Late scoring run lifts Western past Norwalk

COLLINS — The feeling was eerily familiar. Even if it had been nearly three weeks. The Western Reserve boys basketball team found itself in a tight situation late against a quality opponent in Tuesday's non-league game vs. Norwalk. The Roughriders had not played since a Nov. 28 loss at Colonel Crawford because of a quarantine situation with COVID-19. They came up short despite chances to win down the stretch of a 43-39 loss. So in a timeout not long after Ian Minor had put the Truckers up 58-54 with 4:21 left, Western head coach Chris Sheldon's message to his team was a fairly simple one. "We had to find more toughness within ourselves to make a play at both ends of the court with the game on the line," he said. And his team delivered. The 'Riders scored the game's final 10 points in the last three minutes of the 64-58 win to improve to 2-1. "We were going to find out what we were made of," Sheldon said. "There is no John Wooden play to draw up at that point. It's a matter of who wants the ball in their hands and who is going to make the right pass and take the big shot — and who will go down to the other end and talk and communicate defensively and make a play." The game had been a streaky one for the better part of two-plus quarters. Western led by nine points (29-20) with 1:13 left in the half and again with 4:27 left in the third quarter (42-33). But the Truckers (2-3) answered both times, as an 11-0 scoring run over 2:21 span in the third put them ahead 44-42. That included back-to-back 3-pointers from Minor, who finished with 23 points and seven rebounds. From that point, the teams essentially traded the lead or played within a possession of each other until Norwalk's Andrew Mozina put the Truckers up 56-51 with 4:57 left in the game. Just 14 seconds later, Western junior Jude Muenz made the first of two critical 3s to put the 'Riders right back in it. After Minor's score made it 58-54, Muenz answered with his other triple to cut the deficit to 58-57 with exactly three minutes left. Junior post Carson Roe then scored inside with 1:40 left for a 59-58 lead, then after a Norwalk turnover, he was fouled on a rebound putback and split the pair for a 60-58 lead with 47.9 seconds to go. With the clock winding down inside of 20 seconds, Norwalk's Will Gehlhausen then dribbled to his right and took a 3-pointer with about 15 seconds left that was off the mark. The ball caromed out of bounds and back to the 'Riders with 10.7 seconds left. Forced to foul, the Truckers sent Western's John Skrada to the line with 10.4 seconds and 0.9 seconds to go, and he made all four free throws for the final margin. Norwalk head coach Steve Gray said his team didn't execute the minor aspects of the game in going scoreless over the final 4:21 of contest. "We just don't do those types of things enough right now," Gray said. "Basketball like all sports is a whole bunch of little things … approaching with your hands high on defense. Boxing out. Chasing on screens. And right now we don't do the little things. "But doing those little things is about trusting and believing," he added. "All those things go together to create a winning culture. We just don't make enough plays at either end of the floor right now." Garrett Chapin added 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Truckers, who visit Huron on Thursday and Willard on Saturday in a pair of non-league games against SBC Bay Division opponents. Mozina added nine points, four rebounds and three assists, and Daniel Traczek had four points, seven assists and four rebounds. For Western, Luke Rowlinson made four of his team's 11 three-pointers for 20 points and added eight rebounds. Skrada finished with 14 points, while Jacob Jarrett added 13 and Muenz finished with eight points, five rebounds and five assists. Western hosts Crestview in a rescheduled Firelands Conference game on Saturday. "We just made them (Norwalk) work for everything, which is what we wanted to do," Sheldon said. "John and Luke made big plays and answered the bell when they had to, and Carson was just tremendous for us tonight. "Jude hit the big shots in the fourth quarter, but was also the vocal kid in the timeouts reassuring his teammates. That's what tough kids do, and his teammates followed his lead tonight. The kids trusted each other." Norwalk won the junior varsity game by a 55-25 score. Parker Evans scored 10 points, while Mason Hainline and Caleb Sommers each scored nine, Griffin Peiples had eight and Kyler Kromer added seven. NORWALK (2-3) Ian Minor 9-1—23; Garrett Chapin 5-1—12; Andrew Mozina 2-5—9; Will Gehlhausen 3-0—7; Daniel Traczek 2-0—4; Parker Evans 1-0—2. TOTALS 22-8—58. WESTERN RESERVE (2-1) Luke Rowlinson 8-0—20; John Skrada 3-5—14; Jacob Jarrett 6-0—13; Jude Muenz 3-0—8; Carson Roe 2-2—6; Camden Hankins 1-0—3. TOTALS 23-7—64. Norwalk 12 11 22 13 — 58 W. Reserve 8 21 15 20 — 64 3-point FGs: (N) Minor 4, Gehlhausen, Chapin; (WR) Rowlinson 4, Skrada 3, Muenz 2, Hankins, J. Jarrett. JV: Norwalk, 55-25.