Willard holds off Truckers for 60-50 win

WILLARD — Willard had to play better defense.After giving up 102 points to Sandusky on Monday and losing to Toledo St. Francis on Thursday, the Crimson Flashes faced a third-straight non-league game on Friday against Norwalk.Willard built a 15-point lead in the third quarter then fended off the Truckers in the fourth to pick up a 60-50 win, evening its record at 6-6 to end the calendar year."I thought our man-to-man defense has improved," Willard coach Joe Bedingfield said. "I thought we did a good job getting off to a good start. We tried to make it a transition game and they switched to zone."The Flashes went up 38-23 but the Truckers (3-6) didn't go quietly. Ashton Coe scored to cut into the lead before triples by Coe and Dalton Chapin got Norwalk within 38-31 after three quarters.The Truckers kept the momentum going to start the fourth quarter. Braedyn Demuth picked a steal and scored and was fouled on the play. He missed the free throw, but Norwalk kept the ball alive on an offensive rebound. That led to Coe scoring to suddenly bring the Truckers within 38-35.After Cam Robinson split two free throws, Ben Rothhaar's two free throws got Norwalk's deficit down to just two points, but that was the closest the Truckers would get."We had a stretch in the third quarter we would like to get back," Bedingfield said. "They made a run at us, but we didn't blink. (Norwalk) coach (Adam) Kreischer is getting them to play hard. They've had a lot of games where they battled back."Max Dawson scored for Willard before Braydon Thompson hit a huge triple for the Flashes that proved to be his only score of the night. That pushed the Flashes back up 44-37 with 5:07 to go."I thought Braydon hit a huge 3 for us tonight," Bedingfield said. "I thought that gave us a lift late in the game to give us a little bit of breathing room. He is playing with a little bit more confidence."Chapin answered with a 3-pointer on the other end for Norwalk, but Robinson scored, Alex Strayer tallied a three-point play and Robinson registered consecutive buckets to push the lead to 53-42. Robinson scored eight of his 15 points in the fourth quarter after missing a couple recent games with bruised ribs."He sat out a couple games, but has toughed it out with his ribs," said Bedingfield of the junior. "He's a kid that loves to compete. He wears his emotions on his sleeve, but I think he's a little more hungry after sitting out a couple games."Norwalk got within eight points a couple times in the final few minutes, but had spent a plethora of energy just getting back in the game. The Truckers made just five of the 11 free throws they attempted and connected on 5 of 18 3-pointers."Sometimes when you battle back that hard to get back in the game when you are down by that much, you maybe lose some of that energy fighting back," Kreischer said. "We weren't able to completely get over the hump."The Flashes took a 13-9 advantage after eight minutes and stingy defense kept Norwalk from racking up points and keeping pace. The Truckers went 6:01 without a field goal and Willard moved its lead from two points to 22-12 in that span."I thought our guards did a good job handling the traps and jumping to the ball," Bedingfield said. "We knocked down some free throws. I thought we did a good job squaring up."Demuth connected on a 3 to finally get the Truckers a field goal, but Cam Robinson, Isaac Robinson and Dawson each scored to help Willard to a 28-17 advantage at the break."The problem is we were not able to get anything easy in transition," Kreischer said. "I think we only had five defensive rebounds in the first half. You want to look at guys that make a difference in the game. You look at the scoreboard and see Dawson's points and you see Cam Robinson's points, but the player that made the biggest difference in the game -- especially in the first half in my mind -- was Alex Strayer. He did all of his work early."Rothhaar topped Norwalk with 12 points and eight rebounds while Coe scored 11 points. Demuth chipped in 10 points for the Truckers. It's the fifth straight loss for Norwalk after a 3-1 start to the season. "We don't have a lot of experience back from last year and we knew that," Kreischer said. "We knew we won some close games early. We've lot a few games, but Sandusky has one loss and we lost at their place by four points. Tiffin Columbian has one loss and we went to their place and lost by one. I think our kids still have the confidence that we can play with anybody."Dawson's 23 points led all scorers while Strayer added 11 points and seven rebounds."I think our team was player led tonight," Bedingfield said. "We challenged them yesterday after a tough two losses this week. We had to be more player led. They did that, so credit to our kids and their resilience and their ability to respond." NORWALK Ashton Coe 5 0-0 11, Mason Gamble 4 1-4 9, Braedyn Demuth 4 0-1 10, Brayson Malson 0 0-0 0, Ben Rothhaar 5 2-4 12, Dalton Chapin 2 2-2 8. TOTALS 20 5-11 50 WILLARD Max Dawson 7 8-8 23, Isaac Robinson 3 0-0 7, Cam Robinson 6 2-5 16, Braydon Thompson 1 0-0 3, Alex Strayer 3 4-7 11. Norwalk 9 8 14 19 -- 50Willard 13 15 10 22 -- 60 Three-point goals -- Norwalk 5 (Demuth 2, Chapin 2, Coe); Willard 6 (C. Robinson 2, Dawson, I. Robinson, Thompson, Strayer)