Boys basketball: Midview rally comes up short against Sandusky

SANDUSKY — Midview came close to pulling off a pretty remarkable comeback. The Middies used a 12-2 spurt to trim a 13-point deficit to three with 11 seconds to play, then tied up the ensuing in-bounds play. But the possession arrow belonged to Sandusky, which got a free throw to seal a 61-57 non-conference win Saturday night. "If we would have gotten that jump ball, we would have had a chance to tie it, but they got the ball and their kid made the second free throw," Midview coach Jim Brabenec said. "That put the nail in the coffin." The Middies (7-4) hit six consecutive free throws during the run and Herman Plas knocked down a pair of 3-pointers, including a big one with 13 seconds remaining. "I think they're a really good team," Brabenec said of the Blue Streaks. "I give credit to Sandusky. We knew it was going to be a physical battle, and it was, but I thought our guys kept playing and gave us a shot." The Middies got off to a slow start, coughing up the ball six times in the first quarter, but Sandusky was just as sluggish and owned only a 13-6 lead heading into the second. The Blue Streaks pushed their lead to 23-13 in the first four minutes of the second on three straight buckets off turnovers, but Midview trailed just 27-22 at halftime. Drew DiFranco almost single-handedly kept the Middies close in the first half, scoring 14 of his 18 points. "Drew kept us in the game," Brabenec said. "I thought he played excellent. He has the ability to do that when he gets going. It helps us a lot. Credit to him for having a pretty good game." The Middies came alive to open the second half, scoring the first nine points to grab a 31-27 lead. The Blue Streaks (9-1) used a 7-2 run to regain the lead, then reeled off a 9-0 spurt over the final two minutes of the quarter to open a 48-39 advantage. "I thought we definitely got some momentum to start the second half," Brabenec said. "We started to figure things out and made a few adjustments, but then they went on their run, which good teams do. "There's a reason they're good. We put our run on, they put their run on, but unfortunately their run was a little bit bigger than ours." Sandusky kept rolling in the first six minutes of the fourth quarter and pushed its advantage to 13 on a putback from Aa'zoriyon Bonner with 2:39 remaining. Just 20 seconds later, Marc Reed hit a pair of free throws to get the final Midview rally started. "We just didn't execute today, for whatever reason," Sandusky coach DeMar Moore said. "We came out flat, we played slow offensively, and defensively, we just didn't play with any intensity until the second half, late in the third quarter and all of the fourth quarter. "That was the difference in the game." Plas matched DiFranco with 18 to lead all scorers, while Reed finished with nine and Ryan Runser scored eight. Reed also led Midview with eight rebounds. However, the Middies also committed 21 turnovers, including 13 in the first half and were outrebounded 39-26. "We had a lot of self-inflicted wounds, especially in the first quarter," Brabenec said. "I thought we played about as bad as we could have, but we were still in the game, hanging around. We cleaned it up a little bit, but turnovers were what eventually did us in. "They have some athletes and they're tough, but we knew that coming in. I just thought a lot of it had to do with a lot of mental errors early on." De'Mar Moore, son of the Sandusky coach, led the Streaks in scoring with 13 points, with Daylen Green and Bonner each adding 12. Green and Bonner also had eight rebounds apiece. "I think the little punch that they hit us with in the third quarter woke us up and got us going and our guys started fighting back," DeMar Moore said. "We have a young team and its just growing pains of having a young team. It's just something we have to get better at." Contact Dan Angelo at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Sandusky 61, Midview 57 MIDVIEW (57): Marc Reed 2-4-9, Ryan Runser 3-2-8, David Moore 1-2-4, Herman Plas 6-2-18, Drew DiFranco 7-2-18. Totals 19-12-57. SANDUSKY (61): Jason Henlon 3-0-6, Daylen Green 5-2-12, Kobe Brown 2-2-6, Chayce Garr 4-0-9, De'Mar Moore 5-3-13, Aa'zoriyon Bonner 5-1-12, Amir Aaron 2-1-3. Totals 26-9-61. Midview&emsp;&emsp;&emsp; 6&emsp;&emsp;16&emsp;&emsp;17&emsp;&emsp;18&emsp;&emsp;—&emsp;&emsp;57Sandusky&emsp;&emsp;13&emsp;&emsp; 14&emsp;&emsp;21&emsp;&emsp;13&emsp;&emsp;—&emsp;&emsp;61 Three-point goals: Midview 7 (Reed, Plas 4, DiFranco 2); Sandusky 2 (Garr, Bonner). Field goals: Midview 19-48 (39 percent); Sandusky 26-64 (40 percent). Free throws: Midview 12-14 (86 percent), Sandusky 9-18 (50 percent). Rebounds: Midview 26 (Reed 8, Plas 7); Sandusky 39 (Green 8, Bonner 8, Brown 7). Turnovers: Midview 21, Sandusky 15. Total fouls: Midview 15, Sandusky 15. Fouled out: Runser, Henlon.Junior varsity: Sandusky, 47-37