January 29, 2000

Tornadoes light it up

By Ed Fox
Sports Writer

The lights went out on Shelby Friday night.

Despite the fact that some of the lights were not shining as bright as others at the outset of the Northern Ohio League clash the Tornadoes lit it up with a 22-of-29 shooting performance en route to a 49-27 halftime lead.

Shelby managed to get as close as 10 (69-59) in the fourth quarter but never got any closer as the Tornadoes squared their record at 7-7 overall and improved to 6-3 in the league with an 80-66 win.

"It seems like we've brought the best shooting out of everyone we've faced this year," said Shelby coach Francis Scruci. "They (Columbian) did everything they had to do. They played good defense, played good offense, outrebounded us, outhustled us, passed the ball well and had few turnovers. That's as good a half as I've seen anyone play."

After watching Columbian snap a three-game losing streak coach Matt Hutchinson was all smiles when asked about his team's performance which included a 30-of-47 showing from the floor.

"We shot the ball really well the first half and that's something we really haven't done all year," said Hutchinson. "In the past we've rebounded well and we've defended well but we really haven't shot it well. In the first half we put all three of those phases together and had a really nice lead going into halftime."

Seniors Chris Brooks and Todd Focht triggered the early success for the Tornaodes with 14 and 13 points at intermission. They went on to finish as the Columbian leaders for the game with 17 and 15. Joining them in doubles was David Price with 10 while Brad Cox added nine and Brent Wise followed with eight. In all Columbian had 11 players hit the scoring column.

Shelby, falling to 6-8 overall and 4-5 in the league, battled back in the third quarter with a 17-9 advantage over the Tornadoes with Kenny Fritz leading the comeback with 10 of his 18 points but Columbian still led by 14 (58-44) heading into the final stanza.

Behind a pair of buckets by Wise the Tornadoes pushed the lead to 19 on more than one occasion early in the fourth quarter but Shelby went on a 13-4 run to get within 10 (69-59) with three minutes to go.

But the Tornadoes slammed the door on the Shelby comeback.

"You've got to give Shelby credit for coming back," said Hutchinson. "We got a little passive against their zone but we had some players step up. Wise hit a big three from the corner, we got the ball inside to Jason Gottfried for a couple baskets and Todd Focht played a great floor game. He did all the intangibles but he's been doing that all year for us. He's been a real floor leader for us. David Price was a real warrior on the boards. Everybody who came in and played really contributed to this win and it was a good one for the kids."

Columbian broke out to a 4-0 lead on back-to-back buckets by Brooks in the first minute of play and the Tornadoes led by as much as eight in the early going.

A jumper by Fritz helped Shelby get within six (19-13) with 1:57 to go in the first quarter but the Tornadoes went on a 9-0 run to close out the period with Focht lighting it up from outside with a pair of treys which resulted in an 11-point quarter for the 6-0 senior.

Brooks came up with eight points in the second period and the Tornadoes continued to pad their lead on the way to a 49-27 halftime lead.

"The kids really feed off each other and they were really doing a nice job of finding the open man," said Hutchinson. "We worked all week on being more active offensively and it showed the first half. They (Shelby) went zone in the second half and we really didn't work on it in practice this week but this is a really nice win for the kids and coaching staff."

Senior Mike Albert paced the Whippets with 22 points while Fritz had 18 and Andy DeVito followed with 12.

While Columbian sizzled from the floor the Whippets were only 26-of-68. Neither team shot well from the stripe with the Tornadoes going 14-for-27 while Shelby was 10-of-19. The Tornadoes also had a 33-28 edge on the boards with Brooks leading the way with eight and Price grabbed six.