Redmen rally from rough start, top Royals

FOSTORIA Maybe poker could be the next adventure for Fostoria's boys basketball team.Even its coach -- Thom Loomis -- struggles to read the Redmen at times.But there was something in their eyes Monday when a 3-pointer by Ryan O'Neal gave Fostoria its first lead of the game at halftime.The Redmen skyrocketed from there to a huge second half, overcoming an early 13-point deficit to top Elmwood, 61-40, in Northern Buckeye Conference play."These guys are always kind of hard to read, but you could tell when you walked in the locker room that the confidence was there," Loomis said. "When you have that feeling, I really challenged them that they worked hard to dig out of a hole. Now we had to go out and not let Elmwood back in."Fostoria (8-12 overall, 6-7 NBC) trailed 12-0 and 14-1 early. The deficit was still 20-9 in the second quarter when the Redmen got going. Buckets by Jordan Ferguson, Machi Johnson, and Jayceon Tucker drew Fostoria within 20-15. A triple by Johnson and driving layup from Tucker knotted the game at 20.The Royals (5-15, 1-12) scored twice to stay ahead, but O'Neal hit his only basket of the game 14 seconds before half to give the Redmen a 25-24 lead at the break."Even when we got our starters back in the game, we didn't do a good job of defensively getting stops," Loomis said. "Jordan Ferguson was the only guy going to the glass. They were getting some second and third chances. That should not happen."Fostoria didn't even give a glimmer of hope to Elmwood of keeping the game close in the second half. Johnson splashed in a 3 before consecutive scores by Tucker pushed the lead to eight. Another 3-pointer from Johnson suddenly gave the Redmen a 35-24 advantage just over 90 seconds into the third quarter.Hayden Wickard countered with a triple for Elmwood, but two free throws by Aiden Sprang, back-to-back buckets by Kristian Carter-Stokes, consecutive tallies by Tucker, and a basket by Johnson at the buzzer ballooned Fostoria's lead to 47-32 after three quarters."We started real early in the third quarter of taking it at them, getting some stops, and getting out and running," Loomis said. "When we got them out of the zone and we were able to spread them out, we knew they would really struggle to match up with us. I thought that's really when we sliced and diced them."All told, after trailing 14-1, it was a 46-18 run for Fostoria including a 42-18 advantage in the middle two quarters."We're capable of that just when we get stops and go in a normal game," Loomis said. "That's what we've done."Kade Lentz continued to play well for Elmwood, but it was nothing compared to what the Redmen did. Ferguson added a driving layup then picked a steal and threw down a thunderous two-handed slam dunk to put the final nail in the Royals' coffin."Once we finally figured out that we really just needed to focus on taking away Lentz and Wickard and making anyone else on the floor score and beat us, then we were OK," Loomis said. "We knew that was the game plan. It's our third game in four days. I'm sure the mental part is a little tougher because you're mentally and physically tired."Wickard opened the game with two buckets before Lentz and Landry Seedorf pushed the lead to 8-0. Two more scores from Wickard and Lentz - both off of steals - made it 12-0 Elmwood just 4:49 into the game."That's the joys of Senior Night," Loomis said. "It wasn't exactly what I expected. I thought we could do a little bit more offensively. We were so Helter Skelter. We were supposed to press and fall back into a zone and we didn't do either to start the game. We were out of sync and it showed."Wickard finished with 15 points while Lentz scored 14 points and snatched six rebounds.Tucker paced the Redmen with 20 points and six rebounds. The 6-foot-4 freshman is perhaps the brightest spot in Fostoria's future."Jayceon doesn't know at this point in his career yet just how good he really can be," Loomis said. "We've seen it from him since junior high. He's doubted himself at times this year that if he really belonged. As a freshman, he has those games where he plays like he did tonight, but then he will drop off. That's the inconsistency of youth."Johnson contributed 19 points for the Redmen, who celebrated Senior Night by honoring Sprang, Jason Harpster, and Chaz McBeth-Settles."I'm so happy for our seniors. Aidan has given us everything that he could give and more," Loomis said. "Chaz is one of those kids who will do whatever we ask him to do and he's accepted his role so well. Jason is a transfer in this year from Lakota that came in late and never had a summer with us... I'm glad to see him get a free throw tonight for his first points of the year. To get a win on Senior Night and be able to send our seniors out from their last home game the right way is really gratifying."