Tornadoes battle, but fall 66-56

SANDUSKY — Sandusky muscled its way to a Senior Night victory.The Blue Streaks leaned on senior big men Anthony Redding and Kymirr Hunter — with a dash of scoring from Camrion Jones — to hold off Columbian 66-56 on Friday night at the Big House.Redding finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds while Hunter added 10 points and 13 boards."We got a win for our guys on a special night," said Hunter, one of four Sandusky seniors. "Coach told me to stay low, be aggressive and move them out of the way. I took my explosiveness and used it to my advantage. It's important. No second chances. He tells me to always crash for rebounds."Sandusky's leading scorer Dale Johnson did not score after picking up three early fouls, which made everyone else's contributions more important."I'm most proud of the way we played without our leader," Sandusky coach DeMar Moore said. "We were without our best player for the majority of the game when Dale got in foul trouble early. That hurt us, but our guys fought and picked him up. "It says a lot about the growth of our team. If we had this same situation early in the season it might've been a different outcome."Sandusky improved to 11-7 overall and 7-1 in the SBC Lake Division.The Blue Streaks have won five of their last six games.Columbian made Sandusky work for Friday's win. Every time the Streaks built a little cushion, the Tornadoes (8-10, 3-5) regrouped and fought back."Our guys played hard and we didn't back down," said TC coach Jac Alexander, the former Oak Harbor star who is in his first season guiding the Tornadoes. "A couple things that stick out to me were the first three minutes of the second half. We were up one to start and they went on a 7-0 run. Can't happen. "Our turnovers led to and-1 after and-1, and you can't make 8 for 18 from the free throw line and come into a place like this and expect to win against a good team."Sandusky's 7-0 run out of halftime gave the Streaks a 30-24 lead on a Redding putback.Columbian, which had won four of five coming into the game, chipped away and took a 45-44 lead a minute into the fourth quarter when Logan Gooding made an easy layup off an inbounds play.Gooding leads the SBC Lake with 22.2 points per game. He finished with 27 on Friday.I think he's averaged 30 against us the last couple years," Moore said. "He's a heckuva ballplayer. That kid can play."Columbian's final lead lasted 30 seconds. Ahmaj Woolfork made a layup off a turnover to make it 46-45 Sandusky.Jones then made a steal and raced in for a layup. He was fouled on the shot and made his free throw for a 49-45 lead.Redding then made a steal and went coast to coast for a bucket. He was fouled and missed his free throw, but Hunter was there for a cutback and 53-45 lead with five minutes to play."(Redding) was really active. He changed a lot of shots, rebounded like crazy and ran the floor hard," Moore said. "Kymirr is just a load down there when we get him the ball and he's a beast on the glass. I thought our inside presence was the difference in the game."Both teams struggled from the free throw line. Columbian was 8 for 18 from the stripe and Sandusky was 7 for 14.A Gooding 3-pointer cut Sandusky's lead to 57-52 with 2:25 to play before Redding assisted on a Hunter bucket to give Sandusky its first double-digit lead, 65-54 in the final minute."They're a good team. They just wouldn't go away," Moore said. "We went on a couple runs early and they fought back. I thought both teams really battled tonight. It wasn't the prettiest game, but good teams find a way to win and I thought we did that tonight." Sandusky 66, Columbian 56COLUMBIAN (8-10, 3-5): Blake Miller 3 0-2 8, Logan Gooding 8 8-12 27, DaShawn Russell 4 0-4 9, Blake Tucker 4 0-0 8, Kyle Help 0 0-0 0, Jax Diamantopoulos 1 0-0 2, DaZarius Russell 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 21 8-18 56SANDUSKY (11-7, 7-1): Anthony Redding 7 1-4 15, Dale Johnson 0 0-0 0, Dereon Scott 1 0-0 3, Camrion Jones 8 3-6 22, Kymirr Hunter 5 0-0 10, Ahmaj Woolfork 4 1-2 9, Ta'Varieon Myers 2 2-2 7. TOTALS 27 7-14 66Columbian 12 12 16 16 — 56Sandusky 12 11 21 22 — 66Three-point goals — TC 6 (Gooding 3, B. Miller 2, DaShawn Russell 1); Sandusky 5 (Jones 3, Scott 1, Myers 1)