Western, Edison compete at Battle 4 The Bay

SANDUSKY — Little by little. Western Reserve grew as a team this week at Battle 4 The Bay at Cedar Point Sports Center. After going 3-1 in pool play action, the Roughriders picked up two wins in the March Madness-style bracket before falling to Lake in the quarterfinals, 25-16. Pool play games were played with two 20-minute running clock halves, while bracket games were one 14-minute running clock half. "I think we're seeing signs of growth," WR coach Chris Sheldon said. "Game situations are the only thing we do all year. For us, that's why we always end here. It gives us the most game-like scenarios we can be in. "I thought we handled some game situations pretty well. Our execution for the most part offensively and defensively was pretty consistent." Western Reserve opened bracket play with a 22-13 win over Galion Northmor. The 'Riders led 18-9 midway through before finishing off the win. In the round of 16, WR topped Oak Harbor, 26-20. The 'Riders were up just 13-11 when Carson Roe hit a 3. Oak Harbor cut back within 18-17, but Roe canned another triple. Chase Hipp split two free throws and two more buckets by WR put away the victory. "You want to see when guys can respond," Sheldon said. "Not that it mimics a Friday or Saturday in December, January or February, but it's as close as you can get. It's better, in my opinion, a lot of times than practice because it is competition against someone else you don't know." The 'Riders had to finish off pool play early in the morning to find out their bracket placement. Western Reserve topped Bay 61-51 and Tiffin Calvert 57-51. Against Calvert, the 'Riders led 13-9 early only for the Senecas to rattle off the next 16 points. Western Reserve answered with the next 10 points and used a 13-3 run to draw within 28-26 at halftime. A 3-pointer by Roe cut the lead to two at the break. The 'Riders carried that momentum into the second half. Hipp gave WR the lead and a 3 from Caleb Pausch made it 39-35. Western Reserve went up by as many as eight and were still up 52-47 following two free throws from Hayden Keith. Calvert only got within two points and free throws down the stretch from Hipp, who finished with a team-high 17 points, sealed the win. "I was pleased to come in here and make it to the elite eight," Sheldon said. "Win some games. I wish we could get over the hump against teams that are maybe a little better than us. We've got to close that gap." The 'Riders opened Monday with a 54-51 win over Holland Springfield and 71-51 loss to Riverside. WR has key cogs in Hipp, Pausch, Roe, Keith and Braxton Fraelich. But, the others will need to step up if the 'Riders hope to contend in the Firelands Conference this winter. "I think it really comes down to those guys," Sheldon said. "We try to play as many guys in the summer. We did that leading up to this week. We go five in, five out. Here, it's more game-like scenarios and everybody has had reps, so we try to scale it back more to who deserves more time. "The biggest challenge in May and June, especially since we start so early, is what have guys done with the time that they had. What do they do with the next three months? Those are the things I'm looking to see." Edison goes winless Dan Campana is going to take the positives. The Edison coach knows the Chargers didn't take any wins at B4TB, but there's a long time before the regular season starts in November. "The best part is it gives me a really good idea of what we need to work on before the season," Campana said. "Summer basketball, you find out what you're made of when you lose all that you lost. "It gives me a really good idea of how I need to structure practice plans and where I have to aim my focus going forward." On Tuesday, Edison lost its final pool play game to Northmor, 37-32, before dropping a first-round bracket game to Dresden Tri-Valley, 20-11. The Chargers lost contests to Evergreen (48-42), Hudson (73-55) and Canal Fulton Northwest (72-42) on Monday. "The legs in the last game took a toll," said Campana of the game against Northwest. "We started off really good against Evergreen. We didn't shoot well, but only lost by six. "We came out flat versus Hudson and got down almost 30 at halftime. We came back and cut it to eight. The best takeaway is we have the ability." Edison knows what it has in all-league selections Cole Leimeister (first-team) and Coltyn Meagrow (second-team). The Chargers will need to find more scoring options to take the pressure off of those two. The Chargers are just getting Meagrow back from a nasty ankle sprain in which the senior missed three weeks of action. That came after losing six seniors from last year's team. "That's going to be part of the struggle," Campana said. "I think our next couple options are guys that don't have any varsity experience. We have to put them in spots to where they can score."