Calvert dunked by Vanlue

On the sideline, the injured Calvert players looked like men among boys, with their jackets and ties matching the smooth styles of the coaching staff.

On the court, Vanlue's Zach Garber was a man among boys.

The University of Toledo-bound senior had 16 points, nine rebounds, three blocks and a dunk in a 44-35 beating of the Senecas on Tuesday night.

"He draws a crowd. That's how teams play him," Vanlue coach Dean Birchmeier said. "The other guys have chances to make plays with him on the floor. He makes everyone better."

The 6-10 post measured eight inches taller than any of Calvert's defenders and he hurt the Senecas not only with his size but his passing ability. When he would be collapsed upon in the post, Garber would kick it out to one of his guards, Austin Smith or Linden Smith, and the pair would bury a trifecta.

"The biggest thing was, going in, we knew they had 3-point shooters, guys that could hit from the perimeter," Calvert coach Ted Willman said. "So when you have a guy that's 6-9, 6-10 and you have guys that can shoot, you can fire away because if there's a rebound, he's probably going to get it."

It didn't help that Vanlue didn't miss a whole lot, making 50 percent of its shots.

"We had to work to get some shots against their zone but we got quite a few good looks," Birchmeier said.

After a tight first quarter, Vanlue led 13-12. But on the opening possession of the second quarter, Brian Gruss made two of his team-high 13 points to give Calvert (0-6) its only lead of the night, 14-13.

The lead was short-lived. A Garber bucket followed by three straight Calvert turnovers and subsequent buckets by Vanlue (7-0) put the Wildcats out front 23-14.

"We were able to jump off to a lead early but after we got the lead, (Calvert) really settled into the game and made quite a game of it," Birchmeier said.

By all accounts, it was a very good quarter for Vanlue, scoring on seven of nine possessions including the final one of the quarter that saw Garber miss a 3-pointer, only to have Linden Smith hustle and grab the rebound at the free throw line. He drained a fade away from there as time expired, two of his 10 points in the win.

"I thought a big thing in the first half, we missed a box-out there before half and they get the rebound (and score) to put them up 11 at half," Willman said. "Instead of being nine and having the ball and coming out (of half) and maybe cutting it to seven, now you're trying to get it to single digits and hope that they don't run away. The thing is, the second quarter killed us."

As hot as Vanlue was in the second, it was exactly the opposite in the third quarter, where the Wildcats went 1 of 9 from the field. But Calvert wasn't much better, going 2 of 8 from the field and only cutting the lead by two, 33-24, heading into the fourth.

After two quick Vanlue buckets in the first minute of the final stanza gave the Wildcats a 14-point lead, 38-24, Calvert went on a tear. The Senecas scored nine straight points, including four from Marcus Somers to make it 38-33 with 3:48 left.

But Calvert scoring stopped from there until a bucket with 17 seconds left in the game by Mike Bennett. Calvert went cold in that stretch, going 0 of 6 from the field and 0 of 1 from the line while Vanlue salted the game away.

"I think they made us play defense at times for longer than we have had to this year," Birchmeier said. "I think that probably tired us out some but in the end, a lot of times were able to get a stop, which helped us in that regard."

While Willman isn't satisfied with taking steps forward, he was pleased with some of the growth his team exhibited.

"Progress is our most important product at this time and I thought we took steps in growing up," he said.