Bellevue holds off rival Columbian

BELLEVUE — There's glimpses of what Columbian can be. But it's not there quite yet. After a lackluster first half trailing rival Bellevue 31-17 at the half, Columbian outscored Bellevue 18-4 in the third quarter to tie the Redmen at 35 heading into the fourth. However, Columbian didn't have enough in the end — mostly in part to Bellevue senior guard Trey Ruhlman — who scored a game-high 22 points and eclipsed 1,000 career points in the 53-40 Sandusky Bay Conference Lake Division win Thursday. "They definitely took us out of our stuff early in the second half in that third quarter with some traps there. We threw it to the elbow and they were throwing two or three guys at it and it got us out of our rhythm," Bellevue coach Ed Rich said. "Thank God we battled back there. We've struggled these past three games, so it was nice to get a win and close one out. "The thing is with them … I don't care if they are 1 and whatever, I knew they were good. They're a nice team. I don't care if they have one win they are a solid team. They won't get blown out by many, so we knew it would be a dogfight especially when they got it close there in the second half." It wasn't much of a fight in the first half as the Redmen (4-5, 1-2 SBC) handled the Tornadoes in a 17-7 second quarter with Ruhlman scoring 11 in the opening half and Caleb Marshall backed him with eight. However, the Tornadoes (1-8, 0-4) fought back in the second half and showed some urgency for the first time in the game. They were moving the ball around and getting good shots to start the half and LJ Reaves was a big part of the turnaround. The sophomore guard started the second half with a 9-0 run of his own to pull the Tornadoes within 31-26. Bellevue's Richie Stombaugh responded with a jumper and then TC finished the quarter with a 9-2 run. Tyrin Smith and Bryce Burns both had a pair of baskets in the run, including Burns' 3-pointer to end the period. "Our effort, especially by a couple of key guys was much improved from the last few weeks. We've had some meetings and talked to guys and I know a conscience mindset was there tonight to be better and give more," TC coach Travis Kinn said. "At halftime we kind of challenged them and told them the ball was in their hands to get some shots. "We had nine turnovers in the first half with most of them being unforced, four or five missed shots around the basket and 0 for 8 from 3. The ball just wasn't going in the hole, but we stayed in it and got ourselves back in it there in the third quarter, but Bellevue made a few more plays than we did." Columbian took a 38-37 lead with 5:25 left in the game on a Davaunte Brockington layup, but Bellevue finished the game with a 16-2 run. The Tornadoes were hampered by turnovers late and overall in the game with 21. But Ruhlman put TC away with nine fourth-quarter points to get his 1,000th point with 14.2 seconds left. Ruhlman joined his brother, Cody, on the 1,000-point scorers list in school history. The game went on with a TC turnover with about one second left before Rich called a timeout to celebrate the achievement. "(Ruhlman) has always been a lead-by-example guy and this year he's been a vocal leader," Rich said. "He's had a great career and a four-year starter for me and unfortunately he's missed a lot of games with injury. This was his first game back after missing three, so we've been waiting for it and it was nice to see him get it because you know he thinks about it. "I wasn't trying to showboat anyone there calling that timeout there. I wanted to give our kid credit for what he did. I'm sorry they might have taken it the wrong way. I think there was some miscommunication there because the ref said he wouldn't stop the game if it was close, but he said I could call a timeout if I wanted to, so I did. I think we have to recognize kids for that." Marshall had 14 points for the Redmen, while Stombaugh added nine. Reaves had 17 for the Tornadoes, while Brockington chipped in eight. "We have a competitive group of guys and they are young, so we are learning a lot on the fly," Kinn said. "We understand some mistakes are going to be made, but the biggest thing we want is growth from those mistakes and I really thought we grew tonight. "We'll be better from this for the rest of the season no matter how hard it is to take right now. Our guys are competitive and enthusiastic each day and they are just a great group to have," he said.