Dawson, Robinson power Willard past Perkins

WILLARD — It was Max Dawson and Cam Robinson time. Willard had played well for three quarters, blending solid team defense and some useful bench production, but trailed visiting Perkins by a bucket with eight minutes to play. The senior southpaw duo relishes moments like these in front of an energetic home crowd, and they took over. "We love it," Robinson said. "We know we're seniors, we're not gonna get too many more of them. Everything we do in the offseason, it leads to this stuff right here." Dawson and Robinson combined for 21 of their 50 points in the fourth quarter, powering Willard past Perkins for a 65-58 victory. It helped the defending SBC Bay champion Flashes (2-0) avenge a defeat from last season at the SBC Lake contending Pirates (0-1). "It's big for our tournament, they're in our district, set the tone early," Dawson said. "It wasn't a good feeling (last year). We didn't play well. Like Coach Hirsch said, 365 days we were waiting for this game and we came out and played well." Dawson finished the night with 27 points on 8-of-16 shooting with four assists. The powerful Robinson made 9-of-12 shots from the floor to total 23 points while grabbing five rebounds. "They've been through the program for four years, they're dependable kids," Willard coach Joe Bedingfield said. "And they are ultimate competitors. They don't care how many points they score. They just want to win." Willard started the fourth on an 8-0 run. Robinson drove right along the baseline before getting back to his strong hand for a finger-roll finish. Then Dawson pulled up for a left-wing 3, swish, before his younger brother Mason delivered a feed to Dawson on the right wing for another triple. "I didn't shoot it great, but you're gonna have nights like that, and when you're a shooter, you just keep shooting," Dawson said. The Pirates pulled within four points on five different occasions after that but could not get closer. Dawson added five free throws and a strong lefty drive to his final ledger. Robinson scored on two more paint attacks, including an and-1, before sinking two bonus foul shots. The sturdy, All-Ohio football wideout won the offensive battle in the paint most of the night. "I like getting in the paint, it's easier shots," Robinson said. "I like shooting 3s, too, because it opens up my game. Tonight they weren't falling, so I just had to get to the rack." Willard was in position to win the game late because it had done things that weren't always in its identity. One was bench production: Levi Schag, who saw action in the JV game earlier in the night, nailed two first-half triples just when Perkins started to work its way into the game. He finished with eight points, seeing more run after Jackson Beamer rolled his ankle and left the game. "They're gonna figure out that me and Cam are getting buckets, and someone's gotta step up, and Levi was getting those open shots," Dawson said. "Credit to him. He's been in the gym early in the mornings." The other was defense. Willard held Perkins to seven points in the game's first seven minutes. "This whole preseason, we've been taking pride in our defense," Robinson said. The Flashes weren't thrilled with their middle-quarters defense, but then they held Perkins scoreless for the first three minutes of the final stanza. "We try to mix and match some of our defenses," Bedingfield said. "Sometimes it works really well, and other times we get one or two guys off the same page. I thought we did a better job of keeping the penetration out of the paint." Willard accompanied the good early defense with fast scoring, jumping out to a 19-7 lead against a Perkins squad playing its first game following a regional final football run. Robinson had nine points in those first seven minutes. Aiden Slone drilled a 3-pointer in the run. Dawson had opened the game with a 3 deep on the right wing. It was the kind of start the Flashes wanted eight days after opening their season against Upper Sandusky, and they found that burst again to get across the finish line. "Early in the week, some of the guys were probably like, 'Why in the world are we doing so much conditioning?'" Dawson said. "But it for sure paid off in the end." Willard hosts Carey on Tuesday night before playing its league opener at Huron on Saturday, Dec. 16. "We're led by our senior class, and they're doing a great job of being leaders," Bedingfield said. PERKINS Weston Sturzinger 6 3-5 15, Brady Legando 2 0-1 4, Joey Diederich 4 1-2 10, Mikey Young 5 0-1 10, Tim Boals 3 0-0 6, Brennan Koelsch 2 0-0 4, Levi Groot 2 1-1 5, Sam Schweinfurth 1 1-2 4. TOTALS 25 6-12 58 WILLARD Levi Schag 2 2-2 8, Aiden Slone 1 0-0 3, Max Dawson 8 7-8 27, Isaac Robinson 2 0-0 4, Cam Robinson 9 5-7 23. TOTALS 22 14-17 65 Perkins 11 15 18 14 — 58Willard 19 11 12 23 — 65 3-point goals — Perkins 2 (Diederich 1, Schweinfurth 1); Willard 7 (Dawson 4, Schag 2, Slone 1)