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Swank on Sports
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Margaretta Polar Bears High School Athletics
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Defense
a Priority for Margaretta Click
here to listen to an interview with coach Steve Keller
Margaretta locks horns with “SBC” Bay rival Huron on Tuesday
night in a division V district semifinal at Kansas Lakota High School.
They overwhelmed Edison (88-42) in a sectional final last week on
their home floor.
Coach Steve Keller says they had the right approach.
“We were able to kind of have a mindset to start the game that was
really good. We just came out
really executed and made shots and got up early and kind of rode that
momentum through,” he said.
Margaretta (20-3) had beaten Edison twice during the regular season
and that is the case with Huron too. They
beat them (78-55) on December 19 at home and (69-36) at Huron on January 23.
Huron beat Pemberville Eastwood (68-67) in a sectional final last
week.
Keller says the Tigers have some kids that can play.
“First foremost, they a nice player Quinn Conway, a 6’1” guard.
Also, have got a nice player in 6’5” Parker Schafer.
They have some pieces around that.
A young man by the name of (Nixon) Dike, who is a sophomore.
They have got some nice pieces,” he told Swankonsports.com on
Monday evening, “They have overcome some adversity this year, fought
through some adversity, which I think always makes you stronger in the long
run. Finally, coach (Toby)
Miller does a great job over there. Gets
kids to play hard, plus he also does a nice job of having them defend in
multiple different defenses and he likes to play through his best players on
the offensive end.:
Keller says Huron is their biggest rival, but he cautions that you
can’t live on emotion alone. “We
talk about it being an equilibrium. You
can't get too high and you can't get too low.
You have got to go out and just compete and play hard.
Really just the one constant that has to be there always is guarding.
If you can guard, regardless of what else goes on in a game you can
potentially have success,” he said/ Published 3/03/26 © Swankonsports.com “Out of Bounds” airs every Friday 10 PM to midnight “Sports Saturday” every week 10 AM to 1 PM “Your First Choice for All Things Sports” |
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Margaretta
Plays for Title
It’s a Bay Division championship game on Friday night as the
Margaretta Polar Bears hit the road to take on the Willard Flashes.
As it stands right now, Margaretta owns a one game lead on Willard,
so a Bears win means an outright title for them, a Flashes victory means the
two teams share the title.
On Tuesday night, the Polar Bears beat a very good Shelby team
(70-64) in a non-league game.
Coach Steve Keller says we as happy with the way they closed the
game. “It was a great game to
get you prepared for tournament. Brayden
DeVito was very good, a career night for him, hit nine threes.
I just was pleased with our guys just handled some adversity.
Shepherd hurt us with this size.
They do a lot of good things. Coach
(Greg) Galloway does a nice job. I
was pleased especially how we finished and guarded in the fourth. I
thought we limited them from the perimeter, especially in the fourth, and
did a better job of contesting shots. Fortunately,
we're blessed the “W,” said Keller.
Margaretta (17-3,9-0), #2 in the Swankonsports.com boys’ basketball
coaches poll in the small school division, plays at Willard (17-2,8-1), #3
in our poll, on Friday. The
Flashes beat Port Clinton (61-46) on Tuesday night to give themselves a
chance.
Keller says Willard is a young team, but boy can they play.
“They’re skilled, they’re pups, but they're young guys can
play. Nice length at the guard
position, mix up their defenses, as Joe (Bedingfield) has always done.
They just do it the right way, they play the game the right way, they
care about the game and they really play hard.
So, it's going to be an uphill battle on their floor.
I'm sure that crowd will be rocking and into it,” he said.
With success both in the regular season and the tournament, Keller
says they have played in a lot of big games and that’s where you want to
be. “If you're not a
competitor you want to beat teams by 30 plus.
If you're a competitor you want to be playing for a league
championship on the road,” he told Swankonsports.com on Wednesday night,
“Really just you have got to grind it for 32 minutes, essentially that's
what you have got to do come tournament time.
We've had some nice games here this late season push here to really I
think get us ready for that possessional every single possession support
type of setting that tournament is.” Published 2/12/26 © Swankonsports.com Your first source for all things sports “Out of Bounds” Fridays 10 to midnight “Sports Saturday” every week 10 AM to 1
PM |
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Margaretta
Can Clinch Share
Margaretta can secure no less than a share of the title in the
Sandusky Bay Conference Bay Division with a win at home against the
Vermilion Sailors on Friday night.
They lost for just the third time this year when Toledo Central
Catholic beat them (54-50) on Saturday.
Coach Steve Keller says they learned a lot about how they can
continue to improve. “I think
there was a lot to take away from it. That's
one of the reasons why we wanted to schedule it in our tourney tune up that
we hosted. First and foremost, I
thought we competed really well. We
were right there at the end of the game came back and made a nice game of it
late. We never really got too
far out of it. Just had a dry
stretch, or a drought, in the early third, but made a run get it back to
two,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday night, “TCC” is a really
good basketball team. They have
got some really nice guards and then they got a 6’7” kid in the middle
and eventually that's what hurt us was that 6’7” at the rim and above
the rim late on some putbacks. It
wasn't for lack of effort, it wasn't for lack of competition and willingness
to compete. We just really truly
just didn't make enough shots. We
typically shoot it a little bit better than we did that night.
All in all it's something that really will make us better I think in
the long run,”
Margaretta (15-3,8-0), #2 in the Swankonsports.com boys’ basketball
coaches poll in the small school division, will be at home for Vermilion
(7-10,2-6) on Friday night. The
Sailors lost (59-45) to Willard in a division game last Friday.
Margaretta smoked them in the first meeting (78-48) on January 2.
Keller says they have improved. “Well,
I think they're getting better, significantly improved.
Myers is a nice player, good athlete, and good size.
They have got some other kids that can make plays.
It’s going to be important for us to bounce back to and do it the
right way. We've had a good week
of practice, praise God we're healthy, and I think we're hopefully ready to
go to compete. We have got to
just really do what we do and play with a certain mindset and a team
attitude,” he said.
In terms of the league, Keller says they take things one game at a
time. “Our saying, just to
give you all access, our saying right now is be 1-0.
(Friday) night we just want to beat Vermilion.
We'll figure the rest out after that.
We got three games after that with Shelby at home on Tuesday, Willard
at Willard in a big match up that has become a pretty good rivalry.
We've had some really good games with them over the last really 14
years, even playing them non league. Then
we go on the road to Old Fort to finish out the year.
So, our whole focus is 1-0, let's go get after it, let's get better,
and let's improve 1% today, that's kind of what our philosophy is right
now,” said Keller. Published 2/06/26 © Swankonsports.com Follow our scoreboard for Constant updates on Friday nights At www.swankonsportshosting247.com Your first source for all things sports |
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Margaretta’s
Season Ends
Margaretta outscored Columbus Academy (21-8) the third quarter, but
the Vikings outscored them by 30 in the other three quarters combined to
down the Polar Bears (64-47) in a division V regional semifinal played at
Pete Henry Gym at Mansfield Senior High School on Wednesday night.
Coach Steve Keller says the third quarter is how they can play, but
Wednesday they were unable to sustain it.
“Well, we played like we have played all year and this is nothing
against our guys, but we just did not play well in a big environment for
three of the four quarters. I
think a lot of it had to do with just what they do and they're just so
disruptive on the defensive end. They
have got such length and the laterals are really good. I
mean Singleton is a great on the ball defender, but they have got a lot of
other guys too,” he told Swankonsports.com after the game, “I was proud
of our guys, very proud of our guys to come out in the third and give them
our best shot. We just couldn't
sustain it, but with that being said, they made shots late third and early
fourth that really created some separation again, which give them credit
they had to do and they did.”
The first half was characterized by too many missed shots by the
Bears and too many runouts by Academy and the Vikings led (28-15) at the
break.
Margaretta came out on fire in the first 6:12 of the second half as
they got on a (16-2) run to take a (31-30) lead after a Julian Washington
three from the right wing.
Columbus Academy, however, outscored the Bears (28-11) in the fourth
quarter to pick up the win.
In fact, on the last play of the third quarter Jack Seymore took his
only shot of the night and buried a three from the right corner.
Keller feels that gave Academy a lot of momentum.
“He brought that kid in cold. He
hadn't played all game, but he was a shooter on our scouting report and
obviously he's in there for a purpose. Our
match was pretty good in the third, but we just gave up a few looks and they
buried them. Give them credit
because that's what we're doing when we play our match up zone. We're trying
to make them shoot perimeter jump shots and then rebound the basketball,”
he said.
Washington, the district player of the year in division V, finished
with a game high 25 points for Margaretta.
It was a balanced effort for Columbus Academy as Theo Falkenhain had
16, Caden Ivery 14, Jason Singleton 12 and Anderson Davis 10.
Falkenhain scored 10 of 16 in first five minutes of the fourth
quarter.
Keller says they didn’t get enough defensive stops that lead to
easy chances. “We have to get
defensive stops that lead to transition. I
thought our rim run big was good. I
thought we found our rim run big. We
made a few shots in the third, but all in all when you get to this level you
got to make some shots. When you
get to this level you have got to be able to defensive rebound and they hurt
us, especially the first half,” said Keller. Published 3/06/25 © Swankonsports.com Your First Source for All Things Sports “Out of Bounds” every Friday night 10 to
midnight “Sports Saturday” every week 10 AM to 1
PM |
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Big
Fourth Quarter Gives Margaretta the Win
Margaretta outscored Crestview (26-9) the fourth quarter and rallied
to beat the Cougars (60-54) in a division III district semifinal on
Wednesday night at Norwalk High School.
They will face Genoa, a (69-62) overtime winner, in Wednesday’s
second game, on Saturday in the district championship game.
The Polar Bears (22-3) took their first lead of the second half
(53-51) when Tate Bailey scored left of the lane with 1:31 left to play.
Crestview’s Tyson Ringler converted a layup with :42 left to cut
the Cougars deficit to (55-54), but Gage Bodey’s old fashion three point
and Bailey’s two free throws in the final :21 sealed the win for the
Bears.
Margaretta coach Steve Keller says they were more aggressive in the
fourth quarter and that was the difference.
“Truthfully, I just told you guys we had played tentative all the
way through up to that point. I
said you're down 11, man, just go out swinging, let's see what happen.
We knew we had to come with pressure and we're fortunate to get some
scores and turn them over a little bit.
Realistically, we just needed to make a couple shots, which we didn't
do really all night. Kyle Bailey
hit that corner three, and that was huge, I guess it was more of a wing
three on the left wing, that was huge. I
just saw a guys fight, man, they didn't worry about the outcome, they just
wanted to compete and they got it done,” said Keller.
Crestview coach John Kurtz says were not patient enough offensively
in the fourth quarter and that cost them.
“I just felt like we got ratcheted up in the half court, which hurt
us and we weren’t getting very, very good looks in the fourth, which made
it even worse. In the third
quarter, we held him them to maybe like nine points or something like that
and then the fourth we give up 26. I
don't really think our defense was that bad, but we were just not getting
good enough shots, taking enough time to get them,” he told
Swankonsports.com after the game, “Julian (Washington) changed a few of
those shots, but on the other hand, we also had at least two layups that we
just missed. So, in these kinds
of games you just can't miss those shots, that's kind of the message to the
younger kids.”
Washington also scored a game high 24 points.
Justice Thompson had 21 for Crestview.
Likely the key moment in the game came with :03 left in the third
quarter when Judah Keller, the son of the coach, was hit in the was
inadvertently hit in the area of the left eye while trying to set a pick.
Coach Keller pleaded for a foul to be called, but none was.
Judah returned early in the fourth quarter and played the rest of the
of the game.
Kurtz says you could tell the Polar Bears played with a different
kind of intensity after the play. “I
felt like when Judah came back it was a little bit of an emotional rush and
then they ranched us up a little bit,” he said.
Coach Keller says the injury lit a fire in his team.
“I think the to be completely upfront with you. I
think more so than Judah getting that injury was Judah coming back into that
game really kind of just galvanized our guys.
I have got to get him get stitches right now.
He galvanized us and our guys made plays.
So, proud to Tate Bailey and Gage Body and some big scores late. So,
this was a heck of a win, but credit Crestview, man, they came ready to play
and they got after it,” said Keller.
Kurtz still felt they had some good opportunities to score, but the
shots just wouldn’t drop. “Honestly,
we got some good looks, if those go in it might have been a different game,
but they didn't go in,” he said. Published 3/07/24 © Swankonsports.com Don’t miss a special “Out of Bounds” This Saturday night 10 PM to 11 PM Your
First Source for All Things Sports |
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Margaretta
Explodes in Second Half; Downs Monroeville
Jake Leibacher scored 23 of his 29 points in the second half and
Margaretta rallied from a one point halftime deficit to down Monroeville
(57-43) in a division IV district semifinal at Willard High School on
Tuesday night.
The Polar Bears (21-3) face South Central (18-7) for the district
title Friday night back at Willard. The
Trojans beat Lucas (44-41) on Tuesday.
Monroeville led (22-21) at halftime, but Leibacher would tally four
field goals in the first 2:37 of the third quarter leading a (10-0) run buy
the Bears.
Margaretta coach Steve Keller says he was a little pumped up at
halftime and he let the players know it.
“There was a little bit of passion and intensity.
These guys have been with us for a long time and they went out and
they really played with that intensity and fire in the second half.
I am very appreciative and blessed.
They changed their mindset and got it done in the second half.
Kudos to Monroeville. They
did a great job in the first half. They
came out to beat us, but in the second half we were able to finish it,”
said Keller.
Monroeville (18-6) started like a house on fire.
Isaac Roeder had 17 points in the first half, 13 in the second
quarter, and the Eagles led by as many as seven (22-15) after a Roeder three
with 1:46 to play in the half.
He finished the night with a team high 24.
“We came out well. Isaac
carried us on offense, but at the end of the day we had five guys playing
defense. We were in their face
and contested every shot and made every shot difficult for them,” said
Monroeville coach Paul Roeder.
Leibacher is the district 6 division IV player of the year and last
week became Margaretta’s all-time leading scorer.
Keller says he and the rest of the team had better focus and
intensity in the second half of the game.
“I have seen him do a lot, but his mindset in was right in the
second. I am not going to lie, I
got after him. He is a four-year
guy for me and it has to start with him and every time I have gotten on that
kid, he has responded and he responded in a big way.
I just told him that big time players make big time plays,” he told
Swankonsports.com after the game, “(Isaac) Roeder did it in the first
half. He had 17 I think at half
and he finished I think with 22, so we did a much better job in the second
half. We are thankful we just
had a lot of guys do a lot of good things.
Defensively, we switched things up late in the first half, early
second half, and it really, really helped us to be able to make plays and
get stops.”
Coach Roeder says they kind of ran out of gas a little bit in the
second half and when Margaretta started to get in high gear, they found it
difficult to keep up. “Leibacher
came out strong. I think what
happened we kind of wore out. Early
in the third quarter they hit a couple of shots.
Leibacher got going and we didn’t have help side defense to help
contest his shots. Once they got
going, they got confidence and put us on our heels and we just could not
keep up with them. I am proud of
my team, they didn’t quit. This
is our first time here. Margaretta
has been here before. It’s an
experience for us. We learned a
lot. I am proud of my seniors,
proud of my team, they accomplished a lot this year, a lot to be proud of.
I want to give coach Keller credit.
They have five nice players on the floor.
They put a lot of pressure on all five of our spots.
They took a advantage of some of our weak areas,” said Roeder.
Margaretta beat South Central (69-51) on January 22, but Keller says
they have to sort of forget about that now.
“Listen, they are a good basketball team.
They are well coached. It
is kind of the same scenario that we had (Tuesday) night, regular season is
regular season, it means nothing. We
have to be ready to go Friday night and get after it,” he said. Published 3/02/22 © Swankonsports.com Your First Source For All Things Sports There will be a special Saturday night
edition of “Out of Bounds” this week 10 PM to 11 PM To cover tournament basketball |
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Edison
Holds Off Margaretta
Edison shut down a possible Margaretta rally in the seventh inning
and beat the Polar Bears (3-1) in a division III district semifinal on
Thursday evening at Shelby High School.
They face Colonel Crawford, a (4-2) winner over Genoa in Thursday’s
first semi, on Saturday afternoon for a ticket to the regional tournament.
Lefty Thomas Simon had went the first six and two thirds innings,
striking out eight Bears in the process and allowing only an unearned run,
but he had reached the pitch limit.
Coach Sean Hoover says reliever Joy Pennell was up to the task of
striking out Margaretta’s Kellen Moore on three pitches.
“There really wasn’t much of a choice as we had Thomas (Simon) at
125 pitches. You have to pull
him at 125. They said they had
him at 122 and he maybe could have thrown to another batter.
I didn’t want to risk it, they were trusting us to keep the book.
We had him at 125 and I was going to go out there and let Joe come in
and he did his job. He has been
prepping all year coming in big spots and he came through,” said Hoover.
It wasn’t the first time this year Pennell was given the task and
Hoover says mentally he was ready to go.
“I went down and talked to him before the inning started to make
sure he had the right mind set because I figured unless it was a quick
inning we were going to have to go to him.
He said, I’m ready and he went out there and did a really good job.
That has kind of been his role this year is to come in and get those
last couple of outs. He takes it
really serious. He was focused
and threw three great pitches,” said Hoover.
Simon was his usual self on Thursday.
Hoover says he permits some baserunners, but then shuts them down.
“He is obviously our horse. He
always keeps us in games. They
get guys on base and he is good enough to keep them where they are and not
let little rallies turn into big rallies.
We have confidence in him, but we have a lot of good young pitchers
too. We hope some of them show
up on Saturday,” he said.
Simon is a strikeout pitcher and it likely to throw more pitches than
some. Hoover says Margaretta did
a good job taking him deep in counts. “I
think sometimes when you strikeout as many guys as he does your pitch count
goes up where if you have a guy that doesn’t strikeout as many, he is more
of a pitch to contact guy, he doesn’t have those high pitch count numbers.
He throws balls by guys and Margaretta did a good job of fouling them
off,” he told Swankonsports.com after the win, “They did a good job of
battling and fouling balls off. I
could tell that was their plan. That
been their approach all year with Thomas.
They did a good job of really fighting off pitches.”
Edison took a (2-0) in the bottom of the second on a two out, two
run, single by ninth place hitter Blake Simon.
Hoover says the pressure of a district game did not overwhelm the
freshman. “It was big for
Blake to step up there for a freshman to get that hit and score a couple of
runs. We have a lot of god young
players here that have played a lot of situation baseball, so when they get
up there they know how to handle themselves in those situations.
Did a great job of getting the barrel on it and we were able to score
a couple,” said Hoover.
Margaretta cut it to (2-1) in the fourth when Moore scored on an
error. Edison got it right back
in the bottom of the inning on an RBI single by Luke Bissell.
Margaretta coach Ray Neil says his kids did everything he asked them
to do and more. “I don’t if
this makes sense, but I might be prouder of my team, the losing team, than
that coach is of the winning team. My
kids competed all day. That is a
kid that shoved it up our butt two times earlier in the year and we talked
about a challenge all week. It’s
a game of inches. The inning
they scored the two runs. The
first batter that inning, the ground ball to the shortstop, that took a bad
hop. I told my freshman
shortstop, that took a bad hop, that’s not on you.
They got a big, two out base hit in that inning.
We had a couple of chances to match that and it didn’t happen.
It wasn’t because my kids didn’t battle or give me good at bats.
Those first two batters in the seventh inning, how about them at
bats? Against one of the top
pitchers in the area,” said Neil. Published 5/28/21 © Swankonsports.com For baseball and softball scores Go to our scoreboard at |
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Norwalk
St. Paul Holds off Margaretta
Scotty Adelman led four Flyers in double figures with 16 points and
Norwalk St. Paul beat Margaretta (61-55) in a division IV district semifinal
at Willard High School on Tuesday night.
They play Lucas (17-7) for the district title at Willard on Friday
night. The Cubs beat South
Central (34-26) in the first game Tuesday.
The Flyers held Margaretta to only 16 points in the first half and
coach Mike Smith says they were outstanding on defense.
“I thought we were really good defensively.
We told them after the other night you really have to defend, you
can’t take a night off defensively. I
thought we did a really good job of getting in gaps and challenging
shooters. I thought we did a
great job on the defensive glass and that kind of set the tone.
We feel good when we have the lead.
I coach with a lot of emotion and I might yell at my kids a little
bit, but sometimes they need it and sometimes I just need to get that
release. I am really proud of
them, they are a quality team. It
was a good win and we get a chance to go for a district title,’ said
Smith.
St. Paul put together a (6-0) run at the end of the first quarter to
take a (14-8) lead after one and never trailed again.
Margaretta never went away and they made it a game in the second half
getting to within single digits in the fourth quarter, cutting it to seven
(43-36) on Jake Leibacher’s basket with 5:10 to play and getting it to six
(59-53) on Leibacher’s hoop with :21 seconds left and four on Ben
Palomo’s goal with :07 seconds to play, but ran out of time.
Coach Steve Keller says the Polar Bears were not aggressive enough,
especially early in the game. “Early
on we got what we wanted, which was some shots by some other guys, but
offensively we just played very non aggressively in the first half.
We have to live on dribble penetration and aggressiveness and play in
transition and we weren’t able to do that.
We were tentative at the start, but I thought in the second half we
competed and we played much better. Just
kudos to them, they would make a big shot whether it was five in the corner
or one of the Winslows on the back side I think it was, made some free
throws, they made plays when they needed too and they deserved to win this
game,” said Keller.
In addition to Adelman, Nate Winslow had 13, Kaden Maxwell added 12
and Nick Winslow, who did not score in the first half, had 11.
Smith says they got a lot of kids involved.
“Because we shared the ball. We
realized that Nick was the focal point.
Go make plays. He was
able to dish to Kaden (Maxwell). All
of us were able to do that and get other people involved.
Caleb Schwan came in and had some big loose ball plays, he tipped a
shot in. He kind of makes the
other team a little bit ugly,” he told Swankonsports.com after the win,
“Everybody contributed and the same with our scout team.
They don’t get the credit, but our scout team Saturday when we put
stuff in and Sunday they gave us a great look with the Margaretta sets.
So, really happy for them, but ready to get back at it.”
Leibacher had 23 of his game high 33 in the second half for the Bears
as Margaretta used pressure to gets some turnovers and create tempo, but
Keller says they were just too far behind.
“We had to come at them in spots because we are just not real big.
It’s a tough deal because they have some nice guards, that’s the
strength of their team. In the
second half our guys really sold out and we were able to win those two
quarters, but it just wasn’t enough we had gotten down too big at
halftime. We have a great group
of guys and I just thank them for their efforts.
I thank the seniors. It
is certainly sad that they are done and Mitch didn’t get the last two
years. I just thank them for all
of their efforts,” said Keller.
Smith says the pressure got to them maybe a little, but they also
made some plays because of it. “Some
of that you get a little complacent, but it is good to see that as well.
I thought we made some big plays.
We made a three off of that. Nick
Winslow got a layup off of that. The
other thing is we have been shooting a ton of free throws and (Tuesday)
night it really paid off,” said Smith.
The Flyers made nine of 13 free throws in the fourth quarter.
Smith knows that Lucas will be a tremendous challenge and says they
are a very physical team. “Obviously,
they are a very good basketball team. They
are on a roll here. They are
physical defensively. They get
after you. They make it hard for
you to score buckets. They
control the paint. It should be
a heck of a basketball game. It
might not be in the 60’s though,” he said. Published 3/03/21 © Swankonsports.com Get all of the tournament scores right here |
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Willard
Holds Off Margaretta
Miles Pinkston scored 22 points and Willard remained in a share of
first place in the Bay Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference by edging
Margaretta (66-60) on Saturday night at Bob Haas Gym at Willard High School.
Oak Harbor rallied to beat Port Clinton (55-50) on Saturday night and
they are tied with Willard for the lead.
Margaretta drops a game back.
The Bears raced to a (13-4) lead with 5:04 to play in the first
quarter after a three by Jake Leibacher.
Leibacher, the leading scorer in the Bay Division this year, had 16
of his 21 points in the first half. Willard
spurted to a take (15-13) lead after one, holding the Polar Bears scoreless
for the more than five minutes.
There were five lead changes in the second quarter, with Margaretta
taking a (30-28) lead into the half after a Leibacher three with :01 second
left.
Willard erased a seven point deficit (42-35) with 3:14 to play in
third quarter to grab a three point lead (47-44) on Trey Paxton’s three at
the third quarter horn.
Flashes coach Joe Bedingfield feels that Paxton three from the top of
the key helped fuel a (10-2) run to start the fourth quarter giving Willard
a (57-46) lead with 3:44 remaining in the game.
“Ending the third quarter with Trey Paxton’s three gave us some
momentum. Then picking up an
denying their point guard in the second half, especially in he fourth
quarter kind of got them out of rhythm and got some other guys shooting the
basketball that we wanted to shoot and holding Leibacher to five points in
the second half is huge too because he is a very good scorer,” he told
Swankonsports.com after the game, “I think we disrupted them enough on
offense to control the glass and get out in transition and get some easies,
which is what we were trying to do in the first half.
They came out an attacked and did a good job of spacing us out in the
first half. I thought we ended
quarters petty well (Saturday) night. When
someone makes a big shot like that is carries into the fourth quarter.”
Leibacher connected on only two field goals in the second half, one a
three, and Margaretta coach Steve Keller says the Flashes made Jake work
hard to get the ball. “They
made Jake work for everything he got. I
thought Jake continued to get some good looks, but didn’t quite get the
finishes that he got in the first half.
I am pleased with all of our guys efforts, but we weren’t able to
come out on top. We will keep
battling and keep getting better. We
got hurt on the “D” glass, that was big,” said Keller.
Pinkston guarded Leibacher for much of the second half and
Bedingfield says they tried to be physical.
“He is one of the better defenders in our area and he does a nice
job on the glass. Miles can play
and have quiet games, but he does a nice job of forcing their best player
into tough shots. The nice thing
that we are blessed with is pretty good size on the perimeter and our kids
are physical. We try to preach
go to the glass mentality and we are blessed to a couple of four year
players that have experienced some winning and they know how to close out
games and situations and that showed up (Saturday),” he said.
Pinkston’s 22 points led Willard in the scoring column, Austin
Adelman added 16 and Paxton 13 for the Flashes.
Keller says Pinkston is a physical presence at the guard position.
“He is a kid that can put it on the deck and has some good length
and finishes around the rim. We
were here, we competed and we were able to get it to close game, 30 seconds
left, down four, we just couldn’t get it done,” he said.
There was no quit in Margaretta on Saturday night as they battled
back into the game cutting it to four (62-58) on Spencer Michel’s three
point basket with :28 seconds to play in the game.
Willard cashed on five of eight free throws in the final :38 seconds
to hold on and get the win. Bedingfield
was pleased that they did what they had to.
“We work on situations like that every coaching staff does and we
did the best we can. I was proud
of Miles stepping up when they intentionally fouled him and make his free
throws. Our kids for the most
part did okay of meeting passes and not taking what the defense gives you
and then making free throws when we had to.
I would like to make a few more of those.
I didn’t think we shot it really well.
I thought for the most part I was happy closing out them game.
The Cardinal Stritch game we did not close out the fourth quarter
very well and ended up in overtime. We
still handled it, but that is not what we want to do,” said Bedingfield.
Ben Palomo led everyone Saturday with 26 points for the Bears.
Leibacher added 22.
Willard (8-3,4-1) has a six game winning streak.
Margaretta (8-4,3-2) is still in the thick of the race.
The lost by one (38-37) to Oak Harbor last week.
The rematch with Willard is February 19 in Castalia. Published 1/09/21 © Swankonsports.com Click the listen line to hear our live shows “Out of Bounds” 10 to midnight on Friday “Sports Saturday” 10 AM to 1 PM on
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Margaretta Faces Defending State Champs Margaretta, the Sandusky Bay Conference Bay Division champion, faces Columbus Africentric in a division III regional semifinal at Lexington High School on Wednesday night. Africentric, the two time defending division III state champion, beat Margaretta (66-35) in a regional semi last season and the Lady Bears hope they are better prepared this time. Margaretta (24-1) handed the first loss of the season to Hopewell-London (64-38) on Saturday in a district final. Lady Bears coach Eric Kochendoerfer says they executed very well in that game. “I thought we came in very focused. We were very well prepared. The girls came out and executed the game plan to perfection. We did a good job especially on the defensive end switching some things up and containing the (Kala) Woods girl. (Olivia) Zender was a very good player out there and we held her scoreless. So, I can’t applaud our girls enough, especially for their defensive execution,” he said. Defense has been the key for Margaretta all season long, according to Kochendoerfer. “We score about 70 points a game and people focus on our offensive side of things, but our defense is what leads to our offense. In the third quarter we outscored Hopewell-Loudon 17-3. They did not score in the first seven minutes of that quarter and this is a team that scores 80 points a game. Obviously, we know the (MaKayla) Elmore is out, but they were still scoring about 66 after that and shooting the basketball well. I think they were 3-23 from three. We covered outside the three point line and did a great job dominating the glass down low and created a lot of easy buckets from our transition,” said Kochendoerfer. Columbus Africentric (19-4) has won three of the last four titles and has seven state titles overall. They beat North Union (71-35) in their district final last Friday. Kochendoerfer says to have any chance in this game, they first must believe they can win the game. “That is half the battle right there having the mentality when you walk into that game that you have a chance to win. Africentric is great, we aren’t going to lie. They have five girls that are going to big powerhouse conferences. They are tough, they are athletic, they are long. They are very fundamental defensively. We have a pretty strong program here too,” he told Swankonsports.com on Tuesday, “Our job as a coaching staff is to make our girls believe they can win first and then get together the plan that is going to execute the win and then they have to go out there are do it. We have a great squad this year. I think we are better positioned for Africentric this year and we are looking forward to Wednesday to really show them what we’ve got.” Published 3/04/20 © Swankonsports.com Follow the tournament On our scoreboard at www.swankonsportshosting247.com |
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Margaretta on the Verge With a win at Oak Harbor on Thursday night, the Margaretta Lady Polar Bears secure no less than a share of the Sandusky Bay Conference Bay Division title. They won it last year. They can claim it outright if they can beat second place Willard next Thursday. The Lady Flashes trail by just a game. Margaretta beat Willard (65-61) on January 11. On Monday night, the Lady Polar Bears beat Perrysburg (67-66) and coach Eric Kochendoerfer says that was a big non-conference win for them against a bigger school. “We knew what we were going to get with Perrysburg coming in. They are very well coached, they have a lot of great size there, very fundamental, just a great tournament style type game here leading up to the second season here shortly,” he said. Margaretta (18-1,8-0), #1 in the Swankonsports.com girls’ basketball coaches poll in the small school division, plays at Oak Harbor on Thursday night. They beat the Lady Rockets (95-50) on January 3. Kochendoerfer says they can’t be thinking about Willard this week. “We have an Oak Harbor team coming in here that is going to scrap and play hard on Thursday. That is going to be a big there to get a win and try and get a share of the conference title. Then we have a very strong Seneca East team and we have to travel there on Tuesday. With our schedule each and every game is a grind. We take it one game at a time and we will start on Thursday,” said Kochendoerfer. Seneca East (17-2) is the leader of the Northern 10 Athletic Conference. Kochendoerfer says as well as they are playing, they know they are going to get everyone’s best. “That is something we talk about all of the time. Margaretta has a rich tradition when it comes to girls’ basketball, especially after winning the conference like we did last year and made a regional run, and we are state ranked this year,” he told Swankonsports.com on Thursday, “We know we are going to have that target on our back and we are going to get every team’s best. That is great because it makes sure we are ready to bring our “A” game every single day and make sure we get better.” Published 2/05/20 © Swankonsports.com Your first Source for All Things Sports “Out of Bounds” airs Friday 10 to midnight “Sports Saturday” airs from 10 AM to 1 PM Listen on your PC, your phone or your vehicle audio system |
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Margaretta Takes on Top Ranked Africentric in Regionals Margaretta, the best small school basketball team in North Central Ohio this year, faces statewide powerhouse Columbus Africentric in the regional semifinals in division three on Wednesday night at Lexington High School. The Lady Polar Bears (24-2) were outright champions in the Bay Division of the Sandusky Bay Conference. Coach Eric Kochendoerfer says they have had great leadership and chemistry this year. “One of the biggest things that we have that really helps out our program is a lot of strong senior leadership. We had seven seniors, returning lettermen, coming back, and total of 10 for our program. So, we have a lot of experience, girls that have been playing with each other for a very long time. We have a great culture. We come into the gym each and every day and get after it and play hard, but at the end of the day, we leave practice as friends, just a great culture all around. They are just a bunch of great coachable girls who have put a lot of time and effort into it. They see a lot of the fruits of their labor right now with the results they have obtained this year,” said Kochendoerfer. One of the other keys to their success this year, according to Kochendoerfer, has bene their ability to pressure the basketball. “I always tell the girls we don’t have any 6’0” or 6’2” girls walking into our locker room any day soon, but the one thing we are blessed with is a ton of speed, so we definitely want to get after it. We want to pressure the other team and push the tempo and we have been very blessed with the ability to turn other teams over, and not only turning them over, but capitalizing on those turnovers, which is something we focus on each and every day in practice,” he said. This season the Lady Bears really strengthened their schedule with the likes of Bellevue, Loudonville, Seneca East, and more. Kochendoerfer feels that has prepared them well for the postseason. “One of the biggest things we noticed that we were a little bit short last year on was maybe not playing the toughest competition. So, this year that was something the athletic director and I really wanted to focus on and we dropped about four or five teams that averaged nine wins out of conference last year and picked up all teams that had 20 plus wins,” he told Swankonsports.com, “In our preseason we were scrimmaging the Magnificats, Canton McKinley, you name it, we were traveling and scrimmaging just to make sure to get us ready for games, especially for districts and regionals and beyond to make sure we are prepared as possible by seeing the best competition before and during the season.” Africentric (24-0) was crowed the “AP” poll champ and won the state title last season. Kochendoerfer says as you would expect they are loaded. “They are strong. I have watched a lot of film on them. It’s like watching a college basketball team and I am not kidding. They have some good size, they are 6’4” and 6’1” down low, very long, very athletic, handle the basketball, and also defend very well. Obviously, they have the all American in the (Jordan) Horston girl, 6’1” on the wing. They have two great point guards. So, they have a lot of depth. They have a lot of speed, they are very aggressive. They are very fundamental. They play very strong defense, whether it is full court pressure wise or half court. They really get after it and with their length and athleticism they definitely pose a lot of problems for the opposition,” said Kochendoerfer. Published 3/06/19 © Swankonsports.com Like Swankonsports.com on Facebook Follow us on Twitter at @swankonsports Check out our scoreboard at www.swankonsportshosting247.comFor all of your tournament finals |
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Fisher’s Walk Off Homer Gives Margaretta Win
Margaretta’s James Fisher hammered a two run walk off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Polar Bears a (7-5) win over Galion in the division three district semi-final at Shelby High School on Thursday. Fisher had been called in to pitch in the seventh inning and failed to hold the lead allowing Galion to tie the game (5-5) and force extra innings. Polar Bears coach Gregg Hedden says he was especially happy for Fisher. “I felt good for 17. He blows the save, balks, loses composure. He is batting .500, he is a heck of a baseball player. He puts pressure on himself and he is a 17 year-old kid and then he comes back to do that, so I really felt good for him that he could recover from that,” he said. Galion took a (1-0) lead in the first on a sacrifice fly by Will Donahue. He added an RBI double in the top of the third to make it (3-0), but the Bears came right back to tie in their half on Fisher’s two-run double that kicked up chalk on the leftfield line to trim their deficit to one (3-2) after three. Margaretta went in front (4-3) in the fifth with two runs keyed by RBI infield single by starting pitcher Jacob Luna. It was (5-3) in the bottom of the sixth when Noah Esposito singled and scored on wild pitch. Fisher was summoned after Devin Baugh reached on a walk and Chase Castline was hit by pitch. He got Ryan Taubert to fly out, but then balked in Baugh in and Castline scored the tying run on a wild pitch. “Baseball is a funny sport and sometimes it is not your day. A couple of those hits fall in by inches. They had a couple of infield hits. It was their day. We hit the ball hard I thought. We left a couple of runs out there that we wished we would have plated, so we didn’t have to go into extras. If you leave a team in long enough and they find a way to score, especially that home team. I am proud of our effort all year, you could never question that. (Thursday) was just Margaretta’s day,” said Galion coach Phil Jackson. Hedden really feels his team has battled adversity this year, but they have found some confidence. “You still have to talk about the team. I have a shortstop that got hurt in the sectional final and he has to come in and play and he is not ready. We battled, we overcame, we threw somebody out at the plate, they threw somebody out at the plate. It was a heck of a high school baseball game,” said Hedden. Last season, Galion beat Maragretta (3-2) in nine innings in the sectional. “That makes me fell pretty good too. We only go extra innings. They do a nice job, their coaching does a nice job and their kids play well. They don’t make mistakes. We probably made more mistakes, but maybe at the end we made a couple more plays. The district level that is what is comes down to,” he said. Margaretta’s Simon Kromer was thrown out at the play in the fourth inning and Donahue was cut down at home trying to score in the top of the eighth. Margaretta (10-11) plays Clear Fork (15-11) in the district final on Saturday afternoon at Shelby. The Colts beat Edison (10-1) in the nightcap. Hedden says their schedule has been the difference for them in the post season. “We play a really difficult schedule. We didn’t get any non-conference games in. We played no division four teams, we played four division three teams, everybody else is division two. Clyde, Perkins, Vermilion. We are losing games 4-3, 5-4. We took Vermilion to a 2-2 tie in nine innings and we beat Clyde two nights later and then we found ourselves. They found a rhythm. They are a little annoying, but as long as they are not talking to the umpires or coaches on the other team they create some energy. As long as they follow the rules,” said Hedden speaking on the Bears vocal dugout.
Published 5/19/17 © Swankonsports.com Follow us on Twitter at @swankonsports Like Swankonsports.com on Facvebook “Sports Saturday” airs live on Swankonsports.com Saturdays from 10 AM to 1 PM
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