HOLMES TOWNSHIP — So far, the Wynford Royals have played a tough, rigorous schedule. According to coach Steve Mohr, in four of the Royals’ five games, the teams have a combined 26-5 record.
“We’ve played nothing but talented teams,” Mohr said. “We’ve played four teams that are very, very good. (Margaretta) is talented, they shoot the ball well.”
The Polar Bears are one of the best teams in the Sandusky Bay Conference and lead the Bay Division.
Monday night, Margaretta (8-2) used a strong and athletic full-court press to get into their offense and dropped the Royals, 64-42.
Wynford (0-5) did a wonderful job on Polar Bears star Jake Leibacher, who came into the game leading the SBC in scoring at 23.4 points per game. Leibacher finished with 13.
But Margaretta coach Steve Keller, Jr., felt that his team did a tremendous job of adjusting to Wynford’s defense.
“What I liked is that we were able to do a lot of things when (Wynford) coach Mohr, who is an excellent coach, did some different defenses against Jake Leibacher and I was pleased with how our guys handled that. We’ve been preparing for that,” Keller said.
Mohr said that the Polar Bears, who forced 21 Wynford turnovers on the night, did what many teams have done against the Royals.
“We were our worst enemy tonight. We couldn’t handle their full-court pressure and that has been a consistent problem all year long for us,” Mohr said. “It’s just a simple matter of execution. We’re not executing, we’re not making the cuts we’re supposed to, we’re not making the passes we’re supposed to and we’re not protecting the basketball.
“It’s just very disappointing,” Mohr added. “We’re not giving ourselves a chance to compete with how we’re playing against full-court pressure.”
Margaretta, particularly in the first half, was able to get most of its shots in the paint off their defense. The Polar Bears hit 26 of 45 shots from the floor, 58 percent.
“Tonight, we were able to get into transition out of some stops and steals, which allowed us to get the high percentage shots we wanted,” Keller said. “I give our kids credit, too. It was a Monday after Christmas and we came to play.
“We’re not real big so we have to play a certain way and our guys did a nice job of that,” Keller added. “We’ve been pretty much able to do that all year. Kudos to our guys. We’re seeing some guys really come of age here.”
“A lot of their offense came off of their defense with their full-court pressure,” Mohr said. “That was the case against Crawford, that was the case against Old Fort, that was the case against Upper Sandusky. The difference against Upper Sandusky is that we settled down in the second half and darn near took that one. But not tonight.”
The Polar Bears grabbed a quick 12-4 lead in the first period and bolted out to a 30-15 lead at the break.
“I knew that their quickness and their quickness on the perimeter and the way they anticipate would create problems for us,” Mohr said. “But not like it did tonight. I was just very disappointed. I’m not pushing the right buttons in the way we handle the pressure. We’ll keep plugging away.”
Jaron Filliater paced the Royals with 15 points, while Dustin Brady, who was mired in foul trouble in the first half, and Toby Butterfield added 10 each.
Ben Palomo scored 10 of his game-high 16 points in the third period and Leibacher finished with 13, 11 coming in the first half.
Wynford won the junior varsity game, 50-47. Dylon Robinson led the Royals with 17 points and Kohan Keith added 10. Colson Biehl paced the Polar Bears with 14 points.
Box score
Margaretta 12 18 24 10 — 64
Wynford 4 11 9 18 — 42
Margaretta (8-2): Shots 26-45; 3-pt. shots 3 (Gage Bodley, Spencer Mitchel, Tyler Warner); Free throws 9-11; Rebounds 24; Turnovers 9. Scoring: Gage Bodley 2 3 8, Cameron Sosa 3 2 8, Nathan Schafer 4 0 8, Cayden Orshoski 0 1 1, Spencer Mitchel 2 0 5, Tyler Warner 2 0 5, Jake Leibacher 5 3 13, Ben Palomo 8 0 16.
Wynford (0-5): Shots 15-41; 3-pt shots 1 (Toby Butterfield); Free throws 11-20; Rebounds 33; Turnovers 21. Scoring: Dustin Brady 3 4 10, Leyton Appleby 0 1 1, Avery Langenderfer 1 0 2, James Schifer 1 0 2, Gavin Burris 1 0 2, Jaron Filliater 5 5 15, Toby Butterfield 4 1 10.
JV: Wynford 50-47.