FINDLAY — Findlay boys basketball held Perrysburg to their lowest scoring output of the season, routing the visiting Yellow Jackets, 53-30, on Friday.

“Almost everybody that we played this year has had their lowest output of the season against us,” Findlay coach Jim Rucki said.

“Our guys have defended consistently every day, and get better and better. We have some weaknesses once in a while offensively — we may not do something. We don’t have a weak link defensively.

“They have bought into having pride in their defense and once you take pride, that’s about three-quarters of the battle. It is just working hard.”

Perrysburg’s lowest scoring output this season beforehand was 10 points more, but that was during a 40-37 victory over Findlay on the Yellow Jackets’ home court on Jan. 26, giving the Trojans their only league loss.

As a result of Findlay’s win in the rematch, the Trojans secured an outright Northern Lakes League Buckeye Division championship in their first year in the NLL, finishing the regular season 20-2 overall and 7-1 in the NLL.

“We won the TRAC (Three Rivers Athletic Conference, former league) a couple times but they were shared titles, so to win this outright, it’s so much better,” Rucki said.

“I said the other night when Perrysburg got beat (by Anthony Wayne Tuesday), now even if we lose co-champs sounds so much better than tri-champs, but man, its exponentially better to be champs and not co-champs.”

It is the first time in school history that Findlay has won a league championship in football, basketball and hockey in the same school year, resulting in a huge celebration in a packed Findlay fieldhouse Friday after their win.

Findlay senior Javonte Hill led all scorers with 21 points and 6-foot-6 senior Will Cordonnier had a double-double 12 points and 11 rebounds as the Trojans had a 31-26 edge off the glass.

The Yellow Jackets finish the regular season 15-7 and 4-4, good for third place in the five-team Buckeye Division. However, the game was much closer than the final score, at least until halftime.

Perrysburg junior guard Austin Shultz hit a corner three with 40 seconds remaining in the first quarter, giving the Yellow Jackets a 7-6 lead, but it was Perrysburg’s first field goal and they went 1-for-9 in the opening stanza.

Perrysburg senior guard Joe Dynda scored in the paint with 45 seconds left in the half, and the Jackets went into the locker room down just three, 22-19. Shultz hit three first half triples and scored 13 of Perrysburg’s 19 points.

In the third quarter, Findlay shifted to a box-and-one with senior Luke Weihrauch all over Shultz. Shultz got off only three long distance shots with a hand in the face, and he did not score in the second half.

Meanwhile, Findlay’s four other defenders got in the passing lanes and got four steals in the first four minutes of the half. Ultimately, Findlay forced 15 Perrysburg turnovers while the Trojans committed just four.

The Trojans started the second half on a 12-2 run, and outscored Perrysburg 17-4 in the third quarter to begin pulling away.

“I think it was anybody’s game going into the third quarter and they won the first four minutes of the third quarter decisively, and I think that set the tone of the game,” Perrysburg coach Dave Boyce said.

“They are big, they are long, they got their hands on a lot of balls in that four-minute stretch. They got their hands on four to five balls and they came out with more energy in the third quarter than we did, and the first four minutes of that quarter decided the game.”

Rucki said while Weihrauch did his job, he believes the Findlay defense got into the heads of the Perrysburg players.

“I think Weihrauch did a great job, and they hesitated on some other shots,” Rucki said.

“No. 1 (Perrysburg senior Gavin Fenneken) shot a three and missed it, and then you start to second guess a little bit whether or not you should take another one, and that’s a tough situation to be in offensively. The shoe has been on the other foot before.”

Perrysburg shot just 29% (11-for-38) from the field and made 4-of-6 free throws. Shultz was still the only player to reach double figures, but all 13 of his points were scored in the first half plus he had four rebounds.

Perrysburg junior Carter Young scored four points, sophomore Tyler Palmer scored three points, and senior Matt Hubbard had two points and seven rebounds.

Fenneken, Dynda, and freshman Ben Pamer added two points each to round out the Jackets’ scoring.

Findlay junior Ryan Montgomery had eight points and five rebounds, Weihrauch had six points, five steals, and four rebounds, senior Sam Ernst had six points and two steals, and senior Ben Best had four rebounds.

The Trojans shot 40% (20-for-50), getting 12 more shots than the Jackets, and Findlay was 4-for-7 from the charity stripe.

Perrysburg opens Division I tournament play next Saturday, March 2, hosting Clay (13-9) at 7:30 p.m. with the winner advancing to a district semifinal on March 5 at Lake. The Jackets defeated the Eagles during the regular season, 70-49, on Jan. 30.

“The most important game of the tournament is the first game,” Boyce said. “We’ve got Clay, and when we come back Monday we’ll start getting ready.”