Vermilion rally stuns Norwalk

Dec. 23—NORWALK — The Truckers were right where they wanted to be.

Looking to snap a two-game skid, Norwalk was up 59-52 with under three minutes remaining in Thursday's SBC Lake Division game against visiting Vermilion.

"We got it right where we wanted to be up five or seven points, then the thought was we can spread them out a little bit and attack the basket and get to the foul line," Norwalk head coach Adam Kreischer said.

But things didn't go to plan. Instead, the Sailors closed the game with 11 of the last 12 points, getting a 3-pointer from Cam Logue with 4.3 seconds left for a 63-60 victory.

Norwalk missed three foul shots in the final 2:34 and turned it over twice as it fell to 3-4 overall and 1-3 in the league.

"Once again we were not good at the foul line going just 8 for 17," Kreischer said. "And we missed some big ones late. We turned it over a couple times ... when you're turning the ball over and miss fouls shots, that's exactly how teams get back in the game."

The game was tied on a 3 by Logue to start the fourth quarter. The Truckers then scored six straight points on a basket by Ashton Coe, and four straight free throws from Ben Rothhaar and Mason Gamble.

That gave the Truckers a 53-47 lead with 5:47 remaining. After Thomas Ngure scored for Vermilion, the Truckers then got consecutive baskets by Rothhaar and Coe to extend the lead to 57-49 with 4:28 left.

When Gamble scored in transition inside with 3:24 left, Norwalk had a 59-52 lead.

But then the Sailors (4-5, 2-2) made their rally.

Trailing 60-55, Jaden Borlaug made a 3-pointer and a short jumper around a Norwalk travel violation to tie the game at 60 with 1:43 remaining.

Out of a timeout, Norwalk was fouled, but missed them both with 59.4 seconds left. The Sailors then got the ball back with 24.1 seconds to go and called a timeout to set up a final shot.

The ball ended up with the third option on the left wing, and it was Logue — who was 0-of-12 for the season from the three-point line — finishing off a 3-of-4 night by draining a triple with 4.3 seconds remaining.

Out of a timeout, Norwalk rushed the ball up the floor and was looking for a 3 from the right corner, but the ball was turned over to end the game.

"We were looking to get (Andrew) Hendershot on a drive to the basket, and if they collapsed on him, something for (AJ) Gerber on the outside," Vermilion coach Kurt Habermehl said. "But they doubled him well, and did a really good job finding the open man, and credit Cam on his 18th birthday for stepping up and hitting the game-winning shot."

In the first half, both teams took turns trading the lead throughout the 16 minutes. The Truckers trailed 32-28 with 1:27 left in the half after a basket by Ngure for the Sailors.

From there, Norwalk scored six straight points to close the half. Demuth made a 3-pointer at the 1:07 mark, while Chapin converted a three-point play with 41.7 seconds left off an assist from Coe.

The teams again played a back-and-forth third quarter, with Norwalk holding the slight 47-44 lead entering the final eight minutes. But the Sailors got back in it behind an 8-of-15 effort (53 percent) from the three-point line.

"Our guys do continue to compete really well, and at times we struggle to score," Kreischer said. "We definitely scored enough points to win a game tonight though. We did not do a good enough job defensively in keeping their guys out of the paint early in the game.

"And teams have just shot really well from three against us," he added. "Sometimes that happens and you don't come out on the right side of things. That young man was 0 for 12 this season but he's 3 for 4 against Norwalk. It's hard to win games when a team shoots it that well."

Chapin finished with a career-high 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting and added five rebounds for Norwalk. Demuth scored 11 points, while Rothhaar added 10 points and four rebounds, and Gamble had 10 points.

Coe added six points, seven assists and four rebounds for Norwalk, which has a tough stretch coming up starting with at trip to Sandusky (5-1, 2-1) next Wednesday. Norwalk also visits Willard (5-4), Bellevue (4-2) and hosts Port Clinton (4-2) and Tiffin Columbian (6-1) after that.

"This is a tough stretch for sure," Kreischer said. "We're disappointed this slipped away, but we can't feel sorry for ourselves, because none of those five teams will feel sorry for us.

"We have to continue to work hard to get better to doing the little things all the time for a chance to be in a lot of those games."

VERMILION (4-5, 2-2)

Cam Logue 4-0—11; Andrew Hendershot 7-3—18; Thomas Ngure 5-1—12; Jaden Borlaug 5-0—11; AJ Gerber 3-1—9; Wyatt German 1-0—2. TOTALS 25-5—63.

NORWALK (3-4, 1-3)

Mason Gamble 4-2—10; Braedyn Demuth 4-0—11; Ben Rothhaar 4-2—10; Dalton Chapin 6-4—18; Ashton Coe 3-0—6; Garrett Demuth 1-0—3; Brayson Malson 1-0—2. TOTALS 23-8—60.

Vermilion 18 14 12 19 — 63

Norwalk 16 18 13 13 — 60

3-point FGs: (V) Logue 3, Gerber 2, Hendershot, Ngure, Borlaug; (N) B. Demuth 3, Chapin 2, G. Demuth.