The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Bay bests a bigger opponent
Rockets show they can run, top taller Beechcroft in regional semifinal
Bay didn’t back down from the challenge Columbus Beechcroft presented with four players 6-foot-6 or taller as the Rockets knocked off the Cougars with a convincing 67-59 win on March 15 to head to the boys D-II regional championship game.
Needing to hit the ground running, Bay jumped out to an early 6-0 lead and held the high-flying Beechcroft (25-2) offense down to start. But, the Cougars didn’t get this far by giving up early.
Trailing by as many as 11 points in the second quarter, the Rockets started to power up midway through the second and went off on a 16-5 run to head into the break, knotted up at 24.
“I think it’s big because you’re in a game that every possession’s important and we got crazy with the ball. We started turning it over and when that happens, bad things happen and that’s any team. But when we started turning the ball over, bad things happened,” Bay coach Jared Shetzer said. “At one point, I turned to my assistant and said, ‘How many turnovers do we have?’ And he goes, ‘You’ve got nine’ and said that’s not good and after that conversation we only had one and that’s when we made that run.
“Taking care of the ball and them making shots, that was obviously huge for us right before the half.”
Going against a big, strong team with one of the best records in the state, Shetzer said his team played its game and didn’t let any intimidation factor scare them off.
“We’re used to playing the pace that they play, I don’t know if they knew that or not, but we are used to playing that pace and running and pushing the ball up and down and shooting a lot of 3s and getting out in transition,” Shetzer said.
“One thing we were talking about in pregame was just surviving the first three or four minutes of the game because sometimes a team can get up by 10 to 12 points or more. but our guys showed a lot of resiliency to come back and the moment never got too big for them.”
One of the reasons the Rockets kept their cool was because this was the third game in three years at BGSU.
“I don’t know (why we play so well here) because I went to Toledo,” Shetzer joked.
“These guys have all played in big moments, Erik (Painter) did this as a freshman, R.J. (Sunahara) did this as a sophomore and R.J. and Francis (Sherman) have played in regional final football games. We have guys that have played in state championships for soccer. So they’ve been coached by really good coaches, not just me.
Being comfortable in his settings, Sunahara caused havoc all night as the senior had another colossal game with 18 points and 19 rebounds.
“I just try to come out and do whatever it takes to win every night,” Sunahara said. “Obviously it was enough tonight.”
While it may look like Sunahara can do it all, he needed some help from some big minutes played by the junior Sherman. His stats may not have lit up the score sheet, but Sherman’s minutes were crucial in the effort as he played what his coach called his best game of the season with nine points and seven boards.
Of his nine, no shot was bigger than a corner 3 early in the fourth that kept the Bay offense going.
“I think R.J. kicked it to me in the corner, wide open, and we shoot a lot in practice, so if I’m wide open in the corner, I think he’d get mad at me if I didn’t shoot it.”
Keeping an eight- to 11-point lead for most of the fourth quarter, the Rockets finally brought down the house with just under two minutes to play. Sunahara took a feed from Painter and slammed home a massive dunk that shook the Stroh Center.
As the Bay crowd erupted, Painter and the rest of the Bay squad saw that moment as the point where they knew they had the W.
“We knew we had to make a push and that just set everyone off,” Painter said. “At that point, I knew that we had the game.”
The Rockets will play Lexington on March 17 at 2 p.m. at BGSU.