Calvert crushes Gibsonburg 64-43

GIBSONBURG – Calvert's defense was top-notch Thursday night, and it started that way from the opening tip, holding a good Gibsonburg team to just five points in the first quarter.The defense continued that smothering play, while the offense took a little bit to get going, but once it hit its stride, the Golden Bears didn't have an answer.Whether it was the outside shooting of Grady Otterbacher or Logan Ritzler or the inside dominance from Gavin Wagner and Carter Wolph, Gibsonburg had a dilemma in how to defend. All night the Senecas made the right pass for easy looks in a dominant 64-43 SBC River win."We preach a lot about team basketball and making the extra pass," Calvert coach Jon Otterbacher said. "We want to hit that 20-assist threshold, and I think we were close to that tonight, but it shows how good of teammates they are to each other and how much they like each other and like being around each other. There were plenty of opportunities where someone could've scored, but they made even an easier play to get somebody open. It shows how much they love this team and this program."On defense, there's always room for improvements, but I thought our rotations were good tonight. We were moving, we were anticipating into spots and I thought the team as a whole played great team defense."Calvert (12-3, 9-2 SBC River) started well scoring the first eight points of the game. Gibsonburg (9-5, 6-4) didn't get on the scoreboard until a Reece Walby deep 3-pointer with 2:11 left in the opening period.With how great the defense was, Calvert held just a 10-5 advantage after one.But then the offense started to do its part as the Senecas went on a 15-2 run in the second quarter to open things up with forced turnovers and making the right pass in the open floor for easy baskets. It was 30-20 at the half."We try to take away what their offense does well and with them they're such dynamic athletes and they know how to get to the basket, so we were trying to limit those opportunities and we did a good job of that," Otterbacher said. After Otterbacher began the second half with a trey, Gibsonburg pulled within 33-25 after a Grant Dawson 3-pointer, but Calvert responded with a 10-2 run as Wolph and Wagner each dropped in four points and Logan DeMoss made a layup in the scoring spurt.From there, it was all Calvert putting on an offensive clinic at times on how to share the ball. Otterbacher set up his teammates quite often and when Gibsonburg doubled Wagner in the post, he found an open teammate – mostly a wide-open Wolph – for buckets to put the game out of reach."(Grady) is leading the league in assists and does a great job of finding the open guy and he's just going to continue to grow," his dad Jon said. "And if he hits more outside shots he will be able to get by his defender a bit easier and look for passes as well. "The way they were defending Carter, which was leaving him alone on the perimeter it was fine because Carter knows and he's been drilled that you can become a screener or a cutter then and when they doubled Gavin in the post he was wide open after cutting to an open spot."Walby led the Golden Bears with 13 points, while Morant chipped in 10. Wagner paced the Senecas with 18 points, seven rebounds and six assists. They also got 13 points from Otterbacher, 12 points from Ritzler and 10 points and nine boards by Wolph. Calvert 64, Gibsonburg 43Calvert (12-3, 9-2 SBC River): Logan Ritzler 5-1-12; Logan DeMoss 3-0-6; Grady Otterbacher 5-0-13; John Schumacher 1-0-2; Tucker Coleman 0-1-1; Carter Wolph 4-2-10; Gavin Wagner 9-0-18; Vincenzo Lyons 1-0-2. Totals: 28-4-64.Gibsonburg (9-5, 6-4): Camden Mooney 2-0-5; Aiden Morant 4-1-10; Reece Walby 5-1-13; Xander Zimmerman 1-0-2; Grant Dawson 3-0-7; Aiden Senters 0-0-0; Luke Foster 0-0-0; Hunter Wasserman 3-0-6. Totals: 18-2-43.Calvert&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;10&emsp;&emsp;20&emsp;&emsp;19&emsp;&emsp;15&emsp;&emsp;– 64Gibsonburg&emsp;&emsp;5&emsp;&emsp;15&emsp;&emsp;13&emsp;&emsp;10&emsp;&emsp;– 433-point goals: Calvert 4 (Otterbacher 3, Ritzler); Gibsonburg 5 (Walby 2, Mooney, Morant, Dawson)Foul shots: Calvert 4-5; Gibsonburg 2-3Turnovers: Calvert 8; Gibsonburg 10