Norwalk clinches SBC Lake title share

PERKINS TWP. — With his team struggling in the third quarter, Steve Gray casually sat in front of his players during a timeout and calmly stated a simple fact. "If winning a championship was easy, every team would have one." But even as the Norwalk boys basketball team let a double-digit lead slip away in the third quarter, the veteran coach didn't realize just how hard his team had it yet. After losing a 12-point lead it built in the first half, Norwalk recovered to lead by eight (35-27) going into the fourth quarter of Saturday's critical SBC Lake Division game at Perkins. But that also got erased, and the Truckers trailed by a basket with seven seconds left. Junior Ian Minor then hit a tough shot at the buzzer to force overtime, where two senior mainstays helped take Norwalk home. The 56-53 win over the Pirates clinched at least a share of the league championship for Norwalk (13-7, 10-1), which also won for the 11th time in its last 13 games. "Early on, and even in the third quarter when they made a run at us and then we pushed it back to eight, I still thought we were OK," Gray said. "We didn't play our best game of the year or handle the ball the way we're capable of. We just didn't play well. "But, we played with a tremendous amount of heart," he added. "We do have the heart of a champion, and forever we will be known as SBC champions this season." The Pirates (7-9, 5-6) trailed 40-32 with 5:12 left in regulation, but responded with a 10-0 scoring run as consecutive baskets from standout Sam Siegel with 1:33 left gave them a 42-40 lead. Norwalk senior Will Gehlhausen gave his team the lead right back with a 3-pointer with 59 seconds left. However, at the other end of the floor, Perkins' Jaden Rowe missed his own shot, but was fouled on a rebound and basket with 35.1 seconds remaining. The foul shot put the Pirates up 45-43, and the Truckers were on the ropes. After a series of stoppages and inbounding of the basketball as the Pirates kept knocking it out of bounds, junior Daniel Traczek set up under the right side of the baseline with 7.1 seconds left. Traczek lobbed the ball over a Perkins defender, where Minor jumped and caught it about six feet directly in front of the basket. His shot was short, and hit the front end of the rim. However, Minor was able to get both hands back on the basketball over three Perkins defenders, and he took a fadeaway shot from the right block. This time, the shot was nothing but net over three Pirate players as the buzzer sounded to force overtime. "That was just unbelievable for him to get in there and get his own rebound over several of their players," Gray said. In the overtime, Rowe scored first for the Pirates, but then Gehlhausen sank another 3-pointer for a 48-47 lead with 3:26 left. After Siegel gave the lead back to the Pirates with two foul shots, Norwalk senior Garrett Chapin muscled his way to the rim for two points, and was fouled. His free throw with 2:31 left gave the Truckers a 51-49 lead. Tyler Yingling scored inside the paint twice for the Pirates around a Minor basket to leave the game tied at 53 with 1:40 left. But once again, a breakdown on defense by the Pirates allowed a wide open Gehlhausen to shoot with no hesitation from nearly two feet behind the line from the right wing. His fifth 3-pointer of the game with 1:10 left gave Norwalk a 56-53 lead. Both teams then traded turnovers, and the Pirates missed a 3-pointer and fouled the Truckers with 29.3 seconds left. However, the foul shot was short, and Perkins had another missed triple at the other end. Norwalk had the ball with 17 seconds left, but again turned it over, giving the Pirates one last chance. Out of a timeout, Perkins inbounded with eight seconds left. Sam Oddo passed it in to Rowe, who at the top of the key went to give it back to Oddo. But Chapin deflected the ball, and Oddo recovered behind the half-court line. By then, just three seconds remained, and Oddo's shot from just inside the volleyball line from the top of the key was short to seal the Norwalk win. Gehlhausen scored 23 points for the Truckers, and made 10 3-pointers in a pair of wins over the weekend. "I've been on a roll recently and my teammates have the utmost confidence in me — and I have it in them to get me the ball in those spots," Gehlhausen said. "I'm confident every time I shoot it." Chapin also had a big game, scoring 17 points with 14 rebounds and six assists. Minor had 11 points and eight rebounds for the Truckers, who host South Central (14-5) on Tuesday, then entertain Tiffin Columbian (17-4, 9-2) on Friday in the regular season finale. The Tornadoes need a win to force a co-title with the Truckers, and claimed a 58-57 win thanks to a buzzer-beater over Norwalk back on Jan. 22. "Tonight is really, really special," Gray said. "Give credit to the kids and my tremendous assistant coaches. Tiffin next week will be fun. We're not big on sharing, and we'd like to be selfish next weekend." The Norwalk junior varsity team improved to 12-4 with a 52-37 win. Griffin Peiples scored 16 points, while Parker Evans and Braedyn Demuth each scored 10 points. NORWALK (13-7, 10-1) Will Gehlhausen 9-0—23; Garrett Chapin 6-4—17; Ian Minor 5-0—11; Kyler Kromer 1-0—3; Daniel Traczek 1-0—2. TOTALS 22-4—56. PERKINS (7-9, 5-6) Sam Siegel 9-5—24; Drake Vennerucci 2-1—7; Sam Oddo 1-0—3; Jaden Rowe 3-1—7; Tyler Yingling 6-0—12. TOTALS 21-7—53. Norwalk 14 12 9 10 11 — 56 Perkins 8 10 9 18 8 — 53 3-point FGs: (N) Gehlhausen 5, Chapin, Minor, Kromer; (P) Vennerucci 2, Siegel, Oddo JV: Norwalk, 52-37