February 20, 1999

Tornados blow away the Rams, 72-50

By Pat Magers
Sports Editor

It took just five seconds for Columbian to slam Upper Sandusky. It took another 12 playing minutes &emdash; a long 12 playing minutes &emdash; for the Tornadoes to gain control.

Closure didn't occur until midway through the fourth quarter, but the key factor remained &emdash; there was closure. And so, on a night when time literally stood still, the Tornadoes dusted the Rams 72-50 Friday.

Columbian improved to 6-12 overall and 5-8 in the Northern Ohio League while dropping Upper Sandusky to 3-18 and 0-12. The victory snapped a three-game TC losing streak dating back to another win over the Rams back Feb. 6.

The Tornadoes caught everyone's attention in a heartbeat. Todd Focht took Beau Carmon's opening tap and zipped a pass to Craig Hill, who put down a two-handed slam dunk. He drew a technical foul for hanging onto the rim, but Michael Moranville managed to hit just one of two free throws and Columbian was on top for good.

''When I was JV coach at Bryan, we'd use that pass and score off the opening tip every game. I mean, it seemed like we scored off it every single game,'' Columbian coach Matt Hutchinson said. ''I said to the guys, 'Let's get the tip and go score.'

''When we hit it tonight, I told Derek (assistant coach Lewis) that's the first time since then I've had a team score on it,'' he said. ''That was a great way to start it.''

Not if you were wearing Upper Sandusky coach Scott Barnett's shoes.

''That dunk right off the bat was huge,'' Barnett said. ''The crowd got into it right away and it jacked their kids right away, and they sure shot it well after that.''

That they did. Columbian knocked down 25-of-41 from the field (61 percent), including 4-of-9 from 3-point range.

''We've been shooting the ball pretty well lately with the exception of Bellevue Tuesday night,'' Hutchinson said. ''We had shot over 50 percent the last three or four games besides Bellevue. The problem in those games was that we weren't getting enough possessions.

''When you take smart shots, which is the key to any team shooting well, you'll get results,'' he said. ''We had a lot of layups tonight.''

Four Tornadoes were in double figures, led by Todd Focht with 23 points. He scored 10 of those, including a pair of 3-pointers, in the first quarter, when TC built a 19-12 lead.

Hill hit a pair of inside shots to go with treys by Greg Hoke and Focht in a 14-2 run to start the second period. If that burst seemed endless to the Rams, it was with good reason. The clock was stuck on 6:49 for more than a minute's worth of action. There was a five-minute delay before school officials could get the board back in working order.

''(The break) didn't help us any,'' Barnett said. ''We couldn't get anything going. I really like the way Tiffin played defensively. They took us completely out of our game in the first half. They made it very hard for us to execute anything.''

The Rams scored the first five points, four of them on baskets by Moranville, in the fourth quarter to cut the lead to 54-44 with 5:07 to play. The Tornadoes, who mostly resembled bricklayers in hitting just 8-of-20 from the foul line to that point, closed with a 10-of-12 effort down the stretch to seal the win. Seven of those were made by Focht.

''Todd Focht had a real nice game,'' Hutchinson said. ''But more than his (MORE)SL: STCGAMER PAGE: 2offense, I thought he played real well defensively. He didn't let mistakes bother him like he has in some games in the past.

''I thought Greg Hoke (five assists) and Kyle Albert (three assists) both played great until Kyle got hurt (hyperextended knee) in the third quarter,'' he said. ''That's the first time we've started them both. Lately, we've been playing them both together whereas before, they had mostly been splitting the time.''

Carmon gave the Tornadoes big numbers inside with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Hill and Hoke each pitched in 12 points.

Jason Lemire led Upper Sandusky with 12 points. Matt Veith and Jeremy Kraus each added nine. The Rams, who hit 10 shots from 3-point range in the earlier meeting with TC, managed just 3-of-18 in this one.

Overall, Upper Sandusky was limited to 20-58 from the field. And it wasn't all defense &emdash; the Rams converted just 7-of-19 from the foul line.

''I think our kids understood their strengths a little better this time,'' Hutchinson said. ''The key is to stop dribble penetration and we did a better job of that tonight, especially early in the game.''

Victory was only a matter of time after that.