Truckers seek upset in district title game

ASHLAND — There are no illusions. The Norwalk boys basketball team is the underdog entering Saturday's Division II district championship game vs. Shelby at Ashland High School. At 19-3, the Whippets have the better record than the Truckers (17-8). Shelby was voted the top seed in the district, while Norwalk was seeded third. And just 34 days ago, the Whippets came into Norwalk and left with a 59-42 non-league victory on Jan. 30 at Norwalk High School. "It's going to be a tough game," Norwalk junior guard Kyler Kromer said. "I don't think we played our best, but they have two great scorers in (Cody) Lantz and (TJ) Pugh. It's going to be tough to stop them." The Whippets average 69.5 points per game. Known for their defense, the Truckers held them to nearly 11 points below that average in the game in Norwalk, but it was the offense that hurt them. In the loss, Norwalk had four stretches in the first half that totaled 10:29 of the 16 minutes without scoring as it faced a 35-26 halftime deficit. Offensively, aside from one basket from Caleb Sommers, Norwalk had just three players score. The Truckers were 0-of-8 shooting from the three-point line while they finished just 17-of-45 (38 percent) overall from the floor. Norwalk trailed 20-16 with 2:26 left in the first quarter, but didn't score for the next 4:19 of the game. The Truckers still trailed by just seven points with 7:34 left in the game, but the Whippets responded. The best Norwalk did was a 48-40 deficit with 4:23 left in the game, then Shelby closed out the win with an 11-2 scoring run. After that loss, Norwalk head coach Steve Gray was prophetic in his words. "We haven't lost anything in terms of what we can do and what we want to accomplish," he said. "And if it works out, maybe we'll see Shelby sometime down the road." That road is Saturday night at Ashland High School. Since the loss the Whippets, the Truckers have won eight of their last nine games, the only setback by four points to Tiffin Columbian (20-4) on Feb. 19 in the regular season finale. During the regular season, Norwalk averaged 53.7 points per game. In three tournament wins over Galion (68-31), Upper Sandusky (52-38) and Ontario (66-62), the Truckers are averaging 62 points per game. Those numbers have been helped from the contributions from Ian Minor and Kyler Kromer. In Wednesday's district semifinal overtime win over Ontario, the two combined for 29 points — which included seven 3-pointers. Senior mainstays Will Gehlhausen and Garrett Chapin hit their usual point totals, but it was the additional offense that allowed the Truckers to earn the rematch with the Whippets despite trailing by seven at halftime (24-17) and by nine (35-26) midway through the third quarter. "We just challenged the kids," Gray said. "We run a lot of sets, and we do it because we don't have time to work on our offense, we spend most of our time working on our defense. "In the second half, Ian just went and got it," he added. "I think he's one of the better defensive post players around, and then Kromer did what he does best, which is catch and shoot." Saturday's game is the eighth tournament game between the former Northern Ohio League foes. Norwalk has won five of the previous seven meetings in the tournament, including last season's 62-58 win in the district semifinal round. The Truckers trailed in that game by eight points midway through the third quarter before rallying for the win. Shelby leads the all-time series in the regular season, 72-58. Saturday's game is the fifth district title game in Gray's 20-year tenure, including three consecutive appearances — a program first. Norwalk is 4-7 all-time in district championship games. Gehlhausen leads Norwalk in scoring at 14.9 points per game. He adds 3.9 rebounds, 2.9 assists. Chapin adds 14.6 points, 9.9 rebounds and 2.6 assists, while Minor is averaging 9.8 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game. The Truckers average 26.4 rebounds, 13 assists and 5.5 steals per game, while the Whippets counter with 30.1 rebounds, 14.8 assists and 10.5 steals per game. For Shelby, the 6-foot-5 Pugh averages 25.6 points, 7.4 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 3.1 steals per game. He was selected as the Div. II Ohio High School Basketball Coaches Association District 6 Player of the Year Lantz adds 16 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 2.4 steals per contest, while post Jeremy Holloway adds seven points and 6.9 rebounds per game. In the game at Norwalk, Lantz led the Whippets with 24 points and Pugh had 15 as they scored 39 of the team's 59 points. Kromer and senior starter Andrew Mozina are the defensive stoppers for the Truckers. They will have their hands full, but have a little momentum after keeping Ontario standout Griffin Shaver in check for most of Wednesday's win. Shaver got hot late, but did not score until the fourth quarter and finished with 13 points. "Shout out to Mozina, he stopped him more than me," Kromer said. "That's our game. When one of one us gets tired, the other one goes in. Just stay on them, don't let them touch the ball, get them mad at me … I'm ready for the challenge, Mo is ready for it, and we're all ready. We want that upset." ------------------------------------------------------- Norwalk-Shelby tournament history March 7, 1974: Norwalk 65, Shelby 55 (at Ashland)* March 9, 2000: Norwalk 46, Shelby 44 (at Ashland)* March 10, 2004: Shelby 73, Norwalk 53 (at Ashland)* Feb. 28, 2014: Norwalk 54, Shelby 37 (at Bucyrus)^ March 6, 2015: Shelby 49, Norwalk 41 (at Madison)^ Feb. 28, 2017: Norwalk 61, Shelby 53 (at Galion)# March 4, 2020: Norwalk 62, Shelby 59 (at Madison)* * — denotes district semifinal ^ — denotes sectional championship # — denotes sectional semifinal