TOLEDO — Whitmer shot 64% from the field (30-for-47), including nearly 50% from beyond the arc, in defeating Perrysburg, 77-71, in a Northern Lakes League Buckeye Division showdown at Memorial Fieldhouse Tuesday.

Whitmer improves to 14-1 overall and 4-1 in the NLL while Perrysburg falls to 11-4 and 3-2, missing out on their chance to take ownership of first place.

However, this time the Yellow Jackets had every opportunity to get the win in a contest that was much different than Perrysburg’s 84-57 loss to the Panthers the first time they met.

“You have to give a lot of credit to Perrysburg,” said Whitmer coach Anthony Stacey, a former Bowling Green State University standout.

“I think (Perrysburg coach) Dave (Boyce) has done a really good job. We tried to stress to our guys for the last few days this is going to be quite a bit different from the first game.

“Obviously, they have got a lot of pride and we knew they would come out fighting. They came out swinging and kind of got us on our heels, but I like the way we responded. It’s good for us to be in close games as well.”

Whitmer junior guard Antione West, who was honored for scoring his 1,000th career point before the game, hit three shots from the arc and scored a game-high 25 points plus he pulled down eight rebounds.

Another Whitmer junior guard, Makhi Leach, was right on West’s heels as far as scoring, connecting on four triples, scoring 24 points, and grabbing seven rebounds with two steals.

However, Perrysburg got five players into double figures, led by senior guard Austin Shultz, who had four triples of his own and scored 22 points, plus he had three steals on the defensive side of the ball.

Perrysburg senior Gavin Fenneken had 16 points, four rebounds and two steals, senior Matt Hubbard had 12 points and four rebounds, junior Carter Young scored 11 points, and senior Joe Dynda had 10 points, a team-high eight rebounds and two steals. Fenneken and Hubbard had two triples apiece.

Boyce liked his team’s effort even though the Jackets came up short.

“We played really hard,” Boyce said. “I thought both teams made a lot of plays and either team could have won at the end, in the fourth quarter. We’ve made progress every week and we’re continuing to make progress.”

Perrysburg opened a 10-3 lead less than two minutes into the game, but Leach hit a 24-foot triple with two minutes remaining in the first quarter to give Whitmer its first lead, 18-17.

Schulz knocked down two free throws to open the second quarter, getting the lead back, but Whitmer junior forward Tylin Patterson scored on a feed from senior guard Elijah McLeod, putting the Panthers back in front, and they never trailed in the first half after that, leading at intermission, 36-32.

Perrysburg’s final lead of the game was after a 15-foot jumper by Fenneken put the Jackets up 46-45 with three minutes remaining in the third, but Whitmer only led by two, 53-51, entering the fourth.

Whitmer opened the fourth quarter on an 8-0 run to take a 10-point lead, and although Perrysburg was able to bounce back to make it a three-point, one possession game in the final two minutes, they never got the lead back.

“I think the team that got the lead just had an advantage,” Boyce said. “There was a slow stretch there where we missed three or four shots in a row and they got up. We made some nice comebacks after that, but I think that put them in the driver’s seat.”

Stacey liked the way his team finished in the fourth quarter, scoring 24 points and missing only two shots from the field.

“We made plays,” Stacey said. “I think we got to the basket late in the second half. I thought we settled for too many jump shots and I thought they pressured us the second half. We got in the paint and made some good plays.”

What Stacey didn’t like was his team’s inability to put Perrysburg away.

“We’ve got to clean up defense though,” Stacey said. “We were a disaster on defense, especially late in the game.

“We didn’t have our match-ups correct and didn’t do a good job of communicating but it’s hard to win in this league. This is a good team and any time you can win it’s good.”

Perrysburg got off eight more shots from the field, making 26-of-55 (47%). The Jackets were 11-for-13 (85%) from the free throw line and had eight turnovers.

Whitmer was 8-for-12 (67%) from the charity stripe and had 11 turnovers, and the Panthers held a 26-22 advantage off the boards.

For Whitmer, Patterson scored 10 points, senior guard Andre Young III scored six points, senior forward TaMarrion Davis scoerd four points, McLeod and sophomore guard Damien Clay scored three apiece, and junior forward Napoleon Jemison added two points.