MONROEVILLE — Upper Sandusky found out the hard way last year not to take sectional championships for granted.
Eliminated in their first game last year, the Rams made sure that did not happen again, leading from start to finish in a 71-53 victory against Fostoria in a Division III sectional final game Friday night at Monroeville.
Last season, the Rams were upset in a sectional final game by Huron, 61-55.
“We found that out last year,” Upper Sandusky coach Jeff Winslow said. “We’re going to enjoy the heck out of this and celebrate tonight because it’s not easy. It doesn’t happen every year. I’m really happy with the effort tonight. We beat a really athletic Fostoria team.”
No. 2 Upper Sandusky advances to district play to take on No. 3 Western Reserve in a district semifinal game at 8 p.m. Wednesday at Norwalk.
Mason Vent led the Rams (18-5) on Friday night with 25 points while also passing out four assists. Evan Young finished with 14 points, and Trevor Clifford had 13 points and nine rebounds.
Upper Sandusky ran out to a 7-0 lead in the first two minutes of the game, getting a bucket by Vent, a 3-pointer by Cameron McCreary and then a put-back by Clifford.
“As young as we are, we knew that we would have a lot of sectional final jitters, and that certainly showed those first three minutes, but we didn’t give up,” Fostoria coach Thom Loomis said. “We could have packed it in in the first quarter when we were down. We just kept battling.”
Fostoria (8-16) cut its deficit to 9-8 before a Vent 3-pointer and then a McCreary 3-pointer at the end of the quarter made it 15-8. With eight straight points to start the second quarter, the Rams led 23-8.
The Redmen cut their deficit to eight on two occasions, once each in the second and third quarters, but each time the Rams answered with a run that kept them from getting back in it.
Leading 28-20 late in the first half, Upper Sandusky got a Vent basket inside and then beat the buzzer on a Brett Montgomery 3-pointer to make it 33-20.
Fostoria trimmed the lead to 40-32 with less than three minutes left in the third quarter on a Dylan Sheets 3-pointer, only for Upper Sandusky to follow with an 8-0 run.
McCreary scored on a drive to the basket, and Jason Holly hit two free throws. Upper Sandusky then used up almost all of the remaining time on the clock before McCreary assisted a Clifford layup inside. Fostoria was called for a travel with 0.4 seconds still showing on the clock, and McCreary lobbed the ball into the paint where Vent went up and got it and put it in off the backboard at the buzzer to make it 48-32 – the Rams third buzzer-beating shot of the night.
“That was huge,” Winslow said. “Not only that but then we get the ball out of bounds and we score it’s a five-, six-point swing. We work really hard on end-of-quarter stuff and we did a really good job of it tonight. That was big. We did a real nice job of executing stuff out of the quarter break we talked about.”
The Redmen got back to within 10 at 45-46 with four minutes to play, but once more, the Rams had the answer with a Clifford layup and a Montgomery 3-pointer.
“We made a really good push and then their physicality just took over,” Loomis said. “That was truly a difference in the game. I don’t believe we shot any free throws in the second half. That’s very unusual. They were very physical. I’m not saying. There a bigger stronger team, and their physicality was a problem.”
Alex Sierra paced the Redmen with 16 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals. Bryan Stenson scored 12 points.
Upper Sandusky will have an opponent familiar to Winslow. He came to the Rams following an assistant coaching stint with Western Reserve.
“We’ve got to constantly play as hard as we can fundamentally sound, not giving up spurts like that,” Winslow said. “It’s going to take a similar type effort with the exception of against good teams in district play, you’re going to have to make those open shots.”
Box score
Fostoria 8 12 12 21 — 53
Upper Sandusky 15 18 15 23 — 71
Stats
Fostoria (8-16): Shots 22-45; 3-pt. shots 4-15 (Bryan Stenson 2, Dominique Settles, Dylan Sheets); Free throws 5-8; Rebounds 27 (Dylan Sheets 5, Alex Sierra 5); Turnovers 14. Scoring: Dylan Sheets 3 1 8, Alex Sierra 8 0 16, Bryan Stenson 5 0 12, Eli Ward 1 0 2, Maalik Tucker 1 4 6, Dominique Settles 4 0 9.
Upper Sandusky (18-5) Shots 27-47; 3-pt 6-17 (Cameron McCreary 2, Brett Montgomery 2, Mason Vent, Evan Young); Free throws 11-16; Rebounds 30 (Trevor Clifford 9); Turnovers 12. Scoring: Cameron McCreary 3 0 8, Brett Montgomery 2 0 6, Trevor Clifford 5 3 13, Mason Vent 11 2 25, Evan Young 5 3 14, Jason Holly 1 3 5.