Redmen fend off Tornadoes late in 60-53 win

The game turned out pretty much exactly how Bellevue coach Ed Rich thought it would. Columbian, who plays extremely hard on both ends, made things interesting late, but a push in the third quarter and some timely shots and offensive rebounds helped the Redmen pull out a big SBC Lake road win 60-53 Friday night."I knew it was going to be a battle. They play freaking hard man … they play hard, they play physical," Rich said. "I thought the referees did an excellent job calling the game because I think they let both teams play physical without it getting out of control."Our game plan was to throw as many different guys on (Logan Gooding) as we could. He's good, he's really good and we knew that. We had it in our scouting report that he has scored like 63% of their points for the year. He did a nice job and I think we did a nice job on everyone else. But we played well, and it's a pretty resilient team we have."Even though Gooding dropped in a game-high 22 points for the Tornadoes (3-3, 0-2), they were a tough 22 as the Redmen threw bodies at him left and right, making someone else beat them. The supporting cast hit some shots, but not consistently enough to catch the Redmen (5-2, 2-0) in the end."We dug ourselves a little hole there in that third quarter and we couldn't get back over that hump," Tornadoes coach Jac Alexander said. "We played our butts off in the third quarter, but we have to play like that all the time. We can't be so one-dimensional with Logan. He's our guy obviously, but we have to have other guys be ready to step up and make plays. Ultimately, we got out-rebounded by at least 10 rebounds, which is huge. That was the difference in the game."Some of those rebounds came on the offensive end for the Redmen, keeping possessions alive during the fourth quarter when TC made things interesting.Bellevue made a run in the third, but TC closed to within 45-40 entering the fourth quarter.Then the score starting going back and forth until Blake Miller drained a 3-pointer for TC to get the Tornadoes within 48-47 with four minutes left in the game. However, Bellevue came right down the floor and found a wide-open JJ Vogel for a triple. Every time TC would make a basket, Bellevue responded. Columbian got within 53-51 after a DaShawn Russell layup with 2:16 left, but Bellevue sophomore Elijah Turinsky made a floater in the lane and then splashed a pair of free throws to gain some separation with 19 ticks left in the ballgame. Bellevue struggled at times with turnovers due to TC's pressure, but once it got the ball into the half court and especially down inside the paint, Sam Bollinger either took it to the rim, kicked it out for an open shot or Ike Brown capitalized in the paint. Brown led Bellevue with 16 points."For whatever reason, that's been our struggle this year with turnovers, which irks me, but once we got into the half we ran our stuff pretty well," Rich said. "Ike did really well getting into the paint and doing his thing, Sam got into the paint with his quick feet and did his thing, which helped a lot too."TC drilled three treys in the first quarter to lead 16-14, but then cooled off, scoring only seven total points in the second as Bellevue gained a 26-23 halftime advantage.Russell and Blake Tucker each scored nine points for the Tornadoes, while Bellevue got 12 points from Claus, 10 from Bollinger and nine by Vogel."We knew they were a 3-point shooting heavy team, so we wanted to run them off the line, which we did, but we let some guys get too deep and they made plays all around the basket. And on top of that, if they would miss it, they'd grab it and get an offensive rebound and an and-one or whatever the case may be, but it comes back to rebounding. "The season is still young; it is what it is. We'll move on from it and we have another one Monday. We'll keep working at it, we're not quitting on them." Bellevue 60, Tiffin Columbian 53Bellevue (5-2, 2-0 SBC Lake): Sam Bollinger 5-0-10; Ike Brown 6-3-16; JJ Vogel 2-3-9; Reid Claus 4-1-12; Caden Lindsey 0-0-0; Caden Cramer 1-2-4; Owen Hancock 1-0-2; Hudson Smith 0-0-0; Elijah Turinsky 2-3-7. Totals: 21-12-60.TC (3-3, 0-2): Owen Hickey 0-4-4; Nolan Miller 1-0-3; Blake Miller 2-0-6; Jax Diamantopoulos 0-0-0; Logan Gooding 9-0-22; DaShawn Russell 4-1-9; Blake Tucker 4-1-9; Parker Nye 0-0-0. Totals: 20-6-53.Bellevue&emsp;&emsp;14&emsp;&emsp;12&emsp;&emsp;19&emsp;&emsp;15&emsp;&emsp;– 60Columbian&emsp;&emsp;16&emsp;&emsp;7&emsp;&emsp;17&emsp;&emsp;13&emsp;&emsp;– 533-point goals: Bellevue 6 (Claus 3, Vogel 2, Brown); TC 7 (Gooding 4, B. Miller 2, N. Miller)Foul shots: Bellevue 12-16; TC 6-11Turnovers: Bellevue 15; TC 10