Ross 3-point shooting downs Norwalk

FREMONT — As quickly as the run came, it went.In the fourth quarter, Norwalk found itself down 12 points, but three consecutive buckets by senior Garrett Chapin sliced the lead in half.On the other end, Fremont Ross senior Jared Adkins was just heating up for the Little Giants.Adkins hit six 3s on the night, including four in the final seven minutes of the game, leading Ross to a 71-59 non-league win over the Truckers on Tuesday."Our big problem tonight was our lack of communication and our inability to be on our man when he caught the ball," Norwalk coach Steve Gray said. "There is no excuse for giving up six 3s to a player. The kids are smart enough in open gyms to know if the kid is hot to make him put it on the floor."A score by Chapin kept Norwalk (1-2) within 40-38 with 3:31 left in the third quarter, but the Little Giants (2-0) pushed the lead up to 49-42 after three quarters. In the final quarter, a score by Kaden Holmes was followed by a triple from Adkins as Ross opened its biggest lead of the night to that point at 54-42.But Chapin pressed through and scored six straight points in 49 seconds to bring Norwalk back within 54-48. Kurt Harrison answered for Ross as he hit a baseline jumper before back-to-back 3-pointers by Adkins made it 62-50."We knew they had some shooters," Gray said. "It is a situation where even if we had no scouting report on them, after the guy hits two, our rule is always to not let him have a 3. We gave him six ... I don't know."Adkins added two free throw makes before Will Gehlhausen scored on the other end for the Truckers. Adkins finished off his tremendous stretch with his sixth and final triple to push the Ross lead to 67-52 with 3:44 left."We shoot a lot of 3s in practice," Ross coach John Cahill said. "In our conference, we are going to be the smallest team in the league. We have to be able to space the floor and give ourselves opportunities. We had a lot of guys step up and make shots."Despite numerous runs of success, the two programs — separated by a stretch of U.S. Route 20 — had not played at all since the 1969 state tournament. They had not met in the regular season since 1959."It was good for us," Gray said. "They made us a better team tonight and they exposed some of our weaknesses. We are still searching. I probably screwed up early in the year. You get so consumed about everything around you. I spent so much time with team stuff that I failed to get them ready with the little things."The Little Giants hit 12 of 19 3-pointers as a team and made at least two triples in every quarter. Ross also connected in four 3s in the second quarter."So much of this is like summer ball almost," Cahill said. "You are trying to do preparation for teams you don't play. You are trying to do the best you can. Norwalk is a program we respect a lot and a coach I respect a lot as a friend."The two teams were tied at 13 after eight minutes, but consecutive 3-pointers by Harrison gave Ross a 19-13 lead just 39 seconds into the second quarter. Norwalk never led in the second quarter, but answered Harrison's shots with six straight points of its own to tie the game.The Little Giants opened a 31-26 late in the quarter, but six straight Norwalk points by Chapin helped the Truckers slice the lead to 33-32 at halftime. Chapin finished with a big double-double of 24 points and 10 rebounds."Chapin is such a tough matchup because he can put it on the deck and he can post," Cahill said. "We put a number of different bodies on him, but you try to keep him in front and not give second shots to him."Neither team made a big push early in the third quarter until back-to-back tallies by Ross' Jonathan Szymanowski was followed by a 3 from Adkins for a 47-40 lead with 1:08 left in the frame.Gehlhausen backed Chapin's big night with 17 points. Ian Minor added eight points and six rebounds, while Andrew Mozina had six points and five assists. Norwalk is back in action Friday when it hosts Perkins in Sandusky Bay Conference Lake Division action."For whatever reason, we just did not get the job done," Gray said. "Fremont was really good tonight. They got to the rack and they went to the boards. They shot the hell out of it." NORWALK (1-2) Andrew Mozina 3-0—6, Will Gehlhausen 7-0—17, Ian Minor 2-4—8, Garrett Chapin 9-6—24, Caleb Sommers 1-0—2, Parker Evans 0-2—2. TOTALS 22-12—59. FREMONT ROSS (2-0) Anthony Vann 3-0—8, Labronze Barnett 0-4—4, Mikey Lather 1-2—4, Kurt Harrison 4-3—13, Kaden Holmes 6-0—13, Jared Adkins 6-2—20, Jonathan Szymanowski 2-0—4, Bryson Hammer 1-2—5. TOTALS 23-13—71. Norwalk 13 19 10 17 — 59 F. Ross 13 20 16 22 — 71 3-point FGs: (N) Gehlhausen 3; (FR) Adkins 6, Vann 2, Harrison 2, Holmes, Hammer.