3-pointers.
Beckett Bertke scored 10.
Zamere Daniel scored 14 for Perry. Kameron Moore had 12 points.
Ayden Simpson had nine points and nine boards for the Commodores.
Shawnee won the boards, 36-32. The Indians also forced 26 Perry turnovers.
Perry came out pressing and running and Shawnee was caught in neutral.
Perry continued to blitz down the floor and launch shots easily before seven or eight seconds came off the clock.
“They came out aggressive and we had to respond,” McBride said.
At the 2:18 mark of the first quarter, Perry ran out to a 14-5 lead.
After a few Shawnee timeouts, the Indians rallied to get within 14-13 after the first quarter.
“I think coach chewed us out a little bit,” McBride said of the timeouts. We came out and got mentally locked in.’’
Added Triplett, “The point of emphasis was if we don’t get the basketball stopped, they are going to run you out of the gym. … We got into a defensive rhythm where we stopped giving
them easy shots and created some offensive opportunities in transition.’’
Shawnee led 35-30 at the half.
The Shawnee defense led the way in the first half, as it forced 16 first-half Perry turnovers.
Shawnee also began going inside to Bertke and Miller dropping a pair of 3-pointers from outside the arc.
Shawnee was leading 41-37 with just under six minutes left in the third quarter.
McBride then hit a follow shot and a 3-pointer.
Bertke added a 12-footer.
“I was looking for my shot,” McBride said.
McBride scored nine points in the third quarter, when Shawnee outscored Perry 28-18.
“In that third quarter I knew we had to pick it up,” McBride said.
The Indians’ lead mushroomed to 48-37 with 4:55 left in the third.
Miller and Pasion both drilled 3-pointers and the Shawnee lead was 59-46.
“In the second half we had to wake up and be more physical than them,’’ McBride said. “They were the more physical team in the first half. We started forcing more turnovers and it led to more offense on our side.’’
