Findlay ousts Perrysburg boys (3-10-11)

FINDLAY — Perrysburg’s tournament magic ran out against Findlay Thursday night.
The Yellow Jacket boys, coming off two big wins in sectional play over Lima Senior and Bowling Green,
fell back to earth in the Division I district semifinals at Liberty-Benton High School.
Findlay’s defense and size proved to be too much for Perrysburg as the Trojans went on to post a 51-35
victory that was never in doubt after the second quarter.
Perrysburg ends the season at 15-8, while Findlay, 20-2, advances to face Mansfield Senior in Saturday’s
district final at Bowling Green State University.
“I thought we had a good gameplan. I thought we were doing the things we wanted to do. But that’s the
kind of team you want to be up five against, not down seven,” Perrysburg coach Dave Boyce said. “I
thought we did what we wanted to do, but we didn’t convert early when we had our chances.”
The ’Jackets struggled offensively, especially in the first half when they shot just 23.5 percent
(4-of-17) from the floor and managed only 10 points in the first 16 minutes.
Findlay, on the other hand, didn’t miss a shot in the second quarter and went 11-of-16 (69 percent) from
the floor in the first half to build a 26-10 lead at halftime.
“When we had our chances to cut it and stay in the game in the second quarter, we just kept missing,”
Boyce said. “Then in the second half it was a matter of trading baskets. We never did get that
eight-point run that would put them on their heels a little bit.”
Findlay’s 6-foot-10 center CJ Gettys and 6-6 forward Brock Ammons were a tough matchup for the undersized
’Jackets.
Gettys, a junior who is getting looks from several Division I colleges, finished with a game-high 15
points and 11 rebounds. The senior Ammons had 11 points, including two highlight-reel dunks, and five
rebounds.
The Trojans also got contributions and solid defense from its guards, led by Grant Birchmeier’s 11 points
and three steals.
“It’s hard to play against those guys when they’ve got a 6-11 guy (Gettys) to throw it up against when
you’re in trouble. And he’s good,” Boyce said. “Ammons is a good athlete and they’re very well-coached.
Birchmeier had a really good game.
“They did a good job of pressuring on the perimeter,” Boyce added. “The things they gave us we tried to
take, and we just didn’t convert.”
Perrysburg fell behind 15-6 after the first quarter and never got closer than seven points the rest of
the way. Findlay built its largest lead 49-26 late in the fourth quarter.
The ’Jackets struggled with Findlay’s man-to-man defense, finishing 12-of-48 (25 percent) from the field
and 4-of-25 (16 percent) from 3-point range.
The Trojans committed 19 turnovers in the game, but shot 20-of-31 (64.5 percent) from the floor.
“We’re happy. It wasn’t the prettiest thing in the world, but we did enough good things to move on.
That’s all you want to do right now,” said Findlay coach Jim Rucki. “We had some good possessions in the
little run in the second quarter where we shared the ball and made some good decisions and stretched
that lead out.
“We just wanted to guard them man-to-man,” Rucki added. “We think we’ve got a couple good guards that can
stick with people and we’ve got size inside to help erase some mistakes. So we did a good job.”
Perrysburg sophomore Shane Edwards didn’t play in the first half but finished with a team-high 11 points
for the ’Jackets, who didn’t have another player score more than six points in the game.
“I thought we missed some very makable shots early. I thought we had some real good looks, and obviously
Gettys is a presence in there. We needed to make some of those shots to be in the game,” Boyce said. “I
think our 3-point shots were contested. They did a nice job on defense and we needed to make a few of
those early.”
The loss marked the final game for seven Perrysburg seniors — Kevin Schenk, Karter Sell, Jason Meyer,
Stephen Yant, Devon Dunbar, Matt Schimmoeller, and Alec Schmenk.
“We’re proud of these guys. We’re proud of the effort we had. We were undersized all year,
under-experienced, playing a very tough schedule,” Boyce said.
“I thought we won some big games … I’m not sure we had our signature win until last week,” he added. “I
think that’s the really good thing for this group of kids, is they walk away from the season with the
Lima win, which is the first time Perrysburg has ever beaten Lima, and the Bowling Green win, which is
obviously a very good team.”
BOYS
DIVISION I
FINDLAY 51, PERRYSBURG 35
FINDLAY
Todd, 0-0—0; Birchmeier, 4-1-0—11; Boyd, 0-2-0—6; Clark, 2-0—4; Twining, 0-2—2; Davidson, 0-0—0; Rucher,
0-0—0; Peak, 0-1—1; Ballmer, 0-1—1; Ammons, 5-1—11; Gettys, 6-3—15. TOTALS: 17-3-8—51.
PERRYSBURG
Milne, 0-0—0; Gordon, 0-0—0; Schenk, 1-1-0—5; Sell, 0-4—4; Meyer, 1-0—2; Yant, 1-0—2; Pfleghaar, 1-1—3;
Dunbar, 0-0—0; Schimmoeller, 1-0—2; Schmenk, 1-1-1—6; Edwards, 2-2-1—11. TOTALS: 8-4-7—35.
FINDLAY 15 11 10 15 —51
PERRYSBURG 6 4 8 17 —35