Ottawa-Glandorf’s Dave Westrick (11) puts up a shot during O-G’s 55-41 win over Shawnee on Friday night in Lappin Gymnasium while Trevick Bertke (0) defends.
Richard Parrish | The Lima News
SHAWNEE TOWNSHIP — Shawnee never looked comfortable in a 55-41 loss to Ottawa-Glandorf in a match-up of the two top boys basketball teams in the Western Buckeye on Friday night.
In other words, O-G had the Indians exactly where it wanted them.
The Titans (16-2, 7-0 WBL) dominated offensively and defensively. They jumped out to a 25-9 lead three minutes into the second quarter and by then there was not a lot Shawnee could do to make the discomfort go away.
“We didn’t want them to get open looks, we wanted them to earn it,” Ottawa-Glandorf coach Tyson McGlaughlin said. “I thought we did a good job of making them shoot contested shots.”
Colin White’s 16 points led O-G, but the 6-6 senior spent an uncharacteristic amount of time on the bench in foul trouble. Grady Toumazos had 14 points and Caden Erford scored 11 points.
Beckett Bertke led Shawnee (11-6, 6-1 WBL) with 21 points.
Shawnee coach Mark Triplett said, “If you had told me (before the game) we’d give up 55 points, I’d have been feeling good that we’d have a chance to win that game.”
What he saw instead was the Indians score a season-low 41 points against O-G’s defense.
“You kind of get deceptively open looks against them where you feel like you’ve got a good look but it’s not really a great look and you’re forcing your body to be contorted and your hips are out of position and you’re shooting shots that are lay-ups but they’re awkward lay-ups. Early on, we shot those types of shots,” Triplett said.
“Our kids scrapped but you can’t score 41 points and beat Ottawa-Glandorf. It’s just not going to happen,” he said.
Getting off to a fast start was emphasized in the week leading up to Friday night’s game, Toumazos said.
“Coach was talking about that all week – getting off to a fast start, especially against a good Shawnee team,” he said.
Asked about the defense that made Shawnee look uncomfortable, the junior point guard said, “That’s just who we are. Coach is always on us about that, we work on that every single day.”
Toumazos hit his first six shots and scored eight of the Titans’ 10 points in the third quarter.
McGlaughlin said, “We had different guys step up. I thought Grady Toumazos, from the opening tip, was just in attack mode. Since the new year, he’s been a new person and has been the person we were expecting to see. Dave Westrick came in and gave us great minutes off the bench. This is turning into a complete team.”
Westrick, a 6-6 senior, has played in Ottawa-Glandorf’s four most recent games after returning from surgery to repair a torn ACL eight months ago.
He scored four points and had five rebounds. “It took a long time but I’m just glad to be here,” he said. “Eight months is about average. I was going to come back a little earlier but I had a scar tissue tear that set me back about a month.
“Defense and rebounding. That’s what I contribute. Hopefully, I can expand to a little more post-play,” he said.
Ottawa-Glandorf can win the outright Western Buckeye League championship if it beats Defiance and Kenton in its two remaining league games.
Ottawa-Glandorf 55, Shawnee 41
Score by quarters:
Ottawa-Glandorf 16 16 10 13 — 55
Shawnee 9 8 9 15 — 41
OTTAWA-GLANDORF
Colin White 16, Caden Erford 11, Ross Maag 2, Grant Schroeder 6, Grady Toumazos 14, Dave Westrick 4, Alex Wagner 2. Totals: 22-6-55.
SHAWNEE
Beckett Bertke 21, Dominic Lynch 5, Alex Goldsberry 2, Nick Pasion 6, Trevick Bertke 2, Tate Bender 5. Totals: 14-6-41.
3-point goals: OG — Tomazos 2, White 1, Erford 1, Schroeder 1; S — B. Bertke 2, Pasion 2.
Records: Ottawa-Glandorf (16-2, 7-0 WBL), Shawnee (11-6, 6-1 WBL)
