Sizzling start fuels 72-38 Trojans' win

Jim Rucki's game plan for Thursday's game against Oregon Clay was simple: turn up the heat and see what happens. What happened was the Trojans got cooking in a hurry. Findlay forced Clay into turnovers on its first four possessions, led 7-0 before the Eagles crossed the half-court line for the first time, and rode that sizzling start to a 72-38 victory in a cross-over game between the Northern Lakes League teams. "I thought they were susceptible to some full-court pressure," Rucki said. "They're first two games (a loss to Evergreen, a win over Norwalk) nobody really did that. We have some guys who have that anticipation, though, and we thought it was something we had to do, that it was our best chance to jump on them early." Right out of the gate, Javonte Hill scored off a steal, hit one of two free throws off another Clay turnover, and converted a pass from Sam Ernst into a back door lay-up. Luke Weihrauch's basket off a steal made it 7-0 and, after Clay finally got it across mid-court but missed a 3-pointer, Hill buried a 3 on Findlay's end to bump it to 10-0. Findlay capitalized on six Clay turnovers in the first quarter, took advantage of seven more while outscoring the Eagles 25-13 in the second, and forced four more in forging a 23-12 edge in the third. "There are going to be teams on our schedule where we won't be able to do that," Rucki said after forcing Clay into 20 total turnovers. "We're going to keep working on it. We'll have to pick our spots to do it, so we have to better in the half-court, get better with our offensive execution because we're not always going to be able to just turn teams over." Will Cordonnier led Findlay with 24 points. The 6-foot-6 senior wing scored 11 of that total in the second quarter, including five straight during a run that put Findlay up 26-7. He also scored three of the Trojans final four baskets of the period when the lead ballooned to 43-18 at the half. Hill, who was named first-team all-Ohio as a receiver earlier in the day, followed a 27-point outing in Findlay's opening win over Defiance with a 20-point night against Clay. The 6-1 guard threw one down off a steal that put the Trojans up 47-21 early in the third quarter, then came off a Ryan Montgomery screen and had a two-hand slam to make it 54-25 two minutes later. Montgomery, also named first-team all-Ohio in football on Thursday, had nine points and four rebounds in his first basketball action of the season. Findlay, 2-0, is off until Thursday's NLL cross-over game at Springfield. That begins a brutal stretch of December games for the Trojans, but Rucki wasn't looking ahead. "We're not going to worry about the next game. We're not going to worry about the last game. Come 3 o'clock tomorrow this is going to be completely gone," he said. "We're going to try and have a really good practice, get after it a little bit, work hard and get up and down the floor. "Tomorrow is all about getting a little better. That's what matters now." In Thursday's opener, Findlay's junior varsity overcame an early 18-8 deficit, built a cushion with a solid third quarter and hit some clutch free throws down the stretch in beating Clay's reserves 49-40 for its first win of the season. OREGON CLAY (1-2) Heintschel 0-0 0-0 0, Williams 2-2 1-2 5, Berryman 2-5 0-0 4, E. Walker 5-17 8-10 21, Byers 0-0 0-0 0, Vincent 2-4 0-0 4, Roberts 0-1 0-0 0, Cody 1-4 1-2 3, Oberdick 0-0 1-2 1, Pegish 0-0 0-0 0, Jeremy 0-0 0-0 0, M. Walker 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 12-33 11-16—38. FINDLAY (2-0) Weihrauch 2-5 1-2 5, Best 1-2 0-0 3, Ernst 2-6 0-0 5, Hill 8-14 2-4 20, Cordonnier 10-14 3-6 24, Montgomery 3-6 2-2 9, Yeager 0-3 0-0 0, Garmong 0-1 0-0 0, Stillings 0-1 0-0 0, Wendt 3-3 0-0 6, Rood 0-1 0-0 0, Bronson 0-1 0-0 0. TOTALS: 29-58 8-14—72. Oregon Clay &emsp;&emsp;5 &emsp;&emsp;13 &emsp;&emsp;12 &emsp;&emsp;8—38 Findlay &emsp;&emsp;18 &emsp;&emsp;25 &emsp;&emsp;23 &emsp;&emsp;6—72 3-POINT GOALS: Oregon Clay 3-13 (Vincent 0-1, Berryman 0-3, E. Walker 3-7, Roberts 0-1, Cody 0-1); Findlay 6-16 (Stillings 0-1, Weihrauch 0-1, Best 1-2, Ernst 1-3, Hill 2-3, Yeager 0-1, Montgomery 1-2, Cordonnier 1-2, Bronson 0-1). REBOUNDS: Oregon Clay 25 (E. Walker 7); Findlay 35 (Hill 7, Yeager 5, Cordonnier 4, Montgomery 4, Best 4). TURNOVERS: Oregon Clay 20; Findlay 4. JUNIOR VARSITY: Findlay 49-40.