Perfect, again

UPPER SANDUSKY — Brad Ehrman was a little worried. Maybe not shaking, but there was more than a little concern. Outside, multiple storms had already hit and another one was brewing. But Ehrman, the Upper Sandusky athletic director, was prepared. Inside his pocket was a seven-point evacuation plan in the event a tornado hit the area here Friday night. Colonel Crawford coach David Sheldon could have used something similar. But there was no preparing for the storm that his club saw in the second half — even if he had seen it once before. Upper Sandusky rocked the Eagles for 12 second-half turnovers and blitzed them on the scoreboard as well in posting a 63-36 Northern 10 Conference win. The victory gave the Rams, top-ranked in the final Associated Press Division II poll, their second straight unbeaten regular season. Upper Sandusky has now won 46 straight regular season games. The lone loss in the past two years is a 79-67 decision to Ottawa-Glandorf in last year's district tournament at Ohio Northern University. "It's unbelievable, really," Ram coach Jeff Winslow said. "We know we're deep and we've got kids that are dedicated to make themselves better basketball players. Everybody's champing at the bit for their turn and when called upon, they can't wait to get out there and do it." The Rams did it big time in the second half after a first-half struggle that saw Upper Sandusky edge ahead 20-19 at the break. The Eagles, with 6-foot-10 senior Heath Starkey roaming the middle, had a 23-11 rebounding edge at that point. Starkey had eight rebounds to go with six points at the half, but eight other Eagles also had rebounds. "I think in the first half we had the pace where we wanted it," said Colonel Crawford coach David Sheldon, whose team fell to the Rams 82-54 earlier in the year. "They've got four guys shooting over 40 percent from 3(-point range), almost 50 percent. "But in the second half, we turned the ball over the first four times we had the ball — the first four times," he said. "That allowed them to get on runs. They are a team that makes runs and we just couldn't stop the bleeding." "At halftime, I just thought if we turned up the pressure a little bit and quit fouling, we could get going," Winslow said. "That and move the basketball. I thought we did a better job of sharing it, working inside out. When we do that, we're pretty good." The first of two really good runs Sheldon feared was a 16-6 finish over the final four minutes of the third period. Wes Vent took a pass inside from Ry Adams for a score and Jevon Dible added a 3-pointer to get it started. A moment later, the Rams had a five-point possession when Vent scored again while drawing a foul. He missed the free throw, but Andrew Kurtz rebounded and hit Adams for a 3-pointer and a 38-27 advantage. "I think we calmed down. We were nervous at the beginning of the game," said Vent, who led the Rams with 25 points and five rebounds. "I think you could (see that) from all our guys shooting. We didn't shoot it very well. But we calmed down a little bit (in the second half) and the shots started to fall." And they kept falling. The Rams hit 6 of 8 from 3-point range in the third period and finished with 3 of 5 in the fourth. Starkey, who led Colonel Crawford with 14 points and 13 rebounds, scored to trim the lead to 44-33 at the outset of the fourth period. But Upper Sandusky scored the next 19 points, including a couple 3-pointers by Eli Kinley and one by Evan Young, to put the game away. Kinley finished with 13 points and five boards and Young added 11. Dible scored eight and Adams six to finish the box score. "Honestly, I think we deserve it," Kinley said of the club's second straight unbeaten run. "In practice, we play our butts off. Actually, our practices are harder than games. We bring it all every day in the summer, at practice and in games." "We knew it would be tough going undefeated," Vent said. "It's always tough doing that even just one year. We knew we had to take it one game at a time and if we did that, we had a good chance." Brody Martin had nine points for Colonel Crawford, which finished 16-6 (13-3 N10) and is prepped for the tournament. In addition to the two losses to the Rams, the Eagles fell to two other conference champions in Spencerville and Northmor. Meanwhile, the second-seeded Rams will face either Lima Shawnee or Kenton at 6:15 p.m. March 3 at Lima Senior for a Division II sectional championship and a return trip to the Ohio Northern district. "It's just dedication," Winslow said of the Rams' remarkable run. "They play basketball 12 months a year on their own. It's like we try to tell them you can't just get better when we're with you. "They just really work at it on their own," he said. "It's really nice to see it pay off."