Beaston's record-breaking night propels Tornadoes to 9-1

CLYDE — There aren't many things Logan Beaston is going to do that he hasn't done before.Yet, the super senior checked off a school record Thursday.Beaston drilled nine 3-pointers to break Brad Burns' record of eight he set in 1993 and Columbian as a team made 14 3s en route to blasting Clyde 66-35 in Sandusky Bay Conference Lake Division action."That's a credit to his work ethic and how many shots he gets up," TC coach Travis Kinn said. "We were on break and off for two or three days over Christmas and he's in the gym on Christmas Eve texting me about stuff. His commitment is second to none. It's nothing like I've ever seen. He got some space tonight and our guys did a great job of finding him. When he gets open and gets space, he converts at a high percentage."Beaston tied his career high of 33 points — set last year against Clyde — while also grabbing 13 rebounds to help the Tornadoes (9-1, 5-0 SBC Lake) stay atop the league standings."When one 3-pointer became two and two became three, the basket feels a lot bigger," Beaston said. "My teammates were finding me and I got some open looks in the third quarter."Beaston actually missed a chunk of the first quarter. He connected on his first triple of the game with 5:16 to go in the first quarter, but landed awkwardly. He came up limping, missing the free throw as he was fouled on the play. He came out of the game on the next dead ball and quickly had to alter his game if he wanted to be successful."I came down right on the kid's foot," Beaston said. "He had a really good contest. I wasn't going to beat anyone off the dribble because I'm already not the fastest guy. I was looking for my jump shot then."His teammates kept the offense going against the Flyers (1-9, 0-5) in his absence. Bryce Roggow hit a pair of 3-pointers while Brayden Roggow scored three times as TC built the lead to 15-6 before Beaston came back in the game.Beaston hit a 3 and added two free throws to give the Tornadoes a 20-6 lead after eight minutes."They have five guys that can really play the game of basketball," Clyde coach Ryan Fretz said. "All five of them can knock it down from the outside. As soon as Bryce Roggow hit two 3s in the first quarter, we were in for a long game."Beaston added back-to-back triples in the second quarter to balloon the margin to 26-11. Columbian pushed the lead as big as 18 after Brayden Roggow's 3-pointer and a bucket by Garritt Prenzlin. Clyde got the next six points, but Zach Shawberry's corner 3 kept Columbian ahead 36-21 at halftime."I think the guys felt really good," Kinn said. "I think with the size advantage, we had a little more space and more time to get shots off. They didn't feel rushed. Credit to our guys for delivering the ball on time. We have been stressing that."Beaston really caught fire in the third quarter. After Brennan Wilson opened the scoring for the Fliers, Beaston hit his fifth triple. He added a driving layup and twice hit consecutive 3s for a total of five 3-pointers and 17 points in just over four minutes of the quarter.The Tornadoes' lead had ballooned to 53-27 by that point. Brady Gooding knocked down a pair of free throws and scored to extend the lead to 30 points after three quarters. Gooding has became a credible option off the bench for TC. He ended with six points and six rebounds."Brady is a guy who all summer long was in our starting five," Kinn said of the junior. "These guys have such high expectations of themselves. Brady coming out and playing the way he played was no surprise to anybody in the locker room. He has been eager and itching to get out on the court."Brayden Roggow finished with 16 points for Columbian, once again providing tremendous support even when Beaston is hot."And that's what makes it tough," Fretz said. "Logan has a great team around him and he makes his teammates so much better because if you focus too much on him, he's unselfish and he's going to find the other players."Wilson topped Clyde with 17 points while Brayden Olson scored 10."It's putting four quarters together and that's something we did against Colonel Crawford," Fretz said of his team's lone win of the season. "We didn't play a good first quarter in this game. I think we played a solid pretty good second quarter."The Tornadoes have a big game Saturday night when they host Bellevue (7-2, 4-1) in a key SBC contest. Columbian will also honor 2022 graduate Bryce Burns for scoring more than 1,000 career points."All of our league games are huge in what we are trying to accomplish and do," Kinn said. "We are looking forward to Saturday. It means a lot more because we took care of business tonight. Now we can turn our full attention to Bellevue and make sure we are ready to go Saturday night."