Herbert, Senecas clobber Cubs 59-12

Believe it or not, Lucas led 4-2 midway through the first quarter Thursday night. That was the only lead the Cubs had all game as the Calvert ratcheted up its defensive pressure and caused 24 turnovers in a 59-12 rout in a Division VII sectional final.Calvert (15-7) came out a little slow, having to adjust to multiple different zones and looks defensively Lucas (0-23) tried to throw at it.It worked until Calvert extended its pressure defense to more of a press, causing a plethora of Lucas turnovers, which led to easy buckets the other way for the Senecas. After a slow start, Calvert led 18-6 after the first stop.Then things got even more lopsided in the second quarter as Calvert outscored the Cubs 15-1 to gain a 33-7 halftime advantage. "Those first couple of minutes I thought we were just going through the motions and we were allowing them to dictate how the game was going to be played, so we reminded them to play a little harder and put a little more pressure on the ball," Calvert coach Jon Otterbacher said. "We then were able to get going offensively more, but defensively for the most past we did a really good job of limiting their opportunities around the basket and around the perimeter. "I thought 1-12 got some good experience and got some good reps, improved today throughout. Everyone got in the box score at some point, rebounds, assists, steals, those kinds of things, so it was good to see a complete team effort like that."Eleven of the 12 players in the game for Calvert scored, but it was the aggressive play from Max Herbert that stood out.Herbert tallied 10 of his 12 first-half points in the second frame, including knocking down two 3-pointers. He ended with a game-high 16 points."Max is such a good athlete to begin with and we talked to him two years ago that realistically his guard play is not going to be where it needs to be to be a varsity starter, so we talked to him about being the post," Otterbacher said. "He's going to be undersized, but he took that and ran with it. "He has to use his quickness a lot, which we talked about that before the game where the way he's going to score is by hustling, getting to those loose balls, getting those open layups and then when he stepped out they were so worried about his quickness he hit those two 3s, which was great to see."The Calvert starters played for most of the third as Logan Ritzler scored seven straight points in the 19-1 third period as Calvert led 52-8 entering the fourth.Cooper Day led Lucas with six points as the Cubs only made three total baskets in the game. Ritzler backed Herbert with 12 points.Things get tougher now as Calvert now takes on Plymouth (15-8) in a district semifinal Thursday at Galion at 6 p.m."They have a lot of nice athletes, they're very senior-heavy," Otterbacher said about the Big Red. "Jarrett Burrer was the district player of the year – he was out some time with an injury – but he averages close to 20 (points) and 10 (rebounds). He's a nice athlete. They just go out and go and there's not a whole lot of structure offensively, so we have to defend 1-5, while also keeping them out of the basket or wide open 3s. It will be a tall test for us." Calvert 59, Lucas 12Lucas (0-23): Cooper Day 1-4-6; Anthony Fanello 0-0-0; Graham Maglott 0-0-0; Mason Guegold 1-0-2; Alegacy Grose 1-0-2; Brady Guegold 0-0-0; Braydon Francis 0-2-2; Hayden Maloney 1-0-2; Gabe Brenner 0-0-0. Totals: 3-6-12.Calvert (15-7): Grady Otterbacher 1-0-3; Logan Ritzler 5-1-12; Emman Moreno 0-2-2; Max Herbert 7-0-16; Tucker Coleman 1-2-4; Drew Meyer 2-0-4; Logan DeMoss 2-0-4; Cohen Stull 2-0-6; Jacob Rishty 1-0-2; Ethan Baugher 1-0-2; Gabe Badik 0-0-0; Vincenzo Lyons 2-0-4. Totals: 24-5-59.Lucas&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;6&emsp;&emsp;1&emsp;&emsp;1&emsp;&emsp;3&emsp;&emsp;– 12Calvert&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;18&emsp;&emsp;15&emsp;&emsp;19&emsp;&emsp;7&emsp;&emsp;– 593-point goals: Lucas 0; Calvert 6 (Stull 2, Herbert 2, Otterbacher, Ritzler)Foul shots: Lucas 6-10; Calvert 5-15Turnovers: Lucas 24; Calvert 5